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Newcastlegateshead Convention Bureau Is A Hit For Whyman Group
NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau’s push to bring the world’s top conferences to the region has been instrumental in the rapid growth of north east conferencing company, The Whyman Group.
The Convention Bureau was instrumental in the Brussels based UK Research Office (UKRO) hosting their global 2006 conference in Newcastle. The Whyman Group then won the contract to organise the event, which was attended by over 200 delegates from as far a field as New Zealand. As a result of this successful event the Jesmond-based firm has since been appointed to handle six other UKRO events, including the 2007 Annual Conference which was held at the Imperial College in London.
Since then, The Whyman Group has also won other event management contracts thanks to its membership of the NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau, including the European Pancreatic Club conference held earlier this year in Gateshead and the 2008 International Biochar Initiative Conference. The International Biochar conference will be held at Newcastle’s Civic Centre in September next year and will attract an international audience to the region.
Prof. David Manning, who appointed The Whyman Group said, “Working with the Convention Bureau certainly helped make the selection of a professional conference organiser much easier – by making the necessary introductions and assisting with drafting detailed specifications. We chose Whyman from a very strong field, and look forward to a successful event”.
The Whyman Group have been members of the Convention Bureau for six years, and have found the organisation, that promotes NewcastleGateshead to the rest of the world has helped increase their business. John Cartmell, partner, said: “Being based in North East England we are always delighted to see major conferences come to the region, not least when we get to work on them.
“We also manage large scale conferences right across Europe, and with the Convention Bureau introducing us to organisations such as UKRO we have used that as a spring board to grow our brand and our business all over the UK as well.
Being able to say we have worked on top conferences such as the World Summit on Arts and Culture, and the European Pancreatic Club Conference has certainly opened up numerous other opportunities outside the region and enabled us to expand our business in the last year.”
Jessica Roberts, head of business tourism at NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau, said: “The conference sector in NewcastleGateshead is extremely strong and the support of active Convention Bureau members such as the Whyman Group is paramount if we are to maintain a thriving business tourism market. Through working in partnership we can use our expertise to continually position NewcastleGateshead as one of the UK’s leading conference destinations”.
Published:08/12/07
Northumbria University graduates Ashleigh Connor and Helen Vickers are celebrating joining the team, here at The Whyman Group.
Gateshead-born Helen graduated from university earlier this year. Her new role as events management assistant will see her assist our operations manager in the day to day running of the company’s range of corporate entertainment, exhibitions and events activities.
A large part of her job will involve her in handling a complex set of delegate tracking, travel and accommodation arrangements via the company’s bespoke delegate management systems, which are tailored to each client’s needs.
Ashleigh Connor takes up the newly created post of sponsorship and exhibition sales executive, and her brief is to use the company’s range of sponsorship packages to promote involvement and the take up of exhibition space across the company’s extensive events programme.
Both Helen and Ashleigh will report to operations manager Will McLean, who said: “Both Helen and Ashleigh demonstrated exactly the qualities of enthusiasm, drive and initiative we were looking for, and they have already slotted into the team and started making a valuable contribution to the success of the business.
“Building a career in the event management business means having the right attitude. We pride ourselves on a unique approach and on our ability to listen to clients, truly understand what they want to achieve and then get on and do it. While we each have individual responsibilities, it’s important to recruit team members who while they may come to us without years of experience, have the same vision as the rest of the team, backed up by the confidence to take on client-facing roles. We love what we do and we want all our people to feel the same way.
“The newly-created roles that Helen and Ashleigh have stepped in to are designed to strengthen our team to cope with a growing client list, and allow us to expand the company into a number of growth areas over the coming months.”
Published:08/12/07