Conferences: Exceptional Value for Money

Background

INQUIRE serves a dedicated membership which expects high standards. As a not-for-profit organisation, it is run by volunteers who already have extensive demands on their time. The development and delivery of a portfolio of two day conferences for 120 delegates and smaller events attracting 80+ delegates sits with the Chairman. With no helping hands internally, support from a professional and cost-effective event organiser is invaluable.

David Buckle, INQUIRE Chairman, explains:

My reputation immediately felt in safe hands…

“We invited Monet Events to pitch against four other candidates for our annual conference after a word of mouth recommendation from my wife who had recently attended an event organised by their team. The references were very good; the proposal very strong and clear and the formal pitch convincing and competitive.

“Engaging a smaller enterprise was all part of the Monet appeal. My reputation immediately felt in safe hands when our contact, Steph, was clearly so dedicated and professional, and very much mindful of her personal reputation.

“I work very much with Steph on arranging the major conferences, but I can also have total faith in passing her on as our direct contact with business schools, when it comes to arranging our smaller events.  Working with her is a very positive experience. She’s hard-working and there’s no chasing required, but she’s flexible too – not an ‘i-dotter’ or ‘t-crosser’ and just sees it as all part of the job to get it over the line.

The sequence planning is an invaluable part of the service

“Right from the outset, everything fell into place. We sat down and went through what was needed and were able to give quite a strong brief based on what previous organisers had been doing. The Monet Events team really put the time in to understand the needs of our membership and our priorities.

“ For all events, the sequence planning is an invaluable part of the service. It’s great to have a timeline and Steph’s firm, yet friendly hand taking control – in an organisation like ours, when it’s no-one’s day job, being told is good.

Making things slick, smooth and sorted

“For our 2016 conference, Monet Events made the suggestion of Liverpool for the location. Steph worked out the hotels and respective deals and organised for us to visit 4-5 of them as well as half a dozen possibilities for our evening event. Once we had identified the best options, she negotiated contracts and terms; on this occasion some costing issues arose and the sand shifted a bit with the hotel. She was upfront and confident, suggested a re-evaluation and swiftly arranged for me to visit  and stay over at another hotel.

“Our events are demanding with attendees coming in from all over Europe. The logistics can be challenging, but Steph is there fronting up our events, making things slick, smooth and sorted. She’s very visible, calm and ensures things are right – at the start, on the day and always behind the scenes. No one will know of any issues, because they are sorted before there’s time for them to be noticed by anyone other than Steph.

All part of the same successful equation

“Formal feedback from all our work with Monet Events has always been very good and our relationship with them is such that Steph hears everything in the debrief. Before INQUIRE took on a new committee and settled into the trusted relationship with Monet Events, our conferences were perhaps losing their way slightly. Confidence waned and membership dropped. Since the change however, there has been a significant growth in membership.

Although I can’t attribute company growth to Steph’s work, it is certainly all part of the same successful equation. The high level of personal service represents exceptional value for money.

Our life is easy because Monet Events make our conferences happen – and that means, both before, during and after the events, we can really get on and make things happen for INQUIRE too.”

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