HIC heads to London to showcase venue at major industry exhibition

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april 2014
HICNews
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HIC heads to London to showcase
venue
e at major industry exhibition
HIC Yorkshire’s sales and
marketing team flew the flag
for Harrogate at one of
Europe’s most high-profile
exhibitions for the events
industry.
f
The HIC delegation, headed by
director Simon Kent, spent two days
at International Confex in London
Olympia - an annual showcase of
major event venues
which
attracts
thousands of potential
clients.
stand
Harrogate’s golf-themed
of visitors
received a constant
stream
the show and
provided
throughout
plenty of leads
for the sales team to
follow up throughout
March.
Senior Sales Manager,
Graham
Holman said: “For a big multi-purpose
event venue like
HIC it’s essential
that
we put in a strong
showing
at
Confex.
“Our presence there meant we were
able to have productive meetings with
existing clients on enhancing their
events and bringing in new shows.
“We’ve also generated dozens of leads
which we are following up and we are
confident these will bear fruit, bringing
new events to the town.”
Showing their support for HIC
throughout the show were Holiday Inn
Harrogate general manager Nicolas
Craninx and Cedar Court boss Simon
Cotton, who both spent time on the
stand.
HICNews 1
Welcome to HIC Yorkshire
are
warming
up nicely
Meanwhile
things
at HIC Yorkshire
weekend
when we welcome our first major
this coming
Listed
Property
Show runs from
public event of 2015. The
7 to 8 of March
and
is the first time organisers
have headed north
with the show
following
a number
of successful
years
in London.
If the weather forecasts are to be believed
be a
it looks like there could
much-needed taste of spring this weekend.
of another
big event which
We also
have
exciting news
of visitors
to town in promises
to bring thousands
HIC
its
centennial
September.
WI has chosen
The
to host
over
four of our biggest
– a four
day celebration taking
fair
and
featuring
halls
workshops,
stalls,
talks and VIP guests.
Attracting vibrant public shows like the WI Centennial Fair is
the best way of raising the profile of our venue and bringing
in visitors who are vital to the whole local economy, so a big
thank you to the sales team at HIC for their hard work.
No surprise then that the team has made the
shortlist for two categories at a major industry
award ceremony in London this spring. We’d like to
thank all our clients, past and present, for
continuing to put your faith in us by bringing your
conferences and live shows to
exhibitions,
Harrogate.
We
look forward to meeting you again
in
2015.
New-look website showcases
happening
what’s
at HIC Yorkshire
A new-look HIC web site has been launched to give visitors
and customers the low-down on everything from live events
and conferences to accommodation, travel and parking
information.
The fresh new design will continue to cater for the business
visitor but also includes a revamped and improved section
for people heading to the venue for live shows and theatre
events at the Royal Hall.
HIC’s media
Catton,
who led the project,
manager, Richard
said: “The web site needed
to be HIC’s shop window
to the world and
to design
something
which recognised
we needed
that people would
come
to the website for very different
reasons. you might have
client wanting
“For example
a potential
to
know the technical spec of one of our event halls but then
someone from Harrogate
to know
you could have
wanting
where to get tickets for live shows in our main auditorium or
the Royal Hall.
“All that information
is there on the
new
site so feel free to have a browse
and let us know what you
think.”
Visit the new web site at
www.hicyorkshire.co.uk
HICNews 2
Harrogate ends financial year on a high
A STRONG finish to HIC’s financial year is down to the “faith of clients and staff”
according to venue director Simon Kent
With the business expecting its best financial result since
2009, Mr Kent said HIC was expected to see a profit of more
than £270,000 at the end of March.
The good news comes after a year of high-profile events for
Harrogate, including the hosting of the month-long Gilbert &
Sullivan Festival, the first BBC Good Food Show Spring and a
brace of industry awards.
Mr Kent said: “The last few years have been difficult for the
conference and exhibition industry but HIC has managed not
only to keep its major clients during the tough times but also
exceed its sales forecast for this year by about half-a-million
pounds. This shows a lot of faith in the business, not only
from customers but also our staff, and I thank them all.
“HIC’s purpose is to keep on bringing in the hundreds of
thousands of business and leisure visitors to the town who,
last year, were worth £65million to the local economy, but we
also have to break even as a business; we have obviously
achieved both of those things.
“While maintaining this kind of success will rely on a lot of hard
work and commitment, there are definitely reasons for
optimism in 2015,” he said.
MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Andrew Jones said:
“Harrogate International Centre is the powerhouse behind a
large part of our local visitor economy. It underpins thousands
of jobs and generates more than £50million of trade in the
Harrogate district.
“It is excellent that the Conference Centre is back in the
black.”
Listed Property Show brings free expert advice to Harrogate
A BUSY spring kicks off for HIC Yorkshire
this weekend with our first big public event
of 2015.
The Listed Property Show is expected to attract thousands of
people on March 7 and 8 who own, manage or are just
interested in historic buildings and their upkeep.
Experts in property restoration and renovation will be onhand alongside those in-the-know about planning and legal
issues.
The show opens at 10am on both Saturday and Sunday and
entry is free. For more details visit the show’s website at
www.lpoc.co.uk
If you intend to visit us on either day and need information on
travel or parking, go www.hicyorkshire.co.uk/about-hic
HICNews 3
Grammy Award winner latest name for
summer of big entertainment in Harrogate
ONE of the greatest voices on the modern jazz
scene is to headline the 50th Harrogate
International Festival this summer.
Gregory Porter, whose LP Liquid Spirit won the Grammy
for best jazz vocal album last year, will appear in HIC’s
main auditorium on Saturday July 11.
Despite being a life-long jazz fan, the 43-year-old
Californian has only recently risen to prominence but is
rapidly becoming one of the most distinctive
personalities in music.
Porter joins a growing line-up of big name acts set to
appear at HIC and The Royal Hall in 2015.
D
Bryan Ferry also takes the stage at HIC on May 23,
while June 6 sees Elvis Costello make his first solo
appearance in our main auditorium since he last
performed here 31 years ago.
v
For more information on all these events visit the
new-look entertainment section of our web site at
www.hicyorkshire.co.uk/whats-on
phase
Next
of work
begins
on HIC
facelift
Over at The Royal Hall we have an unbeatable line-up of
some of the UK’s best comedians. Jimmy Carr, Stewart
Lee and Paddy McGuinness are all set to take appear
over the coming months.
Harrogate
on shortlist
for major
industry
prizes
Yorkshire
is hoping
to build on
recent
triumphs
after
HIC
making it to the final of another high-profile industry award.
THE second phase of upgrades to facilities at HIC is now
under way in time for the traditional rise in visitors during
The Exhibition
News Award
finals in April
will see
HIC
go
spring and summer.
up
against
Olympia
London
and
the
Business
Design
Centre
for the
Following
a complete
Best Venue Sales Team
modernisation
of two toilet blocks
trophy.
Harrogate
will
also
face
heavyweights
such
as
Birmingham’s
NEC
betweenhalls
on
a A and
B,
work is now
under way
andAlexandra
Palace on the shortlist
Venue
£70,000 refurbishment of toilet facilities between Band
C.
for
the Best
over
10,000sqm
category.
Work is also set to take place this spring on a complete
Last
year
Harrogate
won the Business Tourism trophy at
refurbishment of the toilet facilities on level four of the
Welcome
to Yorkshire’s
White
Awards,
Rose
while sales
main auditorium. The refit will see a £100,000 investment
for her
manager Rebecca Turnbull was recognised
on modernising the blocks, which are some of the most
at the
Harrogate
Outstanding
Customer
Service
used facilities by the public at live shows and major
Hospitality and Tourism Awards.
conferences.
HICNews 4