Having recently organised three events at the venue in question I can safely that say in terms of staff, facilities and impact it is without doubt one of the best, if not the best, venues I or my client(s) has worked with – especially within London. Given we have organised events at venues such as ExCeL, Olympia, Earls Court, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge and Hilton London Metropole the opinion above is not made lightly.
Before we go any further, let’s name the venue that is referred to in such a positive light – The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (QEII).
Facilities wise I believe that, in terms of mid sized exhibitions and large conferences, it almost unbeatable. The number of rooms available to hire is mind-boggling – 29 – and they are almost all different in terms of look, feel and size. In fact it is only the ‘Poet Rooms’ on the fourth floor that are remotely similar. Size wise the venue can cater for a vast array of requirements, ranging from a 1300 person through to a 15 person event. The word flexibility does not really do the QEII justice. For most events the QEII somehow offers not one but two viable options, the only downside of this is that, on many occasions, there is no availability. Cost wise it can prove expensive (partly due to the AV included – see below) but the sales staff do appear genuinely interested in any budget constraints you are working within, which – in the current climate especially – is obviously greatly appreciated.
The only real negative, in my personal opinion, with the QEII is the style of the venue. Both externally and internally the venue is strangely designed and it is not an exciting or inspiring view upon arrival – especially when compared to what surrounds it. The shape of a large number of the meeting rooms and the venue in general is hard to fathom and there does not seem to be an obvious reason for why it was designed this way. The number of pillars present rooms such as the Fleming, Whittle (3rd Floor), Mountbatten Lounge and Elizabeth Windsor (5th Floor) do prove a little frustrating when planning exhibitions or large dinner events. However when taken in the context of the overall quality of the venue this negative is quickly forgotten.
Away from the meeting rooms the venue almost gets even stronger in terms of its performance. Included within the rates for most of the larger rooms is a great AV package that, unless you require anything overly advanced such as switchers, additional lapel mics, etc, does not require expanding on. Add to this the efficient and even sometimes friendly crew and the QEII’s AV side is above average by some margin.
One area of events that can greatly annoy clients and organisers / agents alike is catering. Often event organisers (and therefore the clients) pay so much for so little – cold, lukewarm, tasteless but expensive food. Thankfully this is not the case at the QEII. Admittedly the in-house caterers are not cheap, for example their basic DDR offering is bowl food at £38.50pp (when added to the room hire, etc it quickly appears on the high side). However, what the in-house caterers (Leith’s for those of your interested) do provide is fantastic service coupled with high quality food and drink. At almost every event above about 50 people our staff often needs to get involved in queue management but at the QEII this is not the case, even if you wanted to. The quality of food is fantastic, on par easily with a good restaurant – despite the fact it is clearly produced in bulk to meet the event numbers (300 for our last event).
I think the final positive paragraph should be reserved for the Event Managers themselves. As an organiser of over 100+ events I appreciate we are not always the easiest people to deal with, whether it be due to stress caused by our own organisation, the client or our sponsors we are often demanding at best. Somehow, and I would love to understand how it is possible, the QEII’s Event Managers just seem to take everything in their stride. A box goes missing – they look for it. Catering / AV / another in-house service has made an error – they fix it. A client shouts at them – they accept it and turn it into a positive by the end of the day. The key aspect, to me, is that they operate as organiser’s do. They appear to understand the needs and wants of organisers (and clients) better than other venues – that’s not to say other venues do not have stand-out event managers – but all of the QEII’s have this trait. It makes for a relaxing event, regardless of how stressful it may in fact be (or appear).
For those of you who have read my previous blogs you may know that being positive is not genuinely my approach. I like to highlight areas within the industry that cause issue with organisers, etc – or just myself on a bad day. However, after running a third event at the QEII in just five months I felt compelled to spend some blog time waxing lyrical about exactly how impressive the venue, as an entire package, is. Anyone looking to run an event, of a certain size, in central London should look no further than the QEII. Oh and by the way – I haven’t even mentioned how amazing the location is...something quite awe inspiring looking out of the venue windows to see Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament glistening in the sun. Quite simply – a top venue.
No comments:
Post a Comment