2. My team, marketing
and sales all went up to
Birmingham on the
26th of June for our
exhibitor day. This
finished at 2pm so we
arranged for us
features team to go to
the Hilton Birmingham
Metropole after for a
venue tour and menu
testing for the
Construction Enquirer
awards.
3. When we arrived we were
greeted by the sales
representative for the
Hilton at the door, she
took our bags and
proceeded to take us to
the rooms that we were
potentially going to use for
the awards.
For the awards we needed
a room for our drinks
reception, and one for the
main show.
4. I helped out at the awards last year when they were held at the VOX, which is a
short walk from the NEC (where it had been held previous years). We were
unable to use the Vox again this year as they had already booked another event
for the same days.
When looking around the rooms I found that where I was so used to seeing the
CE Awards in the Vox, I couldn’t imagine what it would look like in the Hilton
as the styles are so different.
The Vox
5. This was the room that we would be using
for the main portion of the awards.
The Kings Suite
10,000 Sq Ft
Capacity- 720 people banquet style
Press play -
6. These are the two rooms we
were shown to use for our
drinks reception.
We have decided to go for this room, as
we preferred the classic look it had and
its location as we will have to usher the
guest from here to the kings suit.
7. This experience helped me to further my
understanding of what is required from a venue, and
to think of more than just the aesthetics. You should
think about the logistics from the path that your
guests will have to walk to get from A to B, to where
to toilets are.
Click to find out
about the menu
tasting -
Click to go back
to beginning -
9. After our tour we were taken
into the dining room which
was empty as it was 4pm.
This was the menu that we
were trying –
We were also given bread
and butter, with the option of
still and sparkling water.
I was invited to come as I
have been a vegetarian for
3+years so my line manager
Rachel thought it would be
useful to have my opinion,
and she thought it would be
a good experience to have
since in the events industry it
more certain that I will have
to attend them in the future.
10. When tasting the meals it
was very important to remind
myself that it wasn’t just
about my personal
preference, these meals have
to appeal to the majority of
guests (500+)
However it helped the whole
group if we were all
completely honest with each
other, even if it meant
critiquing the food in front of
the chef and server.
This meant that the chef
could offer solutions to any
problems or questions we
had i.e., deciding on the beef
dish but wanting to make it
look nicer, so the chef said
we could add a garnish on
top.
11. In the end we decided on
these choices as we felt
like they were the tastiest
and went well together..
There was a lot more to
negotiate with the venue
regarding drink
prices/packages and AV
options, which Rachel
was going to do over
email where she could
have her budget in front
of her. So we left it there
and returned home.
