Well it’s that time again when I have the urge to write a blog at the end of a busy week.
Just thought it was time to tell you a bit about what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks.

Recently I had the opportunity to be part of organising the travel and actually being on-site event support for two Publishing company’s Annual Sales Conferences, namely Random House http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/ and Transworld Publishers http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/.

It was very exciting to be involved with such an interesting conference; we had some very prestigious guest speakers in attendance. Probably the highlight was meeting Sir David Attenborough. Other well known’s at the conference included Nancy Dell’Ollio, Gail Porter and Louis Walsh.
 
One part of the brief when sourcing the location for the event was to suggest a destination for the conference which would have a low environmental impact and therefore low carbon footprint. Brussels was short-listed and eventually selected due its great rail links using Eurostar from London. It is a great sustainable conference destination for company’s based in the UK wishing to travel abroad.

The Eurostar is also excellent for those that like easy hassle free travel as well. There are no big queues to board the train and the check-in time is only 45 minutes before departure. Ideal for busy business people!

Here is the link for Eurostar http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/index.jsp. 

The conference took place at the 5* Sheraton Brussels Hotel based in the business district of Brussels http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=488. The staff were really helpful throughout the conference. They were always on hand to offer assistance. The rooms were comfortable however due to the scale of the hotel it’s not the best place to stay if you have any vertigo problems, I would definitely recommend requesting a room on the lower ground floor if this is the case.

If you get time you can also enjoy the facilities such as the sauna and rooftop swimming pool, perfect for a morning view of the city!

The Brussels North station is an easy five-minute walk away and there is direct metro access from the hotel. Although Brussels is easy to get around, when dealing with a large group we found it easier to organise group transfers to get delegates from A to B. We used a fantastic company called Executive Limousine Organisation http://www.executivelimo.org/. They reacted brilliantly to last minute changes and all the drivers were excellent and very well presented in tailored suits.

If you love shopping the hotel is ideally located close to the main shopping streets with all the big brand shops located in walking distance from the hotel, it was great for delegates to quickly get out of the hotel for a break in-between sessions. Chocolate best associated with Belgium was the number one shopping item for delegates. In fact most of the delegates purchased chocolate gifts for their friends and family to take back to England.

Not far from the hotel, also within walking distance there are some must see sites. The Grand Place, the main tourist hub in Brussels is a must see, especially at night when the beautiful baroque and gothic guild houses are lit wonderfully. Another must see that gets all the tourists flocking to it with cameras at the ready is the Mannekin Pis, this is the famous statue of a little boy peeing in a fountain, hehe! Another place that is well worth a visit especially if the weather is not so good is the Galeries St Hubert a gorgeous, glass roofed arcade in the centre of town, lined with cafes, theatres and luxury stores.

The food was also excellent in Brussels.  We organised two external dinners during the conference; to Les Salons de L’Atelaide and La Quincaillerie. Both venues had excellent food and ambience!

Check out the link for La Quincaillerie http://www.quincaillerie.be/showPage.php?page=home
All in all I had a fantastic time and thought Brussels was a great place to visit and I would definitely like to go back and see more of the city in the near future.