Event Profs Live, a London based networking group for event professionals, returned to Manchester this weekend following on from the success of their trip last year. We were delighted to welcome them back to showcase even more of our amazing city in ‘Manchester 48 V2’.
Whilst London is often believed to be the UK ‘capital’ for events, what’s starting to be recognised is that the City of Manchester offers many similar advantages and positive benefits as a location for national and international events.
As a city, Manchester is thriving with development everywhere you look. Major brands and corporations are locating their head offices here and from an events perspective, we now have the largest cluster of events and conferencing spaces outside London. Notable new openings include Dakota Deluxe Hotel, The Ivy Spinningfields and Peter Street Kitchen, part of a multi-million-pound renovation of the historic Radisson Edwardian Hotel.
Alex Morrisroe, Commercial Director of Make Events said: “We were delighted to welcome Event Profs Live back to Manchester for the second instalment of Manchester 48. It’s an amazing opportunity to showcase the best of what Manchester has to offer and build relationships with leading event professionals.”
How did the event come together?
It all began with the creative theme. Make Events created a bespoke event identity and logo, with a twist on last years’ concept. We designed a logo in our brand colours with graffiti splashed across the Manchester skyline.
The Make Events experience began before the guests arrived when they were sent a fully branded delegate pack in the post. This included an information booklet outlining the agenda for the weekend and other helpful information about the city; a luggage tag and an iPhone style design highlighting how to access the event app.
With 10 days to go, the delegates were encouraged to download the app which highlighted the agenda, attire suggestions and tips on how to spend their free time in the city.
Make Events did site visits to each venue before the event to ensure everything was in place. This also included tastings and timing the specific journeys between venues. This attention to detail was crucial for the success of the event.
At each venue, Make Events provided presentations of events we have produced there and how we can transform the space into something spectacular.
The venues we visited were; House of Make; The Mere; Etihad Stadium; Great John Street; King Street Townhouse; 20 Stories; S&IM; Manchester Central; The Principal; IWM North; MediaCityUK; The Midland; Dakota and Albert Schloss.
We peppered the weekend with magic touches, such as guests favourite drinks on arrival at Great John Street Hotel, using the driving range into The Mere’s lake, guests’ names in lights at the Etihad and Big Al’s Hangover Kit in their bedrooms on Saturday morning.
Swans Travel provided us with a VIP coach for the weekend to transport us around the city. We stocked the coach with branded water bottles, chewing gum and mints for the journeys around the city. There were wireless charging spots on board and we created a bespoke Manchester playlist for an immersive experience along the way.
City Centre Cruises provided us with a boat to travel in style into the city centre from MediaCityUK.
Kate Bullard, co-founder of Event Profs Live said: “Make Events yet again exceeded all expectations to create the ultimate experience for us to truly understand and experience what Manchester can offer us event professionals.
This is no easy job especially for an audience of corporate event professionals but they smashed it! We were all blown away with the attention to detail and magic touches that were throughout the 48 hours. We all left feeling truly inspired and excited, we can’t wait to return!”.
