Member Article

Ricoh heading to the UK's largest events exhibition

The Ricoh Arena in Coventry will be spreading its wings at UK’s leading exhibition for event organisers in London.

National business development manager Jayne Nightingale and business development executive Paul Dowling will be showcasing the Ricoh Arena at not just one stand but two stands at International Confex.

The three-day show at ExCeL between March 19 and 21 is designed to connect event organisers with destinations, venues and suppliers.

Jayne and Paul will be dividing their time between the Coventry and Warwickshire stand along with other venues and leisure attractions from the sub-region as well as the Lime Venues Portfolio stand of which the Ricoh Arena is a member as part of the Compass Group which operates and manages the hospitality operation at the award-winning venue.

Jayne said attending International Confex was essential for any event organiser because of the networking opportunities.

“It is important to attend because it is the only show in the UK where you have the opportunity to meet such a wide breadth of people involved in the industry all under one roof,” she said.

“We meet up with people from the meetings and conference booking community such as the agencies who make bookings for corporate clients along with personal assistants and executive assistants.

“We also have access to the decision-makers and attending Confex increases the profile of the Ricoh Arena which is vital in an increasingly competitive sector.

“It is one of the few shows where we can mix with agencies and clients over three days instead of holding the same number of meetings throughout the UK over a much longer timeframe.

“As far as the Ricoh Arena is concerned, we want to stop people in their tracks to appreciate our fantastic facilities and location as well as the flexibility of our space in terms of the number of different rooms that we have.”

Jayne said as one of the landmark venues in the sub-region she felt it was important for the Ricoh Arena to be part of the Coventry and Warwickshire delegation.

She said: “We are a flagship venue for the meetings and conference industry in the area and it is important we all join forces to attract event organisers and their delegates to the city and the wider county to visit leisure attractions.

“Lime Venues Portfolio represents a number of Compass’ unusual, sporting and cultural venues and this is another opportunity to underline the versatility of the Ricoh Arena to as wide an audience as possible.”

Jayne and Paul will be part of the Lime Venues Portfolio stand number K563 and the Coventry and Warwickshire stand K140.

Two Coventry and Warwickshire destination showcase meetings have been organised on March 19. The first is between 12 noon-1.15pm in the Long Gallery (visitors to meet at stand K140 at 11.45am) while clients can also enjoy a bite to eat and listen to short presentations on the sub-region’s key features. As an extra incentive those who attend the showcase and visit Ricoh at the stand will be entered into a prize draw to win two Bruce Springsteen tickets to his gig at the Ricoh Arena on June 20 2013

The second destination showcase meeting is being held by Lime Venues called Unusual Made Easy and visitors should meet at stand K563 on March 20 from 3.30pm-7pm with the Ricoh also donating tickets in a prize giveaway for the Muse concert at the venue on May 22, 2013.

Those wishing to attend either showcase should contact Jacqui Foley on Jacqui.foley@ricoharena.com or call 0844 873 6582.

PICTURE CAPTION: The Ricoh Arena’s national business development manager Jayne Nightingale

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ricoh Arena .