Busy Easter for MEETinLEEDS

Suppliers Meet in Leeds

The MEETinLEEDS team have been busy with an eventful Easter period that saw four major events take place on campus.

Suppliers-Meet-in-LeedsMEETinLEEDS at the Suppliers Easter Fair

The Suppliers Exhibition has been organised by the MEETinLEEDS team for the last 9 years and had a record number of stands this year. The suppliers and departments in attendance had the chance to develop their contacts and relationships with University staff, try some of the delicious catering on offer from the Deli(very) team and also see first-hand what we can offer as part of an Event Managed Exhibition.

This year the event had a facelift: the Suppliers Easter Fair included Fairtrade & Farmers Market style stalls giving attendees the opportunity pick up a few Easter treats while networking with existing and new suppliers.

Feedback from external companies has been excellent; 12 bookings have been secured for next year!

CelebritySquares9Esther Rantzen was a guest speaker at ACTIVE 2014

The MEETinLEEDS team also event managed the AKTIVE conference, an event attended by Esther Rantzen CBE and Heinz Wolff, which made use of the Business School along with an exclusive exhibition and conference dinner in our venue of the month, the Refectory. The conference brings together researchers, industry, voluntary sector and local authorities interested in the role of telecare and other technologies in supporting older people at home.

Subscribe to the blog here to find out exactly what the team did to make this a success.

Networkshops-Pano

A panoramic view of Networkshops42

Networkshop Conference 2014 has to be one of the most technologically advanced conferences ever held on campus, with 400 delegates utilising our on campus facilities. For this event MEETinLEEDS facilitated with the following:

  • Nearly 3Km of cabling ran into Sports Hall 1 to provide wired connectivity for 50 Exhibitor stands
  • 10 wireless points were installed into Sport Hall 1, (4 permanent, 6 temporary)
  • A peak of 1000 unique users were on the wireless network using over 1200 devices
  • A peak of 73 different institutions using the wireless network during Networkshop
  • A total of 131GB of wireless data was transferred during the conference

A large British association was the last to use the University’s event facilities over the Easter period- bringing 800 delegates from across the globe attended to the Conference Auditorium and the Exhibition Centre. The delegates were highly active on social media, which kept the Digital Marketing arm of MEETinLEEDS busy and also allowed the team to reduce the response time to queries.

To book any of our venues or to speak to a Sales Executive please call 0113 343 6100 or email enquiries@meetinleeds.co.uk

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AKTIVE Conference 2014 – Technology, Care and Ageing: Enhancing Independence

Tash and Alan

MEETinLEEDS is proud to welcome the AKTIVE 2014 (Advancing Knowledge of Telecare for Independence and Vitality in later lifE) conference to the University of Leeds on 8th and 9th April 2014. Financed by the Technology Strategy Board, the project is led by CIRCLE (Centre for Care, Labour and Equalities) at the University of Leeds, with partners Oxford Institute of Population Ageing at the University of Oxford, Tunstall Healthcare (UK) Ltd and Inventya Ltd.

The conference brings together researchers, industry, voluntary sector and local authorities interested in the role of telecare and other technologies in supporting older people at home.

TashNAlan

Natasha and Alan from MEETinLEEDS

Natasha and Alan from MEETinLEEDS

The conference is Event Managed by MEETinLEEDS, and with the focus on a demographic that is not traditionally catered for in either conferencing or mainstream technology, the planning and execution of the event has been a rewarding challenge for the Conference team, in particular the Conference Managers Natasha Rahanu and Alan Gallacher. The use of new technology, such as using Google+ “Hangouts” to broadcast plenary sessions and hosting the Leeds Citizens Orchestra during the conference dinner are new and exciting challenges for the team and facilities on offer.

The main conference will take place in the MEETinLEEDS venue of the month for April, Leeds University Business School, along with an exclusive exhibition and conference dinner in the Refectory.

Plenary sessions at the event include a spot on the place of technology within an assisted lifestyle by founder of the Institute of Bio-engineering at Brunel University, Professor Heinz Wolff (Emeritus Professor of Bioengineering and Doctor of Science, Brunel University) and Esther Rantzen CBE, who, as founder of The Silver Line, will be addressing delegates under the title “Old Age is not for Cissies”.

There is a whole host of associated events, publications and programmes to enjoy, so to find out more about the conference please see the following details:

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New Summer Menus

Summer Tart

Summer2

Last year the MEETinLEEDS team worked with Great Food at Leeds, the University’s catering service, to launch a new delivered catering service – Deli(very).

This week we’re pleased to announce the launch of their new Summer Menu! All the options are homemade and carefully prepared on-site by experienced Chefs to ensure that your food is the freshest it possibly can be.

There are two Summer Menus to choose from: “A Taste of Summer” and “Summer Picnic”.

Some mouth-watering additions such as Lemon and Coriander Chicken with Watercress Mayonnaise or Hoi Sin Duck Rolls with Spring Onion and Cucumber can be ordered from just £7.95 per head and each menu comes with an option of dessert and FREE Orange Juice and Water.

The menus are available to order from 1st April – 28th September 2014.

Take a look at the menus now.

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Suppliers Easter Fair 2014

Suppliers Easter Fair 2014

Suppliers2014It is our pleasure to introduce the new and improved University of Leeds Suppliers Easter Fair 2014 (previously known as the Suppliers Exhibition) being held on Tuesday 8th April 2014 in the Exhibition Centre from 10.00 until 15.00.

The Suppliers Exhibition has been a successful, well attended event in the University’s calendar for the last 13 years, and is one of the largest events of its kind within the UK. It is organised by the University’s conference service, MEETinLEEDS, in collaboration with Procurement and provides a unique opportunity for staff to speak to suppliers directly enabling them to highlight, explain and showcase their products and services in a tailor made forum.

This year the event is getting a facelift, the Suppliers Easter Fair will include some Fairtrade & Farmers Market style stalls so that visitors can pick up a few Easter treats while networking with existing or new suppliers.

Fairtrade Choc-Affair Easter lollies will be handed to the first 200 people to arrive at the Fair, and we are also offering the chance to win a prize in one of two raffles to be drawn at 12.00 and at 14.30. To claim your prize you will need the winning ticket and also be present at the time of the draw.

We look forward to welcoming you to the exciting Suppliers Easter Fair 2014.

For more information please call 0113 343 5006 or email: suppliers@leeds.ac.uk

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Fair, to Good, to Better

Parkinson building sign

The University of Leeds has held Fairtrade University status since 2005. Awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation, this reflects the Universities commitment to promoting and supporting Fairtrade.

2005 saw an annual spend of £45,000 on Fairtrade produce and was the first year the University gained Official Fairtrade Status. The process had multiple decision makers and channels of influence; Head of Procurement; Chaplaincy; People and Planet; Catering and Purchasing management; Environmental steering group; Post graduate student; and a member of LUU Executive.

As part of this commitment The University of Leeds hold a bi-annual Fairtrade Craft Fair with stalls operated by Fairtrade approved groups, staff, and local companies. The Fair began in 2007 with 15 stalls but has now grown to over 30 stalls for the event on Friday 7th March 2014. The donations from the University have contributed towards various projects, such as medical equipment for the Windward Islands Farmers’ Association (WINFA).

This year’s event takes place during Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 (24 February – 9 March), and marks the launch of a unique campaign that aims to transform the banana industry to ensure those at the sharp end of the supply chain, the millions of struggling banana farmers and workers, get a fair deal.

The stallholders attending the Fair will be offering a wide spectrum of Fairtrade and Homemade Crafts: delicious cakes, jewellery, hand knitted clothing, skincare products, plants, cufflinks, hats, shawls, recipe tips and much, much more.

Great Food at Leeds will also be there, offering delicious Banana Bread and Homemade Lemonade made from the finest ingredients by our expert chefs, as well as information on how the University contributes to Fairtrade and our commitment to ethically sourced ingredients.

We will be introducing the stallholders throughout the Fairtrade Fortnight on the MEETinLEEDS Twitter account, so please re-tweet to your hearts content and let’s make it the best Fair to date!

Come and join us at Parkinson Court on Friday 7th March 2014. If you would like to get involved in the Fair please contact Ryan Johnson:r.l.b.johnson@leeds.ac.uk

You can find out more about Fairtrade and how to get involved at:http://foncho.fairtrade.org.uk/#how-to-help

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Teach First

Professor Susan Price, Reuben Moore and Sir Alan Langlands.
Pictured left to right: Professor Susan Price, Reuben Moore and Sir Alan Langlands.

Pictured left to right: Professor Susan Price, Reuben Moore and Sir Alan Langlands.

Leeds universities unite to win Teach First’s annual residential training event for the city.

The University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University, have successfully bid to bring one of Teach First’s residential training events worth £5.5m to the city in 2014 and 2015.

The MEETinLEEDS sales team has been working with the events team from Leeds Metropolitan for almost two years in order to secure Teach First’s Summer Institute, a huge event which, in previous years, has taken place at the University of Warwick. Partners First Direct Arena, and accommodation providers Unite, Downing and Grey Star, will provide additional venue space and bedrooms for the delegates’ 28,000 bed nights.

It is the first time the universities have collaborated so closely on an event, and it is hoped that this will provide a model for attracting further large-scale events in the future.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds, Sir Alan Langlands, says:

“This closely-knit collaboration between ourselves and Leeds Metropolitan University has been absolutely crucial to the success of this bid. We have learnt that together we can achieve great things for Leeds, as neither partner would have been able to secure this event without the help of the other. The Teach First Summer Institute will be a vibrant addition to the city’s conference calendar.”

Teach First is a charity with the vision that no child’s educational success should be limited by their socio-economic background. The charity’s mission is to end inequality in education by building a community of exceptional leaders who create change within classrooms, schools and across society. Teach First achieves this by finding and training graduates with leadership potential to work in schools serving the lowest income communities in the UK.

Reuben Moore, Teach First’s Director of Leadership, has been impressed with what he has seen so far:

“As we continue to recruit more participants and ensure that all of them are able to make a difference to young people, Leeds Universities provide the perfect setting both in terms of the capacity that the universities have, and for their location in the heart of the city – a fact that allows us to work closely with those in the community, including local businesses and schools.

“Venue finding agency VFI explored over 45 different cities for us, and in terms of scope for development and ease of access, we are delighted to say that Leeds came out on top.”

From 19 July to 02 August, over 3,000 graduates will attend Teach First’s annual residential training event where they will be provided with seminars, tutorials and social activities to prepare them for teaching in schools in England and Wales from September.

Lurene Joseph, Chief Executive at Leeds and Partners, is excited about the possibilities this brings for the city:

“Teach First’s decision to come to Leeds is great news for the universities and the wider Leeds economy. More than 2,000 people visiting the city will be a tremendous boost to our retail, cultural and food and drink sectors.

“We are delighted to be working with Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Leeds to drive added value in the tourism marketplace. This will be supported by forging further links with VisitEngland and VisitBritain to bring forward key campaigns to position Leeds as one of the top UK conference destinations.”

The conference and events team at MEETinLEEDS are looking forward to welcoming Teach First to the campus next year.

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Watt hours from your food waste

food waste

NEWS_foodwasteDevonshire Hall, our beautiful Grade II listed venue, is no stranger to looking at sustainable solutions after being awarded a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme and nominated for the Green Tourism Goldstar Awards 2013.

Once again, thanks to some creative thinking, the ‘Oxbridge’ style venue has found another opportunity to support the University’s Sustainability Team.

Devonshire Hall has a catering service provided on the site, and Olleco normally supply vegetable oil for cooking, and then remove the used waste vegetable oil for subsequent refining and use in bio-diesel. However, Olleco also identified an opportunity to collect food waste from the site, and take it away for use in a 400kW anaerobic digestion (AD) plant located at Clayton Hall Farm near Wakefield.

The food waste is added to other organic matter, agitated for 60 days and the resultant gas is extracted for use, with the solid digestate macerated and pasteurised for use as fertiliser.

Consequently a pilot scheme was set up in January, whereby the staff collected food waste from the kitchen and dining room, which was then stored in purple wheelie bins on site. Olleco then made weekly visits to the site to collect the food waste and transport it the short distance to the AD plant.

The scheme has so far collected over 2.6 tonnes of food waste that has been diverted away from landfill, and which now helps to produce energy for other users.

Devonshire Hall has received a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme and as such we are committed to working to reduce the impact of its operations on the environment.

Wedding Fayre

Devonshire Hall is holding a wedding fayre on Sunday 1st September 2013. If you would like to find out more please visit our Wedding Page.

If you would like to find out more about organising an event at Devonshire Hall call our Conference and Events Team on 0113 343 6100 or email enquiries@meetinleeds.co.uk

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At your pleasure

International Medieval Congress 2013

International-Medieval-Congress-2013

Largest Academic Event in Europe Comes to Leeds.

MEETinLEEDS played host to almost 2,000 delegates this July as the world’s most knowledgeable medievalists attended the 20th annual International Medieval Congress – this year on the theme of pleasure. Delegates discussed all aspects of medieval studies at the event before the creation of a Medieval Village in the centre of the University.

Director of the Congress, Axel Muller explained:

Experts from around the world discussed everything from the pleasure of food, music and literature to sex and spirituality. Although it was many hundreds of years ago, we can learn a lot from this period that is relevant to today’s society. They certainly knew how to gain pleasure from a variety of activities and it was fantastic to hear and discuss this subject further during the Congress.”

This is the first time that the congress, the largest of its kind in Europe, has been hosted on the main campus but, thanks to MEETinLEEDS’ excellent events team, delegates experienced an exceptionally well-managed event and have already given some excellent feedback.

As well as a comprehensive programme of lectures for visitors, there were also several events that were open to the public for the first time including; musical performances, food workshops and a lecture on the recent discovery of the skeleton of Richard III in Leicester, by the team who found it.

The Medieval Village in University Square featured a range of activities including historical craft demonstrations such as chain mail production, spinning, textile production, dyeing and even an apothecary. There were also samples of medieval food, a falconry display, musicians and a storyteller.

Hosting an event as large as this takes a great deal of planning explains Richard Handscombe, Head of Sales & Marketing for MEETinLEEDS. Thankfully we have an events team at the University who are second to none and have a wealth of experience in organising events such as these. Work has already begun on next year’s Congress and the team are looking forward to seeing them again.

If you would like to find out more about organising a large event at the University then we would be delighted to speak to you. Just call our Conference and Events Team on 0113 343 6100 or email enquiries@meetinleeds.co.uk

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