Tag: eventprofs

Making BeaconHouse Events a little greener…

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

There are plenty of small, simple things you do to conserve energy and run a greener office. From eco-friendly cleaning products to turning down the thermostat, we’ve been taking our top hacks for reducing our office carbon footprint and trying to improve our impact across the venues we host events at. Work continues within the team to find more sustainable solutions across the board, so we’ll be adding to our measures throughout 2019 and beyond.

Sustainability swaps we are taking are

Standby to OFF

We are all aware that standby isn’t great for the environment, but it’s also not the best for our wallets either – each year, UK households waste £227 million from appliances left on standby. So, we turn off all our appliances at the plug when not in use.

Single Use to Reusable

The lure of single-use plastic for quick food service is common but we’ve been asking venues to either ensure our delegates are served with crockery, or if required recyclable trays. We also ensure our pre-event delegate communications encourage bringing reusable cups/water bottles that can be filled up (and rinsed) at stations around the event

Meat to Veggie

Meat-free meals have a far smaller carbon footprint than meat, and the desire to eat closer to a plant-based diet is growing, so the venues we’ve worked with have been providing some exceptional veggie and vegan menus. When there is an expectation of a meat/fish course, we’ve been turning to game, wild fish, and poultry for feasts with a lower carbon footprint.

National to Local

We are spoilt in Newcastle for choice of suppliers, from eco-friendly printers Northern Print to a wealth of local food suppliers championing great produce (Hexhamshire Organics, Belly of the Beast), we don’t have to stretch out of the region and transport cargo across the world.

Taxis to Tours

Our events often include multi-site usage, and we’ve been championing informative and fun (we promise) walking tours to get delegates across cities to other venues. We can’t always promise the weather will be fine, but it’s a great extra networking and social activity for delegates visiting the city.

Programmes to Apps

Where possible, we’ve been reducing the production of any print, and moving programmes online with interactive apps, where delegates can organise the sessions they will attend, chat with delegates pre-event and keep up to date on the latest information.

Commercial Bins to a SINGLE Bin Bag

With our client Space Group, we’ve made a big (or rather small) commitment. To take a two-day conference with exhibition and awards ceremony, BIM Show Live, and reduce the waste from filling commercial bins to fill one, single, standard, the type you’d have at home, black, bin bag. Which means we are looking at every element of the event, ensuring we are reducing at every step from launch to delivery.

We’ll keep you updated on progress!

Five Years, Five Defining Events…

Posted on by Sophie_Admin
  1. And so the adventure began when we delivered our first event with BeaconHouse Boss caps on… The 2014 Family Law Bar Association National Conference and celebratory dinner in the iconic Sage Gateshead. After glowing client feedback, the first step on this orange-hued journey began.
  2. Entertaining 24,000 Great North Run enthusiasts and serving over 1 tonne of carb-a-licious pasta all on a car park between Sage Gateshead and Baltic, seems impossible but we’ve done it every year since our inception! With the likes of Mo Farrah and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall in attendance, it’s the hottest place for runners (and those exhausted from watching the runners) to grab a bowl of nourishment the day before the big run.
  3. A real highlight in 2018 was our first collaboration with Wayne Hemingway MBE and HemingwayDesign, working to deliver the Northern Powerhouse Business Summit as part of the Great Exhibition of the North. With sessions from Mark Carney, Bank of England, and innovative customer UX design, the event welcomed 1,000 delegates from across the North East. There was an incident with an errant pigeon, but as cool, calm collected swans we made sure not a drop of faeces made it onto the esteemed shoulders of our speakers.
  4. We produced an award-winning award ceremony. Yes, you read that right, the Dynamites 18 event won Bronze at the Awards Awards earlier this month. Championing the IT community in the North East has always been important to us, working with Dynamo, but to be recognised nationally for an event that is a pleasure to organise, its winners all round, literally.
  5. The promotion of sustainability a key goal for us. We are thrilled to now work with The Planet Mark, producing their events across London. We are not naive about the effect of events on the environment, so learning from the team at The Planet Mark, we are able to take steps across our portfolio to minimise the negative impact and promote a sustainable vision for the years to come.

Here at BHE HQ we are looking forward to another five years of highlights, thanks to all our clients and supporters, we couldn’t have done it without you.

 

5 Reasons you should NOT host an event

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

You want to keep people apart

Events bring people together for a common purpose. Choosing to host an event will see you running the high risk of facilitating lasting relationships through networking. You and your team will be forced to build partnerships, meet prospects, and sell more products or services.

Inviting clients and prospects to an event they would genuinely be interested in; means they’ll be lured in by your non ‘salesy’ approach and unfortunately likely to accept your offerings. You’ll lumber yourself with a lot more work.

You’ll have to spend money and time

Champagne reception for your nearest and dearest clients, makes Joan in Accounts shudder. When you have an important message to communicate to a large audience of clients, employees or stakeholders, a simple email that they may, or more likely not read will probably suffice. Perhaps send it with the high importance exclamation mark, that might extend the attention span from the average eight seconds.

It will put your brand centre stage

Events command attention. If you’d rather your business was far from the limelight, it is essential to avoid this sort of commotion. An event will only encourage delegates to become company advocates and become further engaged in your brand. Sounds a bit clingy, better to keep them at an arm’s length.

People will be at risk of having fun

Keep morale at a consistent level by avoiding a yearly award show for employees or customers – winners are likely to have an unhealthy ‘spike’ in motivation and encourage others to aim to win in future years.

Make sure to put a stop to any staff conferences or seminars. Beautiful and alternate locations encourage inspirational and out-of-the-box thinking, no point causing an unnecessary distraction. Employees can meet colleagues in the break room and learn about innovations in their own time – engaging in refresher training is unnecessary.

Removing teams from the comfort of the office will encourage ‘over relaxation’ and cohesive working – consider the operational complexities of this before instigating, you will risk attracting new staff and regrettably retaining qualified staff for years and years.

Focus will be removed from your core business

Events require focus and expertise – you’re too busy being an expert in your own industry. Working with a national award winning event agency will just highlight a lot of hard work required to make your event a success. You’ll be forced to work with another team of experts, learn things you didn’t know, extend the reach of your expertise and showcase your skill. We get it, you were happy just cracking on, no point shouting about it – the day to day won’t do itself.

Be an event avoider – avoid the ocean of event opportunity, it is vast, deep and full of risk – best to stay safe, grounded and risk-free.

Lean Green Event Machine

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

But we really went green last month in London with The Planet Mark when delivering their inaugural awards.. and now there is no turning back.

The Planet Mark have green blood. Every single decision they make is thought through carefully and the impact on our environment considered. If it doesn’t fit their ethos, values and purpose, they don’t do it.We have learnt many valuable lessons over the past few months, and here are just a few of them:

  • We carefully selected a venue with a robust environmental policy- step forward – Sadler’s Wells 
  • We banned single-use plastic at the event, before it was named 2018 word of the year!
  • Printing was kept to a minimum and was only produced on fully recycled stock
  • We didn’t produce any one use branding items instead sponsors brought the banners they already owned
  • All catering was vegetarian and vegan (did you know that the way most animals are reared for meat consumption isn’t sustainable?)
  • The trophies were made from sustainably sourced wood shipped to the UK from carefully managed forests in the US by boat.
  • Essential taxis for a few VIPs were booked with Green Tomato cars…
  • Our team even walked 30mins from our train station arrival point to the theatre. No taxis for us.. not even the green tomato variety.

I could go on.

The resounding message that Sir Tim Smit shared with us through his inspiring keynote, was that we are simply custodians of our children’s future. We must nurture it and protect it for them. It’s our duty.

Steve Malkin, the CEO and founder of The Planet Mark gave a rousing account of his own early recognition of the need to make a difference in his time on the planet. The certification they award to their holders, backed by the quite renowned Eden Project, is meaningful and not easy to obtain and retain.

The Planet Mark provide a detailed certification process for businesses to aim for. No stone is left unturned. They are even turning to social value measurement to ensure the certified holders do good for society, not just for the planet.

The green and sustainable movement is here to stay, and is growing in strength and impact. It’s not just a few environmentalists who are adopting this way to live, work and do business as it may have been a mere 20 years before, it is now a movement of many. The few there at the start of this revolution are leading the way and inspiring others to come with them.

We are certainly inspired and we will continue to ensure that our events do good. It’s our children’s future we are all responsible for after all.

To find out more about The Planet Mark certification programme visit their website.

8 Christmas Party Ideas

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

From scavenger hunts and mulled wine to a Harry Potter themed do, if you’re looking for something different we’ve put together eight cracking party ideas to ensure your end of year celebrations amaze and show your appreciation for colleagues and guests…(and steer Sandra from Accounts away from ordering that vodka ice-luge in the shape of a teeny Gino D’Acampo).

Scavenger Hunt:
Whether you’re planning your own adventure, or buying an affordable pre-planned guide from Treasure Trails scavenger hunts are a surprisingly fun way to spend an afternoon – especially when they finish at the pub. We’d recommend they start at a pub too, and maybe visit one and/or a Greggs for a festive bake in the middle.

Ugly Sweater Party:
Celebrate the awful with an annual turkey curry buffet and horrific sweaters! Everyone is instructed to wear their ugly sweater – prizes for the most impressive. If you’ve got a Scrooge in the office you might want to procure some back up hideous sweaters and other embarrassing props for good measure. The Chronicle Sunshine Fund are in the middle of their Christmas appeal which aims to raise much needed funds to buy specialist equipment for children in the North East – we’ll be supporting on 14th December. Make like Mark Darcy and pull out that seasonal sweater with the office team for a good cause. Text ‘KNIT18 £2’ to 70070 to donate.

Apres Ski:
Winter is the season to be jolly (tra la la la la), but it isn’t easy to keep jolly when there’s a gale battering your every whim. Perhaps a cosy mountain retreat would provide welcome respite, how handy that there is one on Swan House roundabout. Antler the Alpine haven promises mulled wine, a hearty menu of schnitzel and currywursts. Treat your colleagues to Alpine luxury in the heart of Newcastle, think traditional ski lifts in the heated outdoor garden, wintry ferns and hot chocolate. A winter wonderland and a magical dining experience for those who have embarked on the mountainous excursion of 2018.

Let’s Get Mulled:
Not one to mull over…a mulled party! Mulled wine, mulled cider…what else can you mull? Shortlist have handily mulled every kind of alcohol and can recommend Jagerbombs, Guinness, prosecco and strangely WKD Blue.

Harry Potter:
Everyone loves the schoolboy wizard, right? Let the excitement build as your guests receive their ‘letter from Hogwarts’ inviting them to the Banquet in the Grand Hall. The ‘Grand Hall’ can be full of props, the Sorting Hat, relevant house ties, cauldrons, and owls (if you dare to work with live animals)! You can provide cloaks for your muggle colleagues to be Yule Ball ready. Your guests will thank you after delicious roast beef, buttery mashed potato, topped off with treacle tart. Round the night off with coffees and chocolate frogs. Accio butterbeer…NOW!

Food Truck Rodeo:
The North East is full of insane food specialists so if you’ve got a big audience to please, why not have a food truck rally. Work out a coupon system and get trucks that cater for even the fussiest of pots. Some of our favourites are Scream for Pizza, Chuchos, Meat:Stack, Acropolis, Little Fishy, Simply Cheesecake and Fizzy Tap (yep, drinks too)! Book a band and you’ve got a festiv(e)al vibe with none of the wellies and rancid portaloos.

Christmas around the World:
Apart from playing Féliz Navidad on repeat there are some lovely traditions around the world you could incorporate into your party. Assign each staff member a country to research and they can bring in a Christmas treat from the country. Bagsie ‘Bûche de Noël’, what a centrepiece! Or in Japan fried chicken is THE meal to eat at Christmas. Oh I feel a Christmas quiz coming on! The slightly stranger tradition we’d like to see in action is the Catalan tradition of caga tió or “defecating log”, a grinning creature is carved out of a small log and placed on the dining table, you feed the log fruit, nuts, and sweets, you then beat the log until it excretes goodies…

Craftstavaganza:
A personal favourite of ours, we rang in Christmas 2017 with an enchanting wreath making class with Bels Flowers. Beautiful bows, sumptuous greens – Instagram perfection! But there are so many options for a real crafty time – a #GBBO Gingerbread decorating competition, get in teams to decorate Gingerbread homes or blow-your-own glass bauble at the National Glass Centre.

Consider us your BeaconHouse elves, working hard behind the scenes, under the big guy’s shadow (HI SANTA!), talk to us about your dream Christmas party. We can either help you plan or just give you an outlet for festive excitement….call the party hotline anytime!

Our Top 13 Haunting Locations for an Event

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

 

  1. Castle Keep, Newcastle
    Reports of ghostly chanting of unseen monks and disembodied screams heard coming from the gallery are enough to set the scene.
  2. Lumley Castle, Durham
    Famously haunted by the ghost of Lily of Lumley. Reportedly her lifeless body was thrown down the well, it’s said she comes up out of the well each night to walk the castle. Fantastic restaurant too…could murder one of their suppers.
  3. Town Moor, Newcastle
    Once the site of Newcastle’s gallows, all you need is the weather to play ball and blanket the moor in a ghostly mist and you might hear the bloodcurdling screams.
  4. Crook Hall, Durham
    One of Durham’s best-known ghosts, the White Lady of Crook Hall will surely RSVP if you invite her to a ball at her own manor. What a VVIP.
  5. Marsden Grotto, South Shields
    Your event can occur in the pub carved into the cliffs but if that isn’t enough Marsden Bay itself has its very own sea monster – Shoney.
  6. Holy Island, Lindisfarne
    What is spookier than being cut off from the mainland, especially when the causeway is ravaged by ferocious tides.
  7. Tyne Theatre, Newcastle
    The ghost of Bob Crowther a stagehand, sadly killed by a stage prop travelling at high velocity. Bob reportedly pushes past patrons. Make sure you don’t sit in his favourite seat in the stalls.
  8. Hancock Museum, Newcastle
    Apparently a mummy wanders the exhibits at night. And it’s not the comforting mother type…
  9. Lit and Phil Society, Newcastle
    Recent video footage showed a fire door opening on its own accord now some will say this is all hot air…or just a blast of air, but it’s a beautiful venue of its own accord so makes the list.
  10. Tynemouth Priory, Tynemouth
    Expect phantom monks praying at a stone in the graveyard. Towards the cliffs this location also offers extremely vintage air raid shelters, double fright for you to get your fangs into.
  11. Victoria Tunnel, Newcastle
    The picture says it all. Let’s hope your guests don’t suffer with claustrophobia.
  12. Newcastle Cathedral, Newcastle
    With not one but two ghosts, you’ll have enough entertainment for guests.
  13. The Mining Institute, Newcastle
    All dark wood and moody lighting, this is one mysterious venue currently closed for refurbishment. Sure the odd ghoul could float through the walls mind.