The Future of Meetings & Events - Accelerating your comeback after COVID
Announcement posted by iVvy 03 Jun 2020
As the hospitality industry prepares for the post-COVID comeback, iVvy is staging a live webinar with leading industry panelists offering venue operators strategies, tactics and forecasts for recovery. To be held 10am GMT+1 and 7pm AEST Thursday 11 June, the event is free for industry professionals.
Hospitality consultant Heather Hart, Twickenham Experience Ltd Managing Director Nils Braude, Mathew Jayne of Unique Venues of Manchester and Jonathan Lui, Director of Revenue Strategy and Marketing Operations of glh Hotels join iVvy’s Rachael Grimsey in an exclusive digital event to chart the ‘new normal’ as venues across the UK and Europe re-open.
“Gain first-hand advice from hospitality leaders on best practices to accelerate your venue’s recovery,” says Grimsey, iVvy’s Senior Vice President - Global Sales & Partnerships.
From technology and automation to revenue management and profitability amid reduced capacity, The Future of Meetings & Events promises actionable insights to get ahead of the curve.
“The appetite for meetings and events has altered,” says Lauren Hall, CEO and Founder of iVvy. “Organisers and attendees will undoubtedly be cautious about attending events again. Health and safety is a prime concern, and the onus is squarely on venues to ensure best practice in hygiene, social distancing, catering and communications to bolster consumer confidence in booking and attending future events.
“In addition to social distancing, we’ll also see more automation as the meetings industry searches for cost savings to compensate for potential profit impacts, with reduced capacities and increased delivery costs,” Hall says.
“For many venues, the operational requirements of upholding government regulations coupled with their reduced workforce resulting from significant budget cuts may make hosting events seem impossible. We’ve partnered industry leaders to offer guidance for venue operators on post-COVID compliance, maximising revenue even with diminished demand, and identifying where the opportunity lies ahead.”
The FREE webinar will cover key issues for operators including:
Key strategies for success as venues prepare to re-open in the coming weeks
Tactics to maximise efficiency and revenue, even with a diminished workforce
Technology and automation to achieve more with less
Opportunities for venues - big and small
The ‘new normal’ - forecasts for the future of meetings and events
This exclusive event is tailored for venue operators and strictly limited to 100 attendees. Register at https://bit.ly/2ZZkqjn
ENDS
FOR INTERVIEW REQUESTS AND FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
COURTNEY ROBINSON, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ON 0423 936 943
ABOUT IVVY
iVvy’s sales & catering solution is revolutionising the meetings and events industry by powering real-time transactions between event organisers, hotels, restaurants and suppliers. Through the iVvy technology, venues are able to yield their meetings and events offering by showcasing live inventory data for function space, group accommodation and F&B, ultimately maximising revenue. With more than 12,000 users in 13 countries, iVvy’s mission is to bring together a highly fragmented industry by generating real-time connectivity.
OUR PANELISTS
Heather Hart builds on her 35 years of experience across the hospitality segment to bridge the divide between rooms revenue and other hotel sales and marketing functions, helping companies improve the yield from their Meetings & Event space through higher conversion and better space utilisation. Heather previously operated a successful revenue management consultancy, RevExcel for 8 years, and has held senior management positions at hotel chains/groups across the U.K. Europe and USA. As the founder and creator of Smart Space, a cloud-based tool that provides comprehensive demand profiles, performance measurement and selling strategy models, Heather was responsible for helping hotels and conference venues see the power behind a dynamic pricing strategy for meetings and events. The application of these, in Smart Space, helps enhance strategic decisions and increases revenue growth. Smart Space was acquired in 2017 by IDeaS, and having continued to work for the company for the following 2 years Heather is once again providing specialist support to Hotels and Event Venues on all aspects of improving commercial performance.
Nils Braude, is the Managing Director of Twickenham Experience, the conferencing and hospitality business set within Twickenham Stadium, the Home of England Rugby and one of the most iconic and historic stadiums on the planet. Nils joined Twickenham in 2019, after running some of the biggest and most successful stadiums in the country and retail operations within some of the UK ‘s key airports. Sport has always been his passion though, and his career has seen him work across stadia, including Reading Football Club, Liberty Stadium, Leicester City Football Club, Cardiff CIty Stadium, The Rose Bowl Cricket Club, and the Millenium Stadium. As well as a passionate advocate for the UK hospitality industry, Nils is also an innovative leader and a highly strategic operations manager, leading Twickenham to increase its hospitality business both on match day and non-match day and launching the stadium’s impressive East Stand in 2018.
Mathew Jayne, Founder and Managing Director for Unique Venues of Manchester, a web based marketing company and consultancy, dedicated to promoting alternative, unusual and unique venues in Manchester. With over twenty-five years working in the hospitality sector, Mathew has a wealth of knowledge and experience in sales, marketing, operations and finance within the sector. Throughout his career, he’s been involved in the management of hotels, conference centres, property and serviced offices, university commercial facilities and unique venues. In 2015, Mathew set up Unique Venues of Manchester with a clear vision to offer venues a digital platform, an inclusive community and networking events to help connect with event agents, planners and organisers from across the UK. Mathew has since expanded the brand to Leeds and Liverpool, as well as further roll-out planned for later this year.
Jonathan Lui, Director of Revenue Strategy & Marketing Operations, glh Hotels. Prior to joining glh Hotels, Jonathan worked with Accor Hotels for over 10 years overseeing Sales & Distribution in Greater China, then Pricing & Revenue Management across the UK and Ireland, and most recently leading the integration of Fairmont & Swissotel hotel in Singapore into Accor following the acquisition of FRHI. With a background starting in hotel operations, then moving through into commercial strategy, Jonathon has an holistic approach to revenue strategy, championing customer centricity across the entire customer journey.