Iconic London Venues – Imperial War Museum

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Along with city icons such as the Shangri-La ballroom at The Shard or a private capsule on The London Eye, our capital’s museums and galleries are also available for events.

The Venue Finding team here at Effective Event Solutions know all about the event spaces at London’s greatest museum venues, and our Event Logistics managers are well used to the quick time frame needed to set-up an evening event after closing time.

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has recently undergone refurbishment and offers a wonderful range of event spaces, some in-keeping with the impressive, traditional style of the building’s exterior and some with a more modern look and feel.

IWM London has the ability to accommodate everything from a meeting for 10 in the boardroom, to a fabulous dinner for 270 seated below a Battle of Britain Spitfire, suspended from the ceiling.

Without a doubt our favourite space at IWM is the Atrium, it has a ceiling height of 25m and an impressive display of large exhibits. This is the largest event space on offer, hosting 200 for a seated presentation, 340 for a standing reception of 270 for seated dinner.

The museum also boasts another inspiring space offering a different view of the Atrium’s exhibits: The Roof Terrace is a contemporarry space suspended from the barrel vaulted glass roof of IWM and could hold 150 guests for seated meal or 240 for a standing reception.

The board rooms (spaces range from 10 boardroom to 80 theatre style) and the cinema (up to 200 moveable seats) can be hired in the daytime, alongside the running of the museum as they are closed off from the main space. The other wonderful event areas at IWM are available from 7pm- midnight.

And if you’re not overly keen on war memorabilia and exhibits the venue could still work as the cinema and roof terrace are not based around the IWM theming/story. They are just great spaces which can accommodate so many types of events.

For more information or to inquire about booking this venue please contact us via email or use this handy contact form.

Are you thinking about hiring a celebrity for an event?

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Does hiring a celebrity enhance an event?

It will depend on a variety of factors; what the event is for and the demographic of your attendees for starters! The draw of a celebrity attendee or performance is the latest hot topic of conversation between our Event Management Team.

Lets take a look at a few different types of events and see how a celebrity booking might work (or not work as the case may be!)

Celebrity Conference Speaker

For a conference attended by clients and/or prospective clients of your company, a industry-specific celebrity can be a real draw for attendance.

Make sure they have something relevant to say though, ‘motivational stories’ have their place at conferences but if you’ve booked a celebrity as your keynote speaker you really want them to be reinforcing the topic/theme of your conference.

Celebrity Party Performance

You need to think about the purpose of the party: Is it a product launch attending by media and bloggers who will write about the event? Is it a bespoke function designed to celebrate company achievements or encourage team-bonding?

A product launch wants as much attention as possible, but be sure you’re getting the right kind; booking the ‘it’ girl of the moment might detract from the event, whereas a celebrity who works/promotes your industry sector will feel relevant and inspiring.

A party for your team/company really depends on the guests themselves. If they have a shared love of a TV talent show act then go for it. But if you have a vast mixture of ages/tastes amongst your staff it may be harder to find a celebrity that actually appeals to everyone. If the party is a reward for their hard-work it’s not fair to book a celeb that only half the crowd have even heard of …

Our entertainment experts booked gymnastic whizz-kids ‘Spelbound’ (Britains Got Talent winners) to perform at a corporate event recently – have a look at our Spelbound video over on the Effective Event Solutions facebook page.

Celebrity Event Guest

Whilst it would be wonderful to think you could just send a few invites and have a glittering array of acclaimed stars arrive on the day, unless you’ve got big brand appeal you can’t assume celebrities will want (or be able – they have busy schedules!) to attend.

Booking a celebrity guest as a ‘host’ for your event is a great way to use their popularity without it looking like you paid big bucks for a short ‘appearance’. Your event invites can be titled as ‘Company X and Celebrity A invite you’, which gives the whole event a bit more gravitas.

Talking of big brand appeal though, there were a few famous faces enjoying the bespoke cocktail bar run by Effective Event Solutions at the 2014 Glamour Awards – see photos on our facebook page.

Celebrity Show Demonstration

Whether it’s an on-trend piece of technology or a tempting new food product, a celebrity demonstration could be a real show-piece of the event.

Celebrity demos work particularly well at exhibitions, offering a focal point and boosting ticket sales. This could be anything from a cookery masterclass to a DJ showcasing the latest tunes.

One word of advice for any celebrity booking – do your research on the potential celebrity. For example,you don’t want to book the latest popstar to help promote a new car, only to find out that he/she can’t even drive!

For ideas of who you might want to book for any type of event, get in touch with the Effective Event Solutions team via email or this contact form.

What’s the best Las Vegas hotel for groups and events?

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Las Vegas is the perfect place for a bit of escapism; as the Lonely Planet says, where else can you “spend the night partying in ancient Rome, wake up in Paris, watch an erupting volcano at sunset and get married in a pink Cadillac at midnight.”

But with a plethora of astounding hotels to chose from, where do you start? The Effective Travel Solutions team have been running incentive programmes and group travel trips to the so called ‘Sin City’ for years and know all of the best places to stay: from the opulent Bellagio to the enormous suites at the Venetian.

We were delighted to hear about the recent opening of the new SLS Las Vegas (which stands for Seriously Luxurious Style!) in late 2014. Boasting three distinctive Towers; ‘World’, ‘Story’ and the all-suite ‘Lux’ Tower, the property provides a range of options for groups and events.

For Large Events

The World Tower offers over 1,000 contemporary rooms for large groups, designed with business travellers in mind. Of the SLS hotel’s three towers this is the most ‘functional’ for corporate groups.

For Boutique Style

The Story Tower combines chic minimalist design with the intimate feel of a boutique hotel. 108 rooms plus 14 suites make this perfect for medium and small groups that want to feel like the hotel is all theirs during their stay.

For High-End Luxury Groups

The Lux Tower is an all-suite haven of luxury, designed with classic French features the 289 suites are pure indulgence for VIP groups and Chic Events.

Seven different restaurants, serving everything from Japanese to wood-oven pizzas, makes it nice and easy to offer variety to event delegates, without having to provide transport out to a different location every evening.

The three club options along with casino access will keep guests entertained after a long, productive conference or meeting!

30,000 sq ft of dedicated meeting space offers a stylish and sophisticated alternative to the nearby Las Vegas Convention Centre. The Congo ballroom can seat up to 740 for a theatre style conference or 520 as a seated banquet, additional breakout rooms are suitable for smaller meetings from 10 boardroom up to 180 theatre style.

If you’d like additional ideas and information about holding your next event in Las Vegas, contact our Event & Travel Managers via the contact form or email.

Do you want to attract more visitors to your exhibition stands?

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We know that very exhibitor wants to attract as many visitors as possible to their show or stand. Whether it’s through creative design, tempting merchandise giveaways or social media there are many ways to drive traffic during an exhibition.

Effective Event Solutions offer a full design and build service for exhibition stands along with new and innovative ideas to help you make the most of your time and space.

One of the most effective ways to encourage customers to visit an exhibiton stand is interactive technology. Tech items such as Giant iTabs or graffiti walls are available in a range of sizes and can be used for all manner of content (see photos of interactive conference registration on our facebook page)

Example uses on a Giant iTab:

• Interactive Showguides
• Twitter Walls
• Social Media
• Web Showcasing
• App Launches
• Portfolio Presentation
• Video Showreels
• PPT, PDF’s & Brochures
• Picture Galleries
• Sponsorship
• Branding
• Staff & Customer Training
• Awards & Table Plans

The Giant iTab takes existing client content and replicates it perfectly on a Giant Touchscreen with all the iconic design, gesture controls and user benefits of the popular hand held devices of today.

Giant iTab’s are available for hire with full service and support (where requested) to deliver a simple, yet very effective, user experience – every time.

For more creative ideas and options for your next exhibition stand, get in touch with our Exhibition Management team via our contact form or email us.