Battling the Beast from the East at VentureFest

The Hampshire Conference Bureau team battled it out at last week against Storm Emma, Beast of the East. Putting on an event in snow, rain and sleet for Venturefest South’s annual interactive one day conference at Winchester Guildhall.  Now we are back in the office warmth looking back at a great event, and our adventures of an event team!

841 tickets were snapped up ready for the conference. But with the largest snowstorm in years hitting on the date of the event, we still saw over 500 innovators, investors and entrepreneurs travel in adverse conditions ready for the event.

Venturefest South featuring 20 guest speakers, 35 investment pitching sessions, 40 support organisations offering advice, seminars and workshops throughout the day alongside the new Young Entrepreneurs Village showcasing the south’s young talent. Not to forget 2 Clangers!

The Hampshire Conference Bureau Team and Solent Works greeted frosted guests and exhibitors on arrival with smiles.  Organising the event logistics, registration and placements at event. We had teas and coffees ready to warm them up through the exciting and interesting elements of the day.  With the weather working against us, adaptations and changes had to be made on the day, but still saw an enjoyable event for all.

Chris Allington, Chair of Venturefest South commented “Venturefest South is more than a traditional conference requiring an event management company to deliver a professional and well organised event. It also requires an event manager who understands the motivations of the partners and sponsors who fund it and to take every opportunity to enhance the Venturefest South brand and its objectives to support the growth of the South’s economy.

Hampshire Conference Bureau has been the Venturefest South event manager for two years now and they have delivered a very professional service over two events one of which coincided with the worst snow storm the South has seen in decades.   Their value add is epitomised by the event staff  all being  event management students from Southampton Solent University who gained valuable work experience and skills. They did an absolutely fabulous job.”

Shirley Pinn, Hampshire Conference Bureau’s Events Director said “I am so pleased with how the conference went today! We have a great team, where no task is too big or too small – even in these adverse weather conditions.  Solent Works have also been with us today providing seamless service to the attendants. We like to go above and beyond in our service and know to always be prepared for anything.  Venturefest South is an innovative and exciting conference that we look forward to working with each year and it was great to see that the snow couldn’t stop the show.”

“VentureFest was a fantastic event and it provided a great opportunity to meet like minded people and see the exciting things happening in the area.  We created some great links and strengthened current ones. Already looking forward to next year!” Chris Key, Managing Director. Designer Toolkit.

Working with event partners Carswell Gould and Business South, we are pleased to see the happy reviews from all attendants and hope everyone defrosted okay. We have now made it through Storm Emma and tamed the beast, hoping for a slightly sunnier spells next year.  Click here for more pictures and news from the event.

For more information on Hampshire Conference Bureau event and conference management services contact us on 0345 226 9955 or email us on admin@hampshireconferencebureau.co.uk