Conference buyers given a whistlestop tour of Eastbourne!

  

Devonshire Park



The Eastbourne Conference Team are still on a high following the success of last weekend’s Conference Buyers Fam Trip. Five national organisations accepted our invitation to spend 24 hours in Eastbourne arriving Friday afternoon. England’s only 5-star seaside hotel, the Grand, provided rooms and we were thrilled that by the time we all met up at 5pm, everyone had checked in.

We started the weekend with a tour of the Devonshire Park Centre, including the 1700 seater Congress auditorium. The fam trip coincided with the Eastbourne Open Darts Tournament in the Winter Garden, which expected to attract around 800 competitors and supporters. The Winter Garden set up looked great and our guests were impressed by the Floral Hall and Gold Room’s Victorian splendour. They seemed surprised by just how much space we had and how flexible it could be

Once the tour was over, our 10 guests were whisked off to Pomodoro e Mozzarella courtesy of Eastbourne 720 Taxis for a fantastic Italian supper, for which, Pomodoro is renowned. We’d like to thank Luca, one of our conference members, for laying on such a treat. Once supper was over, it was straight back to the Congress for the evening performance of Sister Act, the latest West End Show to arrive on the Eastbourne stage. If anyone was not on a high before the show, they certainly were by the end, sensational, with top performances from everyone. In fact one of our guests admitted that musical theatre is not something he would normally go to but even he said that he’d had a great time. After the show, most people returned to the Grand Hotel, with a few soaking up the elegant atmosphere by having coffee in one of the lounges before retiring to bed. However, a couple decided the night was still young and so headed from the Congress, next door to the pub, and were thrilled to find several members of the Sister Act cast already in there, with most of the others following in quick succession (once the show is over they don’t hang about!).

Saturday dawned and it was another beautiful day in sunny Eastbourne (did we mention that we are the UK’s sunniest place?). We suggested that they might like to go for a run along the 5 miles of Eastbourne promenade before breakfast but we don’t think anyone took up that suggestion. Once everyone had finished the beautifully served breakfast, we headed off for a tour of Eastbourne’s open spaces to give them a bit of a feel of Eastbourne’s Victorian elegance and they loved it. We headed through Meads and up onto the South Downs and Beachy Head and everyone seemed quite taken aback by the spectacular scenery. We had a quick stop off at Birling Gap and at the bottom of Belle Tout Lighthouse and lots of photographs were taken of the world famous cliffs and Beachy Head Lighthouse

As we headed back into the town we admired the amazing views across the Downs with Eastbourne in the bay and views right round to Hastings and Dungeness in one direction and the towers of Brighton in the distance in the other - beautiful. As we had about 15 minutes before our next appointment we continued along the seafront for a quick look at Sovereign Harbour Marina. This lead to various discussions that when they all move to Eastbourne, should they buy a property in the Marina overlooking the water or one of the elegant Meads properties? The debate rages on!

By this time we were all ready for the refreshments kindly provided by the Eastbourne Centre before we were given a tour of the hotel’s facilities. Everyone agreed that all the newly refurbished rooms were beautiful but the aspect that received the most comments was the new disabled bedrooms. One of the organisations was a disabled charity and said that these rooms were the best for disabled guests they’d ever seen, praise indeed, especially as through the course of their business, conference buyers get to see a lot of bedrooms

Our final stop was a tour of the 4 star Cavendish Hotel followed by lunch. Being purpose built in the 1870s (as was the Grand) it has a bright airy feel with wide corridors and high ceilings. Everyone loved the contemporary décor and agreed it would work well for conferences or as the headquarters hotel for larger conferences being held at the Devonshire Park Centre. A gorgeous lunch was served in the newly refurbished library and everyone agreed that one of the vases in there was the largest they had ever seen!

At this point the official part of the tour was over, so most headed back to the Grand Hotel for the last time, to collect their bags and head off home. However, a couple decided to extend their visit and head into town and one couple had gone one step further and booked to stay on another night (and who could blame them?).

Feedback over the weekend, and since, has been fantastic. They were all enthusiastic about every aspect of the weekend and seemed to love all Eastbourne has to offer. Two have said they can think of at least one of their events that would work well in the Devonshire Park Centre (in fact they both now have provisional dates in our diary), one wants to book something into the Grand Hotel and one into the Eastbourne Centre. Who can ask for more than that!

Eastbourne Conference Bureau

A busy end to the 2011 conference season in Eastbourne!

This weekend was the last of the busy season of conferences this year at the Devonshire Park Centre; however what a grand finale!

The Mission Worship Conference, a three day event, was a sell out for them (it's been sold out since September and they have been coming to Eastbourne since 2003!) and a tremendous conference to be involved with. With 2,000 delegates flooding into the Congress Theatre and overflow in the Floral Hall, it really utilised the venue to its full potential this weekend. The delegates certainly kept the exhibitors and bookshop happy – yes, there was even room for that as well!

I know many of the delegates had come from all over the world and it is good to hear so many positive comments about the town as well as the venue. It really is an ‘all round experience’ for them coming to Eastbourne. Looking forward to seeing them all next year!

Gill

Conference Manager

Busy week for the Eastbourne Conference Sales Team

We have had a great week! We love what we do, so every week is a good week (well usually!) but this past week has been exceptional for the two of us in the Conference Sales Team. We have dealt with all the usual things such as answering enquiries about the Devonshire Park Centre, checking our diary for dates, putting several room hire proposals together and making quite a few sales calls but we've also done some extra things too!

It started with us attending a networking event at the York House Hotel on Tuesday. We met some great people, some we knew already as well as some new faces and managed to spread the word about the Eastbourne Conference Bureau and what we're all about.

Wednesday we were up early and on the 6.57 train to London for a day's training on 'Maximising Your Showrounds'. Between us we've done hundreds of showrounds and, due to our venue finding function, have also seen first hand how many of our Eastbourne venues do it. Therefore, we already have a fair amount of experience but felt there is always something new to learn. We had a great day as it confirmed that a lot of what we already do is best practice but we certainly picked up a lot of useful extra tips, so we felt completely invigorated and keen to put our new found skills into practice!

Thursday was the day of our first Tweetup, organised in partnership with our Visit Eastbourne and Convex Leisure colleagues. We had around 40 fellow tweeters come along to the Devonshire Park Centre and the room was absolutely buzzing with lots of Twitter talk, business deals being discussed as well as everyone just being social and getting to know each other better.

Then finally Friday was the day we got to put our new showround training into practice. We had spotted a potential client on Twitter, made contact, managed to generate interest in the Devonshire Park Centre as a possible venue for some of their events and Friday was the day they were coming to Eastbourne for the first time. It went really well and the training obviously paid off because they commented that it was one of the best showrounds they'd ever had. They said it was really well organised and before they left they asked us to check our diary for three potential dates in 2013, each for around 800 delegates! A great result!

Here's looking forward to this week now!

Jenny
Conference Sales

Youthwork the Conference in Eastbourne

Want to know what it's like to work on a conference here in Eastbourne? Read on...

Well I've just spent the weekend with 1,000 youth workers here at the Devonshire Park Centre in Eastbourne. They have been coming for quite a few years now, but each conference still seems to have its own particular aspect that reminds me that however many times you run an event, there is always something that crops up - a last minute room change or AV equipment need to be replaced… In some ways I am secretly pleased as it shows how good the staff are here, they constantly jump to assist and go that one step further, a real win with the Conference Organisers.

With the Congress Theatre packed with delegates having a good time (see our facebook page for pictures) – Scott Todd is a real hit with this crowd and the Floral Hall is packed with exhibitors and even a book shop! It confirms that conferences are still an important part of organisations and when bringing like-minded people together you can’t forget the buzz!

This year I heard quite a few of the delegates, in passing, mentioning how good the hotels are here and they particularly love the seafront walk before the conference in the morning. With plenty of delegates tweeting throughout the weekend too using the #ywc2011 hashtag, I'm now looking forward to 2012! The organisers have even updated their website with next year's dates already!

Gill

Conference Manager