A thought-provoking piece about networking in Conference News by one of its columnists Richard John caught our eye.

“Cut to the chase” proposed that much time at event industry networking sessions could be saved if organisers of such events used matchmaking software to identify what each delegate was actually looking for, and published this information on delegate’s badges, so that delegates didn’t waste valuable time networking with people who couldn’t supply what they wanted. Continue reading →

Another malfunctioning themepark ride has made the headlines, following the Smiler crash last year at Alton Towers.

This time it’s at Dreamworld on Australia’s Gold Coast where a raft on the Thunder River Rapid ride flipped over when it was travelling on a conveyor belt throwing two children clear and killing two men and two women. Tragically the children thrown clear saw their mothers die.

The park is operated by Ardent Leisure which has suffered criticism for wanting to reopen a few days later and for using PR-talk that they had “reached out” to the victim’s families, which they hadn’t.

Over the last ten years the park has won a clutch of awards from Queensland Tourism, for what it’s worth.

The four star 53-bedroom Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter was completely destroyed by fire last month, which was thought to have started in the adjacent fine art gallery. Everyone was safely evacuated and 120 firefighters battled to save it.

It was the first property in England to be called a hotel, back in 1769, and hosted such notables as Admiral Nelson, Franz Liszt, Beatrix Potter, Thomas Hardy, Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. Paintings destroyed in the Castle Fine Art Gallery included works by Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.

The hotel’s current owner Andrew Brownswood, who bought it in 2003 for £4.5 million has pledged to rebuild it.

A dispute over building works that ran three months behind schedule at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch forced a Leeds construction company into liquidation. (The Business Desk)

The £35 million turnover company, Bay Construct Ltd, was incorporated in 2011 and went into liquidation last month with a loss of 95 jobs.

The Richmond Hotel Liverpool, in the city’s business district and a short stroll from Lime Street station, is independently owned and was converted from the head office for Merseytravel three years ago, though local folk still occasionally pop in to inquire about bus passes. The Grade ll listed building dates back to 1906, and the hotel is part of the Best Western Premier Collection. Continue reading →

Organisers looking for exclusive use of elegant conference rooms in the heart of historical London will want to know about Trinity House, on Tower Hill in EC3 and adjacent to the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the Thames.

With the atmosphere of a stately country mansion and furniture, paintings and 1790’s decor to match Trinity House is a Grade 1 listed building that is part of England’s maritime history, today operating as the working home of the General Lighthouse Authority as well as the headquarters of the Corporation of Trinity House, a registered charity that provides aids for maritime navigation as well as funding for cadetships and donations to other maritime charities. Past Masters of Trinity House, from its first in 1514, have included Admirals, Vice-Admirals, Captains, Earls, Dukes, Colonels, Barons, Baronets and Viscounts, along with the Rt Hon William Pitt and diarist Samuel Pepys. The current Master is HRH The Princess Royal KC KT GCVO who took the post in 2011 after her father, HRH The Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh KG KT OM GBE had held it since 1969, a 42-year tenure making him the longest serving Master. Continue reading →

Also in the area is the Grange City Hotel, located opposite Trinity House in Coopers Row and with many of its 307 guest bedrooms offering views of the historic Tower of London and Tower Bridge, along with the Shard for modern contrast. For those who love their history and archaeology the hotel site also features the largest remaining undamaged piece of London’s Roman Wall, a 30-metre run that was 9 ft thick at the base and 20 ft high when built around AD 200. Today the top half is a section that was added in Medieval times. Continue reading →

Free networking sessions for anyone in the events industry are held by Citizen Event at the Grace Bar and Restaurant, 42, Great Windmill Street, London, W1D 7NB on the last Friday of every month.

There is normally no organised programme but October’s session featured a speaker from health and safety consultants FPL who warned that organisers should always ask themselves how what they have done will sound in court, whether it sounds like enough and how it would look if a barrister read out their company’s profit margins. Continue reading →

Another good exhibition for those wanting to keep up with food trends is Lunch, held at the Business Design Centre, Islington in September and focussing on food to go.

At this year’s presentation we sampled some Up & Go liquid breakfast, made from skimmed milk and oats. Apparently a 330 ml carton of this replaces a bowl of cereal with milk, and though it was pleasant to drink we personally prefer our big breakfast bowl of home-mixed museli with oat clusters for crunchy contrast. It is , however a growing trend for thrusting young types, especially in Australia, to ditch the bowl of traditional cereals in favour of something they can eat or drink whilst driving, perhaps with a mobile phone in the other hand, so who are we to carp? Continue reading →