Corporate Events Produce a Creative Event for ISPY Conference and Awards Dinner

Corporate Events have just produced another outstanding creative event production, this time in The Brighton Hilton Metropole.

With up to 50 airlines, 100 cabin crew and 30 of the leading Inflight Retail Suppliers to ISPY, the excitement and anticipation for this year's ISPY conference and awards dinner was at an all time high. The registration figures lead us to believe that ISPY2013 is going to beat all previous attendance records.

ISPY is like no other conference, trade show, training, or staff recognition event, because it is all of these rolled into one. They have great training sessions, conferences and workshops and product showcases for all delegates throughout the week and everyone joins in the celebration of excellence within this industry at the Friday night Gala Awards Ceremony.

Corporate Events work with the ISPY management team to design, produce and deliver a seamless conference and gala dinner production that reflects and enhances the communication strategy behind the event.

There is a lot of talk about the benefits of Airlines sending a 'delegation' (consisting of best selling crew, performance management and buyers) to ISPY. The key benefit being the opportunity to come together & meet and interact with the Suppliers. Corporate Events whole heartedly believe that when all stakeholders work together it will make a difference to development of the airline's sales culture.

That is why the ISPY event is unique.

Corporate Events client account manager Katie Lewis comments "Working on the ISPY event is a unique challenge and one we readily embrace. The mix of sales conference, education seminars and then a massive and opulent gala dinner production create a real sense of community around the delegates."

Technical Production Manager Adrian Tolson adds "It's nice to be working in Brighton again - and producing something at this scale is always interesting. Our creative content team has - once again - produced some real eye popping graphics."

The final word goes to Corporate Events Managing Director Andy Ashely, who concludes "It's great to see Park Lane awards production standards can be ported to anywhere in the world, and I think this year's ISPY production looked fantastic."

David x 2 In Creative Role

Corporate Events have added another David to their growing creative studio headcount.

Joining Dave Haslop's creative team at Corporate Events is David Karn, a seasoned professional presentation designer.

With over 20 years in the graphic design industry, David has creative experience of many aspects of the business including design for print, exhibition graphics, corporate identity and conference support.
Corporate Events Commercial Director Tim Christian comments: "There is a huge gulf between someone who can pick up PowerPoint and edit a slide, to a real creative slide designer, both in terms of technical competence and creative ability.

Conferences and award dinners are a method of communication, and in these difficult commercial times, it is vital that our clients messaging and communication stand out from all the other noise and distractions around them. It is important that this message isn't compromised and left in the hands of people not skilled in the discipline.

That's why Corporate Events has taken the bold investment move of recruiting the best in their field."

Creative Director at Corporate Events David Haslop adds: "It's all too easy to pick up a laptop and call yourself a PowerPoint designer, but without training and education in the core disciplines of color, typeography and composition, the output tends to be a bit flat."

"We've known David for a while and his ability to work closely with clients on-site during an event production has given him a huge advantage in better understanding their needs."

Tim Christian concludes: "When you consider some of our clients above the line agency relationships and marketing strategies, it's vital that Corporate Events can offer a creative package that works to that level of skill and understanding. We can provide a real pull through of message and communication styles that compliments and enhances the core call to action within the overall creative, making a Corporate Events production more effective. Only by investing in our creative team can we ensure that content we create will deliver the clients message in an event environment."

The Story Behind The Ever-Expanding Corporate Events Creative Department

In these challenging and gloomy economic times, it's refreshing to hear of a continued success story that means more employment and more growth, and that's just what's happening at Swindon based Corporate Events.

After many years as a pure Audio Visual production company, in 2008 Corporate Events branched out into the design and creative world, producing slide content, animations and video for client conferences.

Forward wind that story to 2013 and it's an amazingly different picture, as Corporate Events Managing Director Andrew Ashley explains: "As a business, we need to provide real differentiation within our proposition to clients. Gone are the days when more audio visual equipment gave us the edge. While that is still important to clients and part of our value proposition, what's increasingly more important to our clients is the creativity we can bring to their communication challenges."

Commercial Director Tim Christian continues the thread: "It's true to say that our business model has moved on it's axis over the last few years. Historically, the technical production was our lead, now our creativity and communication skills are becoming more and more in demand, with some clients using our services for a full, end to end communications program.

Conferences and award dinners are a method of communication, and in these difficult commercial times, it is vital that our clients messaging and communication stand out from all the other noise and distractions around them.

That's why Corporate Events has taken the bold investment move of recruiting the best in their field."
It's all too easy to pick up a laptop and call yourself a PowerPoint designer, but without training and education in the core disciplines of colour  typography and composition, the output might not be as good as expected.

Add to that the complexities of motion graphics and video production and pretty soon the need for a bespoke creative department becomes clear.

Tim Christian concludes: "When you consider some of our clients above the line agency relationships and marketing, it's vital that Corporate Events can offer a creative package that works to that level of skill and understanding, that we can provide a real pull through of message and communication styles that compliments and enhances the core call to action within the overall creative. Only by investing in our creative team can we ensure that content we create will deliver the clients message in an event environment."

All That Glitters...

December saw Corporate Events back in London's Grosvenor House on Park Lane for The 2012 IGD Glitter Ball.

Corporate Events Account Director Steve Jebbett comments "Grosvenor House is one of those iconic venues that everybody recognizes - its the venue of choice for gala dinners and balls, so every time Corporate Events provide event production solutions here, it's always an interesting and exciting production."

He continues "The 2012 IGD Glitter Ball was certainly a very involved an complex production, just in terms of numbers of acts and entertainment to manage throughout the course of the event, as well as the run of the mill challenges we always face."

Corporate Events Creative Director David Haslop adds "For the 2012 IGD Glitter Ball at Grosvenor House, the team created a whole look for the event, so everything from theme, through to look and feel of all of the print, advertising and media collateral used assets from the Corporate Events creative input, which is how we are adding real value to our clients event spend - it's no longer enough to be able to provide excellent audio visual production - our clients look at us for a full creative service as well, and I'm pleased to say that with the team we've built up, we deliver!"

As well as the audio visual production for the gala dinner, corporate events also managed the stage acts, who included TV's George Lamb, X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity... star Stacey Soloman.

Also on the bill was David Armand - comedian, actor and writer who has performed on stage, film, radio and most notably, television.

He is well known for his mime style interpretive dance of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. He performed his famous dance on stage live with Natalie Imbruglia at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. The performance started with Armand dancing with Imbruglia singing live vocals backstage, then on-stage, and concluded with Imbruglia performing Armand's dance moves alongside him.

Live Music was provided by the Blues Brothers International band, who performed an energetic set of classic numbers. Steve Jebbett concludes "It was a busy night with over one thousand guests from the great and the good of the grocery industry. In terms of stage management and making sure everything ran to time, but the way Corporate Events plan this kind of event makes certain that when we get to the venue, our delivery is robust and the service we give to the client is second to none."

Corporate Events - Winners at The ATCO PSA World Series Finals

While the rest of us were enjoying a well earned Christmas break, there was no such luck for the technical crew at Corporate Events in 2012.

On December 27th - the day after Boxing Day - The Corporate Events crew descended onto Queens Club in London, England to start the build up for the 2013 ATCO PSA World Series Finals.

The pinnacle of the squash calendar returned to the Queen's Club from 2nd - 6th January 2013 for the fourth consecutive year and once again, Corporate Events were on hand to ensure that the sound, lighting and video relay was perfect.

Played on the spectacular 'Z-Court', which has been designed to ensure uninterrupted 360 degree views of the high-octane action through use of the latest technology in glass construction, the challenge for Corporate Events was to create an exciting and dynamic lighting and audio support service to the main event. We designed, created and installed a production solution that allowed for the players to be introduced to the crowd in a manner befitting a heavyweight boxing fight, with high energy music and lights setting the scene for the battle ahead, adding to a charged atmosphere generated by an attentive audience and live TV crews.

Eight of the greatest male and female players in the squash World went head to head to decide who would be crowned champions after five days of action. The squash elite were split into two pools of four with all male eight players competing on each of the first three days of the tournament. Currently those heading the PSA World Series and almost certain to qualify for Queen's include current World No. 1 James Willstrop.

Corporate Events technical production manager Adam Harris comments "While working over Christmas is unfortunate, Queens Club is a globally recognized destination venue, so making a production work here, under the gaze of a global TV audience adds a degree of challenge."

Managing Director Andrew Ashley concludes: "It's that challenge we like at Corporate Events - how we design and create unique experiences for our clients keeps our proposition fresh and exciting every time, and to be back at Queens again in 2013 is a great testimonial to the service levels our technical crew provide".

LED Set Lighting - Corporate Events Have It Taped!

No strangers to innovation, Swindon based Corporate Events have once again introduced a new and innovative feature to their formidable creative event production solutions portfolio.

Using a mix of old and new technologies in a bespoke application, Corporate Events has created a unique conference production set and stage feature that creates a striking and memorable visual impact on the delegates, thus enhancing the communication and retention of messaging.

Using Electro Voltaic (EV) tape, Corporate Events are able to create very strong architectural edge lighting features on stage and sets, enhancing the shape and form of a structure in a simple yet elegant fashion.

Corporate Events Commercial Director Tim Christian comments: "Electro Voltaic tape is something used by architects and lighting designers as well as in theatre and film. To bring it into the conference production and audio visual marketplace is an exciting departure, but we think the material can add a level of class and distinction to very basic audio visual productions, creating a real wow factor at a reasonable price point."

The material is wafer thin and comes in a range of colors and widths, making it an interesting tool for Corporate Events set designer Robert Grey to consider when creating concepts.

Rob adds: "All our clients are looking for something a bit different - something that adds class and production values to their show, but at the same time they are looking to save money. Developments and innovations by Corporate Events like Electro Voltaic tape allow me to be more creative and offer something that's not been seen before without going crazy with the budgets."

Managing Director Andrew Ashley concludes: "Everyone is looking for an edge in 2013. At Corporate Events, we've developed a way to light up that edge in client brand colors."

Steve Jebbett - Corporate Events New Starter

The latest addition to the steadily growing Corporate Events team is Oxfordshire based Steve Jebbett.

Joining as Account Director, Steve brings many years of industry experience with him to Corporate Events. Having worked agency and client side in the role of Event Manager, Steve is only too aware of the pressures on clients in the build up to and during events.

Steve comments: “In my time at British Airways and Reed Elsiver, I've experienced some hair raising moments that - at the time - seemed like the end of the world, but they all get filed away to learn from in the future and it has been an amazing learning experience.”

Corporate Events HR Director Jed Bowers comments: “When we were recruiting for the role Steve is now in, we wanted to ensure we had a candidate that could add value to an already strong and impressive proposition, so the task was a tough one from the outset. What impressed us about Steve is that he’s worked events from both sides of the fence - client side and event audio visual production side, which gives him a unique insight and empathy into the issues faced by our clients.

This gives Steve a real strength when communicating both to his clients and his internal team. Having “been there, done that” is a real advantage in his position and already we are seeing that clients enjoy Steve’s hands on approach.”

Managing Director Andrew Ashley adds: “While people may look at an event and only see the bright lights and feel the exciting experience on the day, it takes weeks and months of meticulous planning to deliver outstanding events time after time. Steve has the process and planning skills that are invaluable to anyone in this role - he’s a real find for Corporate Events.”

But the last word goes to Steve Jebbett: “ I'm thrilled to be at Corporate Events. They are a business that really values the individual, understands the meaning of teamwork and is truly people focused. I've delivered conference productions and gala dinners before, but Corporate Events are just that little bit better. They have ambitious plans and an amazing track record and I’m pleased to be able to be part of their developing story.”

Swindon Corporate Events Showcase Their Specialised Events Equipment

Swindon based Corporate Events held a technical showcase at their Swindon HQ to demonstrate their range of state of the art audio and visual effects that are now available to companies wishing to keep abreast of the developments in presentation technology. The show included special effects for conferences, product launches and exhibitions.

Among the technologies shown off were the new glassless 3D LED screens, Christie's digital tiles and the eye popping project mapping display which is a permanent installation in the main gallery at Corporate Events.

Conference tools such as the linked multiple iPad system from Event Pad; allowing up to 1,500 delegates to follow a presentation on supplied pre-programmed iPads, showed how far computing has moved on. So did the entertaining Seahorse interactive displays which included customisable virtual scratch cards, perfect for attracting visitors to an exhibition stand.

The largest display were the programmable hanging screens; CES 12mm pixel lightweight LED panels at 500 x 1000mm each. The panels were tiled to create four drops 4m high x 1m wide. Able to show a range of intense designs and moving patterns, the panels are regulars on TV shows such as X Factor and add real glamour to any event.

The event attracted a steady flow of existing and potential clients which included representatives from Nationwide, Honda, Excalibur and Intel.

For more information about the Corporate Events specialists, please visit their website.