North in Brief

Hotel Partners with Homelessness Charity

Independently owned Buckinghamshire country hotel, Horwood House, has teamed up with national homelessness charity Crisis, and upcycling company Recoup, to transform a break-out space into a creatively crafted coffee lounge for conference delegates.

The 120 sq. metre Crisis Coffee Lounge was brought to life by a team of Crisis volunteers and members, led by Recoup founders, Tom Marsh, and Ben Lunt. It has been transformed to reflect the horticultural surroundings and history of the hotel, with reclaimed furniture repurposed or restored to create unique pieces such as wall panels made from antique French headboards, cast-iron garden gates and dried flowers pressed into picture frames.

The revived space is located beneath the hotel’s Cook Suite, and between six syndicate meeting rooms, with its own private entrance. It’s the perfect spot to enjoy a coffee and admire your surroundings during a break. The hotel purchases coffee beans from Crisis’ partner Volcano Coffee Works, with 15% of purchases going straight to Crisis. Delegates are also encouraged to support the cause by scanning QR donation codes in the lounge. The venue further supports Crisis by donating 5% of revenue from contracted conference and corporate event bookings.

Wyboston Lakes Resort Partners with event:decision

Wyboston Lakes Resort is partnering with event:decision to heighten sustainable processes, metrics, and best practices at live and hybrid events held at the resort.

Louisa Watson, Director of Marketing at Wyboston Lakes Resort says: “This collaboration underlines our determination to provide event organisers with formalised processes to plan, deliver, and track the impact of events and to make more sustainable decisions. Wideranging, detailed, trustworthy data is essential in making informed judgements and event: decision is highly experienced and well-resourced to supply our customers with what they need.”

Matt Grey, Director, event:decision, adds: “We’ve genuinely seen Wyboston Lakes Resort as one of the leading sustainable venues in the UK for many years. To be able to support Wyboston with sustainability data regarding meetings and events shows how far the industry is moving to deliver more sustainable events for our customers. Wyboston is recognised as being one of the most forward-thinking and progressive destinations and it is a great testimonial for us to have become the preferred data insight specialist for live and hybrid events hosted at the resort.”

Athena Event Venue Nominated

Athena, the Art Deco Grade II-listed events venue located in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter, has been recognised as one of the best event venues in the country and shortlisted in the category for Best Event Venue in this year’s micebook Awards.

Hira Ram, Head of Events at Athena, said: “This nomination highlights not only the excellence of our venue in terms of stand-out capabilities, but also that such a unique space can be customised to suit any type of event.”

Scottish Event Campus to Host INTERPOL

The UK will host the 92nd INTERPOL General Assembly (GA) from 4th to 7th November 2024 at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Glasgow, previously used as the location for COP26.

The SEC announcement took place during IMEX, Frankfurt and underlines yet another positive story for Glasgow, Scotland, and the UK. The event will bring together over 1,000 senior delegates, including heads of police, ministers, senior government officials and INTERPOL senior leadership, from across 195 member countries.

Already a global leader in security and policing, hosting the event will give the UK a central role in one of the most important policing and public safety events in the world, bringing together INTERPOL’s 195 members in one common goal – to prevent global illicit activity, and to tackle criminal threats and risk worldwide.

The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s highest governing body and the largest global gathering of senior law enforcement officials and heads of ministries. The event represents a key opportunity to drive innovation and leadership in international police cooperation, to tackle major crime trends and security threats facing the world, including organised crime, counterterrorism, and fraud.

Industry leaders to #makeadifference at Event

With exhibitors from across the industry already confirmed, Event Sustainability Live (ESL), which will co-locate with Event Tech Live at Excel, has announced three more big name sponsors; GL events, ESSA, DPRG and Vision 2025.

GL events, the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), DPRG and Vision:2025 have joined headline sponsor Evolution Dome in supporting the first edition of ESL, which, with its ‘Engage, Educate, Make a Difference’ mantra, promises to galvanise event industry response to the climate crisis.

Long committed to providing an “inspirational approach” to event sustainability, Rachel Baker, director of Marketing and CSR at GL Events, promises the company will be a powerful partner for the show.

“As a supplier to the events industry, supporting our clients in meeting their sustainability goals – and adding value for them and their events – are key objectives at GL, so we are delighted to be supporting Event Sustainability Live and we look forward to serving up content which brings the whole supply chain to the table,” Baker said.

“Our members are incredibly keen to embed all aspects of sustainability into the way they do business which has become a minefield when it really doesn’t need to be,” ESSA Director Andrew Harrison said. “Through our partnership with Event Sustainability Live, we’re keen to help dispel the myths and mitigate the growing misinformation to help everyone understand that it’s a journey that needs realistic, achievable, measurable goals.”

Industry 4.0 – Collaborations, Connections & Community, is the title of beam’s upcoming annual forum, which has been created by the beam events Action Group. The gathering, with headline sponsors Open Audience and Song Division, will bring members of the event industry together from across the UK at the Hilton Bournemouth on 6th and 7th July.

“This year the Forum will be more of a hands-on business event, featuring engaging and inspiring speakers and generating tangible takeaways,” says Beckie Towle, Events Director of beam.

“Industry 4.0 – Collaborations, Connections & Community is about