Top 5 Tips for finding the right venue for your event
Finding the right venue for your next event need not be a major headache if you follow our 5 Top Tips ....
It will never happen to me! Event Insurance - do I really need it?
How many people in our industry consider Event Insurance? Specialist insurer Hiscox stated that there was a predictable rise in claims for event insurance earlier this year. Despite this, most events were not insured for bad weather at all. Read on for our Top 10 insurance tips ...
The Disability Discrimination Act - Profiting from compliance
As an Event organiser, you know it is the right thing to do, you know you have to do it and you know it makes commercial sense..
10 Commercial reasons to address DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)
7 Top Tips for finding an accessible venue
10 Essential Budget Planning Tips for your Event
Preparing a definitive budget for an event is a challenging task with so many factors to consider, however with the help of our 10 Essential Budget Planning Tips, we hope that the next budget you prepare will be easier to create and pleases the purse holders!
7 Top Tips for a successful Site Inspection visit
Site inspections, or showrounds, serve only one purpose - to ascertain whether a venue is the most suitable venue for your particular event. Below we identify our 7 Top Tips for a successful Site inspection visit:
A Touch Of Sparkle... for Christmas 2009 at Ufton Park
A Touch of Sparkle for Christmas 2009, Celebrate this year at Ufton Park, Reading.Set in a beautifully restored Tithe barn in the grounds of a magnificent Elizabethan Manor House.
6 Top Tips for Hosting a Successful Corporate Golf Day
How to use the "Credit Crunch" to your advantage
How can Red Dragon Events help you benefit from the Credit Crunch? More than ever venues need to retain as much exisiting business as possible whilst continuing to attract new business. There are a number of ways in which this can be used to your advantage:
The Spying Game - How Safe is your conference?
"Eureka" moment at 10.04pm
10.04pm "Eureka" moment may spell the end of the early nights! - 4.33pm is the least creative time of the day; - The shower is found to be the most inspiring space; - Women are better at retaining their creative ideas
Conference Food and its effect on your delegates
Conference food - how does the food you serve effect your delegates?
Referral Incentive Scheme
New - Referral Incentive Scheme! Earn a minimum of £50 Bonus Bond vouchers for every successful referral you provide us over a certain booking value! Plus another £50 worth of bonus bond vouchers to the person you referred us to!
Crash Course in organising a Christmas Party 2008
Christmas parties are often the highlight of the year for many companies. Below we have listed some helpful tips to make sure you have a great time!
Early-Eager or PM Professional
A new report shows tapping into a delegate's natural human rhythms can aid productivity, concentration and retention. The Meeting Minds report by Dr Lawrence Smith, senior lecturer at the Institue of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, applies psychological theory regarding human rhythms, sleep and work scheduling to the meetings industry.
Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement - incorporating new technology
Crash Course in Audio Visual
Using the latest technology can be an important tool in getting the message across at your next event. We have identified below some key points to consider when creating the maximum effect from your AV.
Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event
Read our Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event!
Top Tips for Hosting a Memorable Corporate Golf Day
Golf is considered one of the most important tools in Corporate Entertaining.
10 Top Tips for Holding Greener Meetings
1. Save Paper. Using new media and electronic technology can cut down your paper use.
In conjunction with our Article on the Disability Discrimination Act and its effect on events, please find below 7 Top tips for finding an accessible venue for your next event. 1 - If you plan to undertake an access audit yourself, use the guidance and toolkits available and set aside enough time. Create a checklist to take with you on site inspection visits to assess and compare venue suitability. Remember to look at external approaches, anterooms and any facilities at the venue such as public telephones or vending machines; 2 - Check that access features are maintained and managed. For example, disabled toilets are sometimes used as additional storage space; loop and infrared systems for people with hearing impairments may not be properly operated or maintained; 3 - Find out about awareness training for venue staff. Does the venue regularly use agency staff and/ or casual staff - have they had suitable training? Will you or somebody with an understanding of disability access issues be able to brief them before the event? 4 - What policies and procedures does the venue have? Do they have a policy not to admit animals? If so, then you must ensure that this policy does not extend to assistance dogs (guide dogs) as this is likely to be illegal; 5 - What are the evacuation procedures? Do they take account of disabled people, including people with sensory impairments and mobility difficulties? Does the venue have information about evacuation and emergency procedures available in different formats such as Braille or large print? if not, you will have to provide this to your attendees at the start of the event; 6 - Think about the venue when it is full and your delegates and customers are moving around the venue. Will the venue still be accessible or not? Will you need to consider leaving more space for people to move around or changing the timetable to allow additional time for people to move from the function room to the restaurant for lunch, as an example? 7 - Carry out a Risk Assessment. This will help you identify and remove or reduce any health and safety risks - e.g. slippery surfaces, hazardous materials and risk from vehicles. Risk assessments are not designed to exclude certain groups of people, they are there to ensure everybody's safety. "Five Steps to Risk Assessment" is a short publication produced by The Health and Safety Executive and can be downloaded from their website. Finally, whenever possible, consult with colleagues who have a disability and involve them in all the processes to ensure that as many factors as possible are covered in the planning stages. Source: Adapted from the original article written by Michael McGrath for Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, October 2009. To read the full article, please click here Michael McGrath is the only disabled person in the world to have successfully led expeditions to two of the most inaccessible places on Earth - the North and South Poles. For more information on Michael McGrath and what he can do for you, please visit Michael's website
