Beach Sculpture Team Building in Scarborough

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News Release                                                 November 2012

Beach Sculpture for meetings delegates creates new team building opportunity.

Organisers of team events have a new opportunity at Scarborough’s Red Lea Hotel.

In Summer 2012 people in Scarborough helped to smash the world record for the most sand castles by more than 100. They built 683 sand castles in an hour – beating the previous total of 571 which was set last year by the people of Duncannon in Ireland.

The hotel has now introduced a special Beach Sculpture package for delegates which willl emulate the world record attempt and help teams to bring their organisational skills and time management to the fore.

“Team building is often thought of as something that requires special equipment or a highly-trained task-master and taking place in an expensive hotel’s grounds or private estate. This team building is on our doorstep, is free to use and needs no special equipment or training. It is an ideal value-led option for any organisation.” comments general manager David Hull.

Scarborough is well-known as England’s first resort and the Red Lea Hotel is close to the South Bay beach, where the world record was achieved in the Summer of 2012.

David Hull adds, “People love beaches because they provide so many memories and a fresh and exhilirating feeling plus the sounds and smells of the sea which is always evocative. When you remember childhood sandcastle-building competitions it seems that beaches could have been invented for team buidling”.

Images of the beach sculpture can be found at: http://bit.ly/QktxmI (Photographs © Tony Bartholemew)

For further information please contact:

David Hull, The Red Lea Hotel, Prince of Wales Terrace, Scarborough, North Yorkshire YO11 2AJ Tel: 01723 362431

Email: info@redleahotel.net   - Website: www.redleahotel.co.uk

Press Contact: John Gallery, Great Potential Tel: 0845 838 6338

Email: johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk

Notes to Editors: The Red Lea Hotel is owned by Sara and Nick Allen and is located near the Scarborough Spa on South Bay Scarborough. It has 68 en-suite bedrooms, three star accreditation, leisure club with heated indoor swimming pool, restaurant, bar and meeting facilities for up to 40 delegates.

Bedern Hall York

News Release                                                                                     November 2012

Historic York venue is finalist in Press Business Awards

Bedern Hall the historic meetings and event venue in the centre of York has become a finalist in the annual York Press Business of the Year Awards.

The venue was short-listed for its work in Tourism for its ‘localism’ agenda. Roger Lee of Time and Place catering and who operates Bedern Hall on behalf of the Guilds of York entered the Tourism and Hospitality Award category and attended the glittering ceremony at York Racecourse on Thursday evening 15^th November 2012.

“The Hall is popular for its central location and we have been activley developing or local initiatives as part of our marketing and delivery strategy. Whilst we congratulate the winning business, to be a finalist in the Awards is a worthy achievement in its own right and it was an interesting and enjoyable experience to be involved.” comments Roger Lee.

Roger is offering a currently offereing complimentary meeting room for first-time bookers so that they can learn more about the venue, try the food and service and discuss ways that future events can be placed at Bedern Hall. The free offer is subject to available dates and agreement.

“We are a community venue and it is important to continue to develop our customer base and in the current economic environment we appreciate that many organisations have limited budgets so this is a long term approach to building relationships in the local community with businesses, public sector and other organisations.” added Roger.

For further information please contact: Roger Lee, Time and Place Caterers, Bedern Hall, St Andrewgate , Bedern, York YO1 7AL Tel: 01904 653698

Email: roger@bedernhall.co.uk Website: www.bedernhall.co.uk

Press Contact: John Gallery, Great Potential, Tel: 0845 838 6338

Email: johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk

• Notes to Editors: Bedern Hall caters for up to 80 delegates for a sit-down meal or conference in the main hall plus a smaller suite for up to 25 guests. Bedern Hall is owned by the Guilds of York.

High Definition Business Resolution?

There’s a new mood for visual art and technical prowess joining forces to make products and service look realistic and compelling.  Video is the new communicator as shorter attention spans and the exponential growth in personal video through smart phones, tablet devices, widescale broadband access and now 4G mobile networks.

Add the convergence of TV, telephone, mobile and broadband access for video, live streaming and other hybrid tools and it is easy to see why a business without video presence will soon be like a business without a fax 20 years ago. It is changing yet again how people buy and do business and how quickly it has come about too.

The high definition video market was once expensive but now almost everyone has the option of HD video on their smart phone. This is great for the news-gathering industry as they have almost instant access to material but what if the person making a video for business promotion has something more to offer than point and shoot?

This is where the new age of video production comes into the fore. The ability to make a video inspire, engage and intrigue the viewer is more likely to help a business and generate sales. A badly produced video will do harm.

Great Potential has introduced high-end video production through its new service the Little Genie.
The Little Genie makes video that engages, with a style that uses the same techniques used in broadcast advertising and creates compelling moving images that sell.

With YouTube, Vimeo and other video platforms taking centre stage, if you don't already have a business video the time is right now to have one.

Call the Little Genie - 0845 838 6338- Check our work here: https://vimeo.com/search?q=Littlegenie

Olfactory Events?

Found myself listening to a Radio Four science programme tackling the complex subject of human odour and it struck a chord. The programme explored that scientists are training not just dogs, but bees, mice and electronic noses to sniff out security threats by odour alone.

Olfactory surveillance, that is, using the sense of smell to harness and mimic nature, has many implications when utilising this world of scents.

Certain smells can transport us back to our childhood. Our olfactory perceptions are increasingly being recognised by scientists as the foundation for many of our decisions and actions, from consumer loyalty to weight loss and age perception.

The use of smell in commercial environments is not new - think of the smell of baking bread as you walk past the bakery store or that oft-used phrase 'smell the coffee' and you can understand that smells in meetings could have interesting effects.

Some venues have already recognised the phenomenon and adapted their meeting space to create environments with different smells for different types of event. Whilst this may at present be mainly to do with setting the scene or mood, there may be more practical uses than at first imagined - positive applications of course are the preferred outcome but there is always the possibility of more sinister use of this medium.

If the scientists can detect the smell of fear perhaps they will help meetings organisers and planners to arrange events that help them to identify delegates' apprehension!....

Bring out the smelling salts!....

John Gallery

director, Great Potential.
www.greatpotential.co.uk
johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk

Rapid Future?

With Facebook going public recently it got me thinking what might be the 'next big thing' online. There seems to have been a flurry of social media and 'me too' versions of Facebook including business networking tools such as Linked In, Four Square, Pinterest and so on..  they all seem to me to be basically similar software and many of us are very comfortable with them. Nothing really new seems to have emerged in the last couple of years - perhaps it's due to the economic climate; the ideas-generators in silicon valley are cashing-in their past ideas or then again there is something currently under development that will leap-frog all of the more recent stuff and move on to the next level.

At IMEX Frankfurt I came across an interesting seminar by Rohit Talwar on this very subject - the future. It was a very well attended event and Rohit, a global futurist and the founder of Fast Future Research, (www.fastfuture.com) provided a comprehensive range (and some seemingly far-fetched) ideas of what the meetings industry might be like in the future.

Some of his suggestions are already taking shape and included items such as genetic apps that will identify the status of your health through samples of your saliva; new super-smart materials such as an algie that can be applied to glass surfaces so that cracks will self heal; the internet of the future that will provide more experiential options such as taste and smell; vertical farming which triples the output of crops using less land...

There were many more interesting items, too numerous to mention here, but very thought-provoking. The main message of the continuing future journey and that we are now in a new turbulant era bringing even greater changes and multiple business models that will happen rapidly.
Whatever is next, we can be certain that Facebook's rapid growth will probably be surpassed. Keeping up may be the biggest challenge....
(this blog also recently posted on 'The Bottom Line', Great Potential's online e-zine: http://bit.ly/KhARMq)

Social Media Polemic?

How many times do we hear that one celebrity or another has made a gaff on Twitter? Worse, people have now been jailed for their comments on the service. The temptation to blast off an opinion on social media is certainly akin to the pub debate but with the popularity of the medium so widespread it is a danger zone for the unwitting commentator.

Social media has provided easy access to our opinions and comments and they are easy platforms for comment. Just because it is easy to do, does not mean that anything goes and as in any medium, slander, blasphemy and down right rudeness are still frowned upon and some are illegal - or are they? There is a feeling amongst some that the use of social media in this way is symptomatic of a general 'dumbing down' in society. Ultimately the protagonists will be measured by their own actions and as those of us with somewhat longer experience in life know things can often come back to haunt.

The benefits of instant communication are being felt daily as the world tries to emerge from recession and avoid depression. The opportunity to inform and link to other online media, to create awareness of brands, explain about products, make offers, deals and extend customer service is excellent and with so few characters available it is the clever use of the medium that is allowing smaller businesses to punch above their weight in an ever increasing online 'noise'.

Too much promotion, too many dull comments will only serve to reduce this value and the over exposure may make some of us turn back to traditional media for better results.

Time will tell... until the next big thing arrives... must tweet this message...

New Year Business Resolution or Revolution?

New Year Revolution?

2011 is behind us but what lies ahead for tourism? Will 2012 fare better, worse, the same or have we now moved into a new paradigm that changes how we do business? The start of a new calendar is always a good time for considering the future and reviewing the values we hold about work and life in general. More fitness, putting family before work and work-life balance are the usual resolutions but how long does this good intent last?

2012 for hotels and venues will certainly be challenging and the start of the year might just be the time to think about the values we hold in business, perhaps to revue it, make a paradigm shift and change it for the better. Here are five thoughts to focus upon below:

1. Analyse each profit area of the business. Calculate how much effort and money is spent on each area; which is the most profitable; what will make it more profitable; what is most wasteful; if an area is not profitable what needs to happen to make it so or should it be dropped?

2. What are the REAL costs of each area? How can costs be reduced? Put a focus on something specific to determine the real cost and it is amazing how much costs can be reduced.

3. Think about a sales and marketing health check. The famous line 'half of my advertising works, I wish I knew which half' may no longer apply. There are more systems than before to measure the outcomes of sales and marketing activity. Google Analytics is just the start. Tracking systems for every area of the business can be employed including website and call tracking, conversion attribution, tactical targeted campaigns and so on...

4. Check training for sales and review cost control – are these included in the business plan? So many opportunities are lost when employees are not trained in sales, have poor attitudes and 'sales prevention' prevails. Similarly, the costs of a business rise because there is a lack of awareness of the cost of equipment, breakages, poor staff planning and so on....

5. Question each outcome. Is it luck, judgement or planning and setting goals in advance that make it work? More likely the latter.

Make the paradigm shift today - "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got!"