Well, it’s going to be an exciting year (hopefully that’s going to be the right word for it!).  We are all getting stuck into 2019 with no idea in which direction our Brexit departure will take us.  Personally, I went into the Hotel and Events Business specifically to avoid a ‘normal’ office routine and to have some unpredictability, that’s certainly how it’s turned out – more so now than ever!

And in 2019 The Conference People start our 33rd year in business.  From where I’m sitting I can only see positives.  We have the same wonderful mix of clients across literally every business sector as well as in the public environment and so called ‘third sector’.  There are new and unusual venues appearing constantly as well as innovative developments at many of our ‘old friends’.  Our Free Venue Finding Service has already been challenged in the first seven days of the year to source venues in Rome, Lisbon, Prague, Barcelona, Malta, Toronto, Tokyo and New York as well as all over the UK, we genuinely work anywhere! (and everywhere)!  We already have near 2000 events booked for this year covering conferences, road shows, team building, Awards events and so on.

Whatever happens, you can be sure that we won’t be standing still this year, our own Venue Database which we fondly call ‘AVenue’ is having a major overhaul.  The venue information that we hold and treasure, started way back in the 1980’s and it is constantly updated so that we can be sure that we have the most up to date info at our fingertips all the time.  Together with this we are redeveloping our UBook Delegate Management System to provide even more flexibility.  UBook can be used for any type of event, it’s extremely cost effective and we can create a design that marries with our client’s style and branding.

But, more important than all this is something else.  Our byline says ’It’s all about People’ and this is so true. We are the most people-based industry there is.  Always striving to exceed expectations for the delegates who attend our events and we love the people relationships that we make along the way.  May I tell you that we have a truly fantastic team in our own office, you can see them all here, many of us have been together for a long time and without whom I wouldn’t even be writing this now.  So to all our clients, venues, suppliers and friends in our extraordinary industry – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Robert Enefer
MD The Conference People