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Bournville College now provides a qua...

Tags: Events WM, Marketing WM, Training WM

This week saw us head over to visit the new Bournville College to have a meeting with a number of its personnel as well as a tour around the college and its facilities.
 
For those that may not beware Bournville College used to be situated on the Bristol Road between the Selly Oak and Northfield areas of Birmingham.
 
In August 2011 it moved to its new £63 million purpose built facility on what once was part of the old MG Rover site, and in all honesty as you drive down the Bristol Road towards the Lickey Hills you will not be able to miss the new college as it is colourfully situated by the main set of traffic lights where you turn left for Longbridge Train Station.
 
Our tour around the college was spearheaded by Catherine Hepton who is their events co-ordinator.
 
Something which you may not know is that the college now has ‘State of the Art’ conferencing / venue hosting facilities – for instance their main room which can seat up to 200 people for a sit down dinner has eco friendly technologies whereby it recycles the air to keep it at any given required temperature.
 
Also within the main room the latest technologies for film and sound exist along with fancy projection provisions.
 
They also have a number of other smaller rooms available which can be used for training, workshops, seminars, even interviewing  all of which are at a competitive rate of hire,– as Catherine expressed upon us “our costings are considerable cheaper, all I ask for is the opportunity to provide businesses with a quote.”
 
For those who may think against considering using conferencing / venue hosting facilities of a college, you wouldn’t be disappointed with the ones at Bournville College plus it has its own separate entrance so there is no need to have to walk all through the college, plus the fact you would not be allowed to do so unaccompanied due to the strict security measures which they have in place.
 
You may have been to events held at the technology park which is situated across from Bourneville College – however, for those of you who may look to use venue facilities an alternative option is available. To arrange a tour contact Catherine Hepton so that you can see what they have to offer for yourself.
 
 

The Birmingham Thistle Hotel looks to...

Tags: Events WM, Visit WM

During the week saw one of the Connect WM team head over to the Birmingham Thistle Hotel which is positioned within the City Centre by the Children’s Hospital for a scheduled meeting with Tara Sanchez who is the new Sales Manager for the hotel.
 
As many people will know the road layout within a certain section within Birmingham City Centre has changed over recent years and it is within this area where the Birmingham Thistle Hotel is placed.
 
Many of you like us may be familiar with the ‘Royal Angus Hotel’ as being the name of a city centre location hotel, well the biggest shock for the oldies out there was that the Hotel ceased to be known as the Royal Angus some 15 years ago – how times fly…..!
 
During the meeting with Tara she provided a guided tour of the hotels conferencing facilities - showing the meeting rooms, the lounge areas and the restaurants and bars, they even have a patio balcony type area where BBQ type events can be held and a concierge desk to act as a mini booking in reception.
 
Parking for the hotel is by way of a NCP car park which is attached to the hotel through which also provides direct access to the second floor of the hotel, which is where a majority of the conferencing facilities are positioned - thus making it easy for attendees wishing to gain to gain easy and direct access to any business event being held there.
 
Tara highlighted during the conversation how some local people and visitors to the borough still associate the Birmingham Thistle Hotel’s name with that of the Strathallen Hotel which is a few miles away on the Hagley Road; the reason for this was that the Strathallen Hotel did indeed change its name to the Birmingham Thistle Hotel when ownership of it changed for a short space of time a few years back but then reverted back to its original name when ownership changed again.
 
Tara is ready and willing to give people a guided tour around the hotels facilities as she wishes to increase their share in the business exhibitions, business training and seminars field.
 
Should anyone be looking for a Birmingham City Centre location for any of their regular business networking events it might just be worth having a look at what Birmingham Thistle Hotel has to offer?
 
On the ground floor at the main entrance to the hotel there is a reception area where food can be served – there you can sit and look across at St Chad’s Cathedral. Thistle Birmingham city is ideally located in the city centre and is one of the few hotels in Birmingham within easy reach of the Bullring shopping centre, and within 10 minutes’ drive to the City Stadium, Villa Park and Edgbaston

The Clarendon Suites looking for Busi...

Tags: Business WM, Events WM, Marketing WM, Sales WM, Visit WM

Today we paid a visit to the Business Growth Show which was held for the first time at ‘The Clarendon Suites’ just off the Hagley Road Birmingham.
 
The event was very well attended with early indications showing that a reported 300 plus attendees physically turned up from the 500 or so that actually said they were going to attend.
 
The Clarendon Suites boasts “that it is the perfect Birmingham venue for every occasion” which is something that you may initially take with a pinch of salt – but once you have looked around its interior and identified what it is that it has to offer, you will undoubtedly be amazed how something of such a calibre is literally on the door step of Birmingham City Centre without City Centre prices and with ease of access and free parking for up to 250 vehicles to hoot.
 
Diane Hepworth the General Manager of the Clarendon Suites very kindly took us around the conferencing venue and went to great lengths to explain to us about the venue but also what the staff and Diane herself can do to assist both local and national businesses with the hosting of any of their business exhibitions, training sessions, workshops, receptions, special events and conferences ...the list is quite endless.
 
The Business Growth Show exhibition itself had 49 exhibitors who were all seemingly happy with the way things went for them on the day ranging from the venue, the attendee’s, right through to the catering such as 3663 Food Services who provided the food and CVS (Complete Vending Services) who supplied the drinks.
 
During the exhibition we had a brief chat with its director Mark Linton who explained how happy he was with the way the whole Business Growth Show franchise model was going and that after a long hard slog like many businesses the name is getting out there and that things are finally happening.
 
In fact talks with some of the exhibitors such as Paul Spicer from LNP Sound and Sarah Preece from Professional Call Minders sang the praises of the Business Growth Show saying how it has helped them gain a wider awareness and customer base than they perhaps would otherwise have had - both said that so far this year they had each done 8 Business Growth Shows up and down the country, and their booked on to do more.
 
We did have talks and introductions with other companies during the visit such as Paul Wright from Wright Solutions which is a Training, HR and Recruitment Company. Also we spoke to Clover Green who is a Business Development Adviser for Birmingham Metropolitan College who explained that currently there are favourable terms and rates by way of grants for local businesses to take on board apprentices to help with the business.
 
The Birmingham Business Growth Show has over the years organised a number of exhibitions at various venues throughout Birmingham such as Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham City Football Club, and the Centennia ...

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Nick from the Midlands the first blok...

Tags: Business WM, Sales WM

This week has seen the start of the next series of the Apprentice, where a bunch of business folk each think that their better than the next – some would argue whether they really think that, is debatable but it makes good telly.
 
This series see’s Nick Holzherr who started one of his businesses out of Birmingham’s Aston Science Park incubation units; centring on the use of QR codes, as one of the entrepreneurial hopefuls.
 
This week’s first task for the band of business demons was to effectively create something from a blank canvas and make it something that would sell.
 
It really never ceases to amaze how the big I am people large up their ability so much that when it came to the first thing, in selecting a project manager, they all hide under the table. With the tension building in the room and Karen Brady chucking her eye’s up in the air in amazement - it was midlander Nick who stepped up to the mantel...!
 
Under Nick Holzherr leadership the team opted to purchase Teddies and Shopping bags which they could brand up, and sell to the tourist market, and seen as they were based in London that of course was a good call.
 
However perhaps the designs they selected to brand up the items could have been more creative and appealable instead of a union jack for the Teddies and a Red London Bus for the shopping bags.
 
With all the items purchased and branded, the team had one last business briefing before setting out to sell their wares, Nick attempted to give a rousing team talk suggesting that the team look to maximise of the selling of the teddies by asking £15.00. It was during this meeting that the self proclaimed sales machine Stephen Brady stepped in and said “let’s sell these teddies at £10 and get really going – okay guys”.
 
Cleary Nick Holzherr was looking to maximise profit, whilst Stephen Brady fell straight in to the usual sales methodology and was immediately favouring units over profit – who was right? It's down to personal views but as a general rule of thumb it could be argued that those who favour profit are managers and those who favour units are workaholics.
 
Above all and in the long run its profit that keeps a business going and not sales of units....!
 
There was one embarrassing moment when the blokes’ team had to refund a customer because the quality of the screen printing on the shopping bags they supplied was poor - obviously the sale was a blatant attempt not to provide something of worth and was instead only intended to take money for their own benefit.
 
Once the task was over they headed to the boardroom for the normal slating that we all enjoy to see; that of others suffering but that we never wish to injure ourselves.
 
When the results were announced in terms of profit made, it was confirmed that the men’s team lead by Nick Holzherr were victorious - ...

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