Case Study 2 10 June 2018
Associations UK Congress 2017
The Association of Association Executives took its UK Congress to Manchester
Event dates : 14 – 15 December 2017 Event type : A professional trade event for associations across the UK . Number of delegates : 180 Summary of event : The Associations UK Congress is an educational event for chief executives , heads of department , managers and officers of educational , scientific , professional , medical and trade associations , societies or federations .
The programme covered the most urgent and current issues faced by associations and comprises of workshops , talks , presentations , and expert briefings on education and eLearning , recruitment and retention , technology , video , events , marketing , communications , digital publishing , social media , websites , operations and logistics .
Associations UK Congress 2017 is organised by the Association of Association Executives ( AAE ), a community in the UK of over 7,000 employees from professional , scientific , medical and trade associations , societies and federations .
The AAE supports executives in the management and development of associations and the services they offer their members through education , exchange of ideas and best practice , providing business-critical information , research , reports and directories .
The AAE also encourages active networking between associations and provides a forum for engaging with consultants and partners . AAE members make a valuable contribution to creating a useful resource and knowledge base for the association community .
Why Manchester Central ? AAE director for membership and marketing Katie Spackman described the venue as ‘ iconic ’, in the heart of Manchester with easy routes into the city and out of the city .
“ The spaces within MC were very flexible , and suited our style of exhibition where our suppliers are ‘ business partners ’ and take part in the event as a whole .
“ The layout for the exhibition was fantastic , using the space for breaktime and lunchtime networking .
“ The rooms for the plenary and streams were equally well thought out and there were always plenty of MC staff on hand to direct our delegates .“
How did the team meet your expectations ? “ We all worked very well together . We found the team at MC very professional , helpful and essentially an excellent events team ,” said Spackman .
Any organiser challenges during the planning and delivery stages of the event ? “ We always have challenges , but Manchester Central were there to support us in the planning and delivery – every step of the way ,” Spackman noted .
“ We had regular meetings with the MC operations team and the MC marketing team . And because we all worked well together , anything that could have become a challenge , didn ’ t . This is how we prefer to work with our hosts and I ’ m sure all event organisers feel the same way .”
What made Manchester stand out as a destination ? “ Manchester is an extremely friendly city : totally different to London , for example . And especially at the time we held our event , in December . There ’ s the Christmas market and the beautiful lights and generally a fun and festive atmosphere .
“ There ’ s a lot more to discover about Manchester . We visited the Lowry Gallery : it was magnificent to see the artist ’ s work . And the shopping malls and night life is great ,” Spackman added , noting it was easy to arrive by train and get to the venue and hotels quickly . “ Everything is so close in Manchester ,” she said . “ No long journeys . You could literally walk from place to place . Our Congress Dinner was a 5-minute taxi ride .”