�
�
Company Re-launch update
�
Guess what??? We have agreed, finally, on a name and yes it has been a quantum leap for our Conference Centre’s and yes we will be calling ourselves :
“Cavendish Conference Venues�
Based on the strength of our marquee, Cavendish, this is the one to hold on to and we will now be under the one hat. All Centre’s notably the Mayfair, Cavendish, ICO, America Square and Hallam, when it happens, will be known as “Cavendish Conference Venues�!!
Now that’s a happy ending to a long saga!!!
�
�

Easter 2008
�
What a strange Easter this has been in 2008!! With schools closing down for the Easter week end and then opening and then closing two weeks later and some schools doing the traditional, taking holidays over the Easter period, others two weeks later, this has been a real mess!! Business’ must have suffered all over the country and certainly the Conference sector has because people are not available because holiday periods have covered a spanse of 5 weeks!! Outrageous when it really is only a 2 week break but so many have suffered….!!! The Government should/has to get it right in 2009 especially for small business’ that are reliant on the ‘people industry’!!!
Come on you lot shout out in upport of small business- Gordon get it right next year and the year after and after and after……………
�

The Luxury of London
Too many people nowadays are trying to escape what they call the ‘rat race’of London!
Why one asks and the usual answer is for a work life balance! A ‘work life’ balance in the country, well I have to say I am still trying to work that one out! Working in the Conference industry in Central London, under the auspice of Cavendish Conference Venue’s, there could not be on offer a better work life balance what with the relaxed and superb surroundings of different styles of properties and the professional and superb standards we offer! Life is great and London is a majic place to be and we love London especially the Cavendish Conference Venue’s!!

�
Blog 11 16/04/08 Expansion
�
April fools day has been and gone and ‘with all the will in the world’ we always seem to avoid catastrophies from any point of view and indeed if planning authorities are anything to go by then they must be ‘having a laugh’!! No clients rang to cancel their mega events and so another Fools day has been and gone and all is well!! Well, well that is not necessarily so…..!!
With our expected expansion in to opening a 4^th and 5^th venue in London i.e. Hallam and America Square we have a glitch!! Planners seem to want to convert  listed meeting space into residential space even though, Yes I did say it is listed, all we are doing is cosmetically up grading the existing space, now what’s wrong with that you say??? Using an existing listed building for what it was built for in the first place now what is wrong??  Good question!! To turn a listed building into residential space one would have to do major construction works and this would have a massive detrimental effect on the area and on the building itself! We want to appease our clients and our neighbours by doing no more than using an existing space, bringing it up to date in current century standards and taking no more than 16 weeks to achieve this turn about!! Oh no no there is opposition to this and the local residents seem to want years of construction turmoil to a few weeks of gentle cosmetic up-dating and that’s before planning permission is even sought to turn it to a residential building and what building contractor would take on a listed building with internal restrictions???? Who am I to take on the might of the planning authorities being a simple Conference organiser????!! Why why why why why what what what what…..I just can’t get my head around this opposition to progress!!
It would be nice to be able to have a plan and be able to move forward knowing that there are future careers for some people but until we know where we stand with the planning authorities we can’t move forward to recruit and who ends up winning…??? Well I think we all know who ends up ultimately better off and that ain’t the conference centre !!!!
I have to say I am pleased that with our City venue, construction work has already started even though we only signed it on 5 months after our listed building!!!
And this is supposed to be progress !!!!!!

WE will open on time though that I am conviced of!
�
�
�

Consider this: A man/woman who is a real professional Business man/woman (let’s not be sexist!) and who have had a secretary or Assistant all their working life are suddenly put in a position of not having anybody to turn to (they are off sick or worse still all been made redundant!) to assist them with their forthcoming sales conference in London!! What do they do besides being totally helpless???
The obvious thing would be to ring the professionals at the Cavendish, Mayfair, ICO and Hallam Conference Centre’s and they will do everything to make it happen or they just might ring one of the wonderful Booking Agents throughout the country who then will ring the professionals at the Cavendish, Mayfair, ICO and Hallam Conference Centre’s!!! Well if they don’t they should!!!

Go, Go, Go and all steam ahead for the opening of The Hallam Conference Centre in July. This will be London’s newest yet grandest state of the art, unique Central London Conference Centre and yet another addition to the portfolio of the Cavendish, Mayfair and ICO Conference Centre’s, soon to be known as “CAPITAL CITY VENUES�!
The team are described as having a passion for the industry and by opening this, their 4^th Venue in central London, show their enthusiasm with such flamboyancy and style that no other London Central venue can compare with the team of Rachel, Tom, Dermot, Olga, Lina and Denis at any level of professionalism. They in my estimation are the ultimate Conference Industry Professionals.

Go, Go, Go and all steam ahead for the opening of The Hallam Conference Centre in July. This will be London’s newest yet grandest state of the art, unique Central London Conference Centre and yet another addition to the portfolio of the Cavendish, Mayfair and ICO Conference Centre’s, soon to be known as “Cavendish Conference Venues�!
The team are described as having a passion for the industry and by opening this, their 4^th Venue in central London, show their enthusiasm with such flamboyancy and style that no other London Central venue can compare with the team of Rachel, Tom, Dermot, Olga, Lina and Denis at any level of professionalism. They in my estimation are the ultimate Conference Industry Professionals.

The Team
Dermot Waldron, Rachel Applegate, Tom Mayers, Line Lai, Olga Baro and Denis Hickey are a breed apart! These people are the essence in professionalism for the best  Conference Centre’s that London has to offer. They epitamise all that is good, no indeed great, in the industry and are such superb Ambassadors for their venues. Indeed there is no other small group of Central London based Conference Centre’s that have the class and experience that these people have and they all work for the SAME Company! What a treat anybody that uses or deals with any of these “pro’s� are in for so go on and call the PROFESSIONALS!
�

The Confex Challenge

�
Beware the cartoonist a flick of the hand with a pencil and you have a very large body and a very small head. They seem to pick up on your imperfections and magnify them. Any of you who visited our stand at Confex will have seen the team at Mayfair Cavendish aka the best little Independent Conference Company in the West (End that is!) in all of our 2 dimensional glory.

�
We laid down the gauntlet for you all to guess our combined weight. The prize to win our weight in chocolate beans that’s a lot of chocolate or champagne lovely bubbly.…… or a combination of both!

�
Now don’t you wish you had stopped by!

�

Shall I compare thee  - to chocolate beans?

�
Why are our team like chocolate beans -  cause we may not look the same on the outside but at our core we’re the same -  once you’ve had a taste of this team you’ll be coming back for more.

 

How many Chocolate Beans make up a Class A Team?

�
231,642 approximately.

�

Memory Test!

�
Okay so you just want to know if you won. Can you remember what your guess was?

�

Scores on the doors

�
If your guess was

�
713.6 lbs

Or

50.97 stone

Or

324.3 kg

You’re psychic, buy a lottery ticket immediately, however you didn’t win because you forgot to enter or you didn’t visit us at confex.

�
�

Selling!
�
Sell Sell Sell, that’s the name of the game when it comes to meeting room space at our venues! That might sound a bit selfish and egotistical but we believe that to achieve maximum occupancy we must sell, sell, sell our space and to do that we do offer people state of the art conference facilities in a central London conference centre and at a VALUE FOR MONEY price guaranteed! We are Value for Money venues with Customised facilities to the meetings industry that have Service standards unparallel in any other venue in the capital! We are the 1 and only 1 you should choose when booking your next event/meeting/conference.

Inspiration
Inspiration is the key word at the Cavendish at the moment! All our customers seem to be totally inspired and in awe of how well they are looked after, something our competitors are also in ‘awe’ of! We please our clients or money back guarantee! What a class way to run a business, to put your ‘money where your mouth is’ is truly an inspirational way forward in the Conference Centre management world of industry! So, in other words, when it comes to meetings of any description call the professionals at the Hallam, Cavendish, Mayfair or ICO Conference Centre’s! We are the 1 and we are Number 1!
�

An easy Life
We all crave an 2easy life however the Conference industry is not for the meek minded! Running the most successful small group of Conference Centre’s in the Centre of London involves long hours and TOTAL dedication to making these venues a success story which they are and have been for a long time but this is  a drop in the ocean! To keep a team of dedicated and experienced staff for as long as we have at the Cavendish, Mayfair and ICO Conference Centre’s takes Management with exceptional motivational skills. Motivation from within helps drive oneself on the inside but also on the outside and keeps the dedicated team of operational staff at “Caapital City Venues� on their toes all the time aiming for heights other companies would be drowned in!

Conferences
To be a conference organiser is a hard and tedious task! I know a Central London organisation that takes the ‘hasstle’ out of the task of organising events! They are based at the newly created company “Capital City venues� otherwise fondly known as the Cavendish, Mayfair and ICO Conference Centre’s and soon to open the Hallam Conference Centre!
Based in the Centre of London along the hub of London notably Oxford Street these are venues that have class, style and the attitude of their staff to compliment such fine facilities! The technical state of the art audio and visual equipment is second to none and makes meetings, conferences, seminars and AGM’s a pleasure to hold at these unique City Centre venues!

Booking Agents
Conference Booking Agents are, to me, the bees knees! What would we do without them?? I love the idea of writing cheques to agents because it means they have given our Central London Conference Centre’s loads (hopefully depending on the size of the cheque!!) of business! That is why our small company incorporating the Cavendish, Mayfair, ICO and Hallam Conference Centre’s, soon to be known as “Capital City Venues� believes it is so important to spend time ‘on the road’ visiting the agents all up and down the country! I have been from Ulverston to Southampton, from Dublin to Grenwich and wherever there is an agent I have been! We promote the superb facilities of the Cavendish, Mayfair, ICO and Hallam Conference Centre’s to all and sundry from Aberdeen to Eastbourne and if you or you know anybody wanting to hold an event in London we are the people to talk to!
�
�

We are trying to get the world to recognise that we are about to open the best conference centre in London. For the first time since we opened our first conference centre in 1985 we have hit the road. Up and down the country we are travelling visiting all who will have us boring no entrancing them with the full low down on our New Hallam Street Conference Centre.  For us it’s thrown up a couple of key questions.

¼br /> What Bribe -            maybe bribe isn’t the right word inducement / sweetener might be better. Whatever you call it the dilemma is the same, do we take a little something to give the client or agent. We always do, I don’t know why, its one of those industry norms that we do because everyone else does. (put that way it sounds awful) We would look mean if we didn’t and so the whole trip would be counterproductive. Now we’ve got over that what to take. We have tried everything from advent calendars as large as a small child, to the ubiquitous magnum of champagne, our current favourite is a box set of Jo Malone Bath stuff. We thought that would wow the pants of them, it should do it costs a clean arm and leg, does it? Does it hell. So we’re back roughly to where we started tell us what would be the best the most memorable gift we could bring, ANY SUGGESTIONS will result in a visit and of course the thing itself (within reason)

¼br /> How to Get There -            I am writing this as I sit on the underground having just visited a top agent. Well to call it the underground is a misnomer it is the Metropolitan Line (that’s the purple one for the country life readers amongst us) but I am at least 45mins away from what I would call London somewhere near Watford. There is something about our company and car travel that just doesn’t seem to work. One of the first visits was made by my colleagues Gill and Rachel, by all accounts Gill developed a powerful allergic reaction to roundabouts, first she refused then violent sickness. Now its Dermot who has temporarily taken on the mantle of the Road Warrior. The problem, he will only travel by the train, huge logistical problems, and virtually impossible to see more than one person a day. At this rate to conquer the South East is going to take a lifetime. Maybe its because he has finally bought in to our industry leading Green Policy (se www.mayfaircavendish.com) I thought so but to speed things up we joined Zipcar.com the car club people. Both relatively green minded when compared to rail and in many cases more practical. Would he have would he hell? It looks like we are just going to have to grin and bear it, a bit like British Rail have to do with the painting of the Forth Bridge.

The lone sales man is renowned for running around trying to sell hoovers and the like but who ever heard of a travelling Conference Centre Sales man?? Well believe it or not they are a breed unto themselves however when it comes to the type of sales person at the Cavendish, Mayfair, ICO and Hallam Conference Centre’s then you are dealing with sheer class! These people know their stuff and my do they deliver too!!With 4 Central London Conference Centre’s they are without doubt the people with the class and style to deliver your every meeting, conference, AGM or seminar requirement! Go on bore yourself, give us a call and we will handle everything!!!

Blog1
“The long and winding road involved in securing business for any company is a hard and lonely path to run�! A famous quote from a very famous business man shows the dedication to keep every business persons company on the up! The Conference industry is not adverse to long and hard work to secure profitability and indeed to build a company is a mind blogging experience! To build a Conference business from scratch is also an achievement that needs mentioning! The Mayfair, Cavendish and ICO Conference Centre’s and soon to be Hallam Conference Centre, who will all be newly adapted under the “Capital City Venues� title are a company in their own right that needs mentioning!
I say this not only because of the way the business has grown but also because of the backing the company has had from its employees and clients alike! We are a people’s company providing Conference facilities in Central London to business people  from all over the world! We deliver because we have the staff and the know how and when it is a meeting, seminar or whatever you want talk to us the professionals in the Centre of London with Conference Centre’s of excellence to prove it!
Â
Â

As I walked to the underground station from work last night I passed two small groups of men rummaging through the bin bags outside Eat the sandwich shop and the Langham Hotel. They were salvaging good food that an hour before we were all prepared to pay for, the bags were being broken food and packaging was seeping all over the payment, Portland Place to my mind one of the grandest streets in London was being turned into a tip. It’s a problem that we all know exists, have known for years.

Â
There is a simple solution. Within a 1 mile radius of us at the Cavendish Conference Centre there are over 100 venues offering conference facilities, there must be at least 1000 restaurants etc. Set up a nightly collection of organic (kitchen / food) waste and compost the stuff. Use that very compost to grow the stuff we eat.

Â
I cannot understand how everyone from venues to governments can triumph grandiose and often dubious carbon offsetting schemes involving planting trees in far off places when there are really simple things we can all do right here. Things which not only help promote sustainability but also keep the place looking decent, provide jobs etc etc.

Â
We are opening a new conference centre in Hallam Street London W1 where we are trying to promote as many of these small things as possible. Carpets made from recycled materials, energy recovery heating systems, minimal use of oil based paints etc.  This is an evolution from policies long put in place at our Mayfair Cavendish & ICO Centres i.e. the strict measurement and reduction in waste streams; we aim to be landfill neutral by end 2008. A longstanding and enforceable community policy and on it goes.

Â
We would to partner anyone someone anyone seting up such a scheme even if it means paying a little more to get rid of the stuff.

Saving the Planet through Conference organisation
 

 

If you have been working in the commercial field for at least the last ten years, an invitation to rewind the memory over that time would expose a snapshot of business practice in many ways unimaginable to-day.
The impact of environmental priorities on the commercial scene is just one example.
Until the ‘90s ‘green’ issues were the preserve of activists in the pressure groups led by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, and prophets in the wilderness Jonathan Porritt, David Bellamy and others; to-day the same issues are headlines in both national and trade Press and media.
Can the world of conference venues, facilities and organisation play its part in saving the Planet? Given a practical and step-by-step approach to addressing environmental issues, the answer is ‘yes’.
Faced with the enormity of the prospect of global warming, including the disappearance of whole islands beneath rising sea levels, we may be forgiven for thinking that there’s not much we can do, either at home or at work, to make a major difference.
Fast-forward another ten years however, and a world in which individual trees in the rain-forest can be
monitored on-line to maintain the livelihood of indigenous tribes, rather than falling to illegal logging, will
also see greater transparency in the way companies conduct their business.
Efficiency in environmental best practice relates to efficiency in other aspects of above and below the line
operations, whether internally in R&D, sales and marketing, administration and staff relations, or externally
in linking with those who matter, and who recognise quality - clients, shareholders and the media.
Those conference venues where environmental best practice is taken as read will increasingly have an
advantage over competitors who haven’t made the effort. Although the most rigorous standard to attain,
such as the international IS0 14001 (British Standard Institute -  www.bsi-global.com) is tailored for larger
companies, there are other local organisations offering guidance and consultancy to the smaller group or individual venue. Business Link or the Chamber of Commerce can be the first introduction to effective action.
Our own experience as an environmental consultancy advising companies on the route to ‘greening’ their
operation is an example of the step-by-step approach. Through an introduction by a mutual contact we
met the Mayfair Conference Group, with four central London venues, about eight years ago. The first purchasing change was to recycled paper pads, with pencils for delegates made from recycled vending cups , and brochures from an environmentally-friendly printer, followed by other measures to ‘green’ the supply chain, in cleaning and other materials. Recycling of all materials including conference literature and kitchen waste is now routine. The buffet lunch at a recent event, organic and locally-grown, was much appreciated by delegates, not least le vin biologique.
A free survey by Envirowise highlighted savings in energy and materials, and led to a fuller environmental
impact assessment by the London Environment Centre, and to the award of their Green Mark standard.
Offering carbon offsetting to clients for their events at each of the Mayfair Conference Group venues is a further progression along the route of caring for the environment and for looking for new business at the same time.
Saving the Planet?  Only a few steps, but they’re steps in the right direction, with some new and appreciative
clients as an added bonus.

We can proudly annouce that we are the only group of venues in London to be Green Mark accredited. The file is buldging with of course recycled paper, the assessor is happy, the project is complete. But of course we are not happy to leave it there, we are going to build on this success. We aim to be the only WASTE NEUTRAL group of conference centres in London by the end of 2008.  By which we mean we will landfill less than 2% of all the waste we generate. To achieve this we are going to:
 

• Contine our commitment to a quantied month by month reduction in all our major waste streams,
  
• Trial a scheme whereby we offer custumers a £2.00 reduction per delegate if they take all their waste away with them, similarly we will levy a £2.00 surcharge if any waste is left for us to dispose of.
  
• We aim to find away to compost and so recycle all our food waste by the year end. If we achive this we will be the only london venue to achive this.
  

2008 is here I for one am truly greateful, for another year no more turkey no more mulled wine and best of all no more Xmas pudding.

  

We are resolved to fight of the flab with a new and deeper push to better our sustainable credentials. What are we doing?

  

-         Building on the Green Mark accreditation we won at the very end of 2007, of a possible 36 points we achieved 29, 80%.

  

-         We are introducing a whole new set up menus for spring 2008; at a minimum we insist from our suppliers that all products are entirely traceable right back to their source. That’s the minimum we are hoping to gradually go much further, i.e.

  

o       By the year end we will be able to guarantee that none of the inputs into our centre catering or otherwise have been air transported at any stage.

o       All inputs without exception to be subject to a rigorous analysis as laid out by the centre’s new purchasing policy, the number one determinant (more important than price) being the inputs environmental impact.

o       Wherever a reliable supplier can be identified shifting to ISO 14001 accredited entities.

  

-         We are building what we believe is the first carbon calculator specifically designed for a conference venue. Using this tool we will be able to quantify and then offset all the carbon emitted as a result of that conference, i.e. not just the carbon resulting from the operation of the centre but also those resulting from the delegates traveling to and from the centre. Recognizing the dubious value of many carbon offset schemes we have contracted with .. In Switzerland an organization recognized by the WWF as a market leader in offsetting.

  

-         We now recycle the vast majority of our waste; the one gaping hole is our kitchen waste. We have searched and searched for a reliable recycling route for our kitchen waste. If you scale this up to all the catering waste produced across the capital, the total amount which could be collected must be truly enormous. We are hoping to join together with a number of other venues to start a daily pick up of this waste.

  Finally we would like to work with our clients and in turn their clients (exhibitors / delegates etc) to incentivise them to reduce the sometimes enormous quantities of waste left, (delegate packs / exhibitor materials etc) We are pondering the wisdom of introducing a small surcharge i.e. £0.50p a delegate to pay for the cost of recycling the waste left. If less than say 2 recycle bins are left we will refund say £1.00 a delegate. This is not a money making scheme we would pledge that we would cover any shortfall, if a surplus we would donate it to the International Coffee Organization ( the UN agency we partner and pay up to 50% of our profits to. We would love to hear what our customers present and future make of such a proposal.

While Bill Clinton’s minions are joined by Ken Livingston at our ICO Conference Centre, the BBC Director General waxed lyrical at the Cavendish. For the BBC the determinant of where to place their business was the technological capabilities of the venue, this event was in part a showcase for their new HDTV offering. Our investments in cutting edge technology throughout the group blah blah is an ongoing theme, resulting in us winning wining ever greater amounts of technology heavy business, recent investments in clued London most modern simultaneous interpretation and translation facilities, a touch pad voting system, state of the art LED lighting rig and on and on it goes.