Brighton Centre

The Brighton Centre is launching ‘The Ultimate Site Visit’, an inaugural event providing VIP guests the opportunity to experience the Centre’s recently completed £1million renovation programme. Taking place on Thursday 21st June 2012 at the Brighton Centre, this unique event will feature an immersive and interactive tour of the venue, incorporating the use of film, sound and performance designed to surprise and inspire.

“We want to showcase the extensive refurbishment improvements and celebrate the Brighton Centre’s 35th birthday through a special site visit, with a unique Brighton edge. This event provides us with a platform to bring the city and the Centre to life for conference and exhibition organisers,” says Howard Barden, General Manager of the Brighton Centre. “The modernisation of the venue has given us a new look and a breadth of versatility that we want to shout about and share with conference, event and exhibition organisers across the country.”

‘The Ultimate Site Visit’, in partnership with Aeon Events, AVT Connect, Kudos, Sussex Signs, VisitBrighton and X-Hibit, will help visitors imagine the venue’s refurbished spaces and facilities in a fresh way, engaging them through live performance and an unforgettable audio-visual experience.

Guests will then be invited to enjoy a lunch with a menu created by celebrity chef Frank Bordoni. Head Chef at the Brighton Centre and member of the Guild of Master Chefs, Dan Loader, will be assisted by Frank Bordoni on the day to produce the menu. The lunch will be held in the Brighton Centre’s third floor restaurant, which boasts a stunning backdrop of the famous Brighton and Hove seafront.

The renovation project, completed in January 2012, has significantly enhanced and extended facilities at the Brighton Centre. It has involved the creation of a larger entrance and reception area, with a new fully glazed front to the building and a completed re-designed third floor Restaurant, offering clear, panoramic views of the seafront. Other improvements include 4,000 comfortable, new seats in Auditorium 1, the refurbishment of Auditorium 2, better equipped and re-decorated meeting facilities and break out rooms throughout the Centre alongside new signage, technology upgrades, furnishings and fittings which create a fresh and vibrant new look.

If you would like to register your interest in attending the Ultimate Site Visit on Thursday 21st June, please contact the Brighton Centre Conference Sales Team on 01273 292643 or email: rebecca.edwards@brighton-hove.gov.uk

The Brighton Centre is delighted to announce that it will provide free Delegate Wi-Fi as standard for all business and conference delegates attending the venue, with immediate effect.

A building wide, business class 802.11g/n dual band wireless coverage linked to a 30Mbps leased line fibre internet connection is now available at the UK’s largest conference and exhibition venue on the South Coast. This will allow Brighton Centre users to send and receive email during their time away from the office whilst at conference, join in live Twitter discussions, take part in e-voting as well as browse the web and access other useful applications that the event or conference provides.

Penny Parker, Brighton Centre’s Business & Communications Manager. “We believe that providing good quality, free Delegate Wi-Fi is an intrinsic part of the venue package for business users, especially as interactive debates and live reporting become more and more important. Following the extensive investment in new facilities and services we have made at the Centre, free Delegate Wi-Fi is one of the many forward-thinking initiatives that can now provide to improve the delegate experience.”

Following a major £1 million refurbishment, The Brighton Centre, one of the largest, purpose-built conference and exhibition space in the South of England, will invite Confex visitors to take a special 3D virtual tour of the new, improved venue on the VisitBrighton Stand B610.

The renovation project, completed in January 2012, has significantly enhanced and extended facilities at The Brighton Centre. It has involved the creation of a larger entrance and reception area, with a new fully glazed front to the building and a completed re-designed third floor Restaurant, offering clear, panoramic views of the seafront. Other improvements include 4,000 comfortable, new seats in Auditorium 1, the refurbishment of Auditorium 2, better equipped and re-decorated meeting facilities and break out rooms throughout the Centre alongside new signage, furnishings and fittings which create a fresh and vibrant new look.

On Stand B610, the Centre team will present these improvements through a fully interactive 3D virtual tour. This will allow visitors to walk through the venue, explore all the recently refurbished areas and take in the dramatic results of this substantial investment for themselves.

“We are looking forward to showcasing our excellent new facilities to all conference and exhibition organisers attending International Confex this year”, says Penny Parker, Business and Communications Manager at The Brighton Centre. “The refurbishment represents a significant and comprehensive upgrade of our conference, exhibition and meeting spaces. It also capitalises on our fantastic location, bringing us closer to the seafront and providing delegates with inspiring, uninterrupted views of the sea through new floor-to-ceiling windows. The 3D virtual tour brings these improvements to life for visitors and is the next best thing to seeing the Centre in person”.

Visitors to Stand B610 will find helpful Brighton Centre staff on hand who can explain the re-development in more detail and demonstrate how the venue can meet a wide variety of business conference and exhibition needs. They can also fix appointments for visits to the Centre immediately after the show. Representatives from the Centre and VisitBrighton can also outline the cultural, hospitality and leisure strengths of the City which make it such a great place to do business.

*** STAND B610, ExCeL LONDON, 6-8 MARCH 2012 ***

Iphone App helping city visitors to get the most out of their conferences and the city.

Delegates attending events at the Brighton Centre are set to benefit from a new conference service by being able to download an iPhone app, tailored for their own event that will enable them to get up-to-date information about their conference and exhibition.

The new app, which was developed by Brighton company Insight Mobile Ltd, will also provide attendees with information on local restaurants, pubs, taxis, hotels and other local businesses.

The app is customisable, via an easy-to-use content management system (CMS) by conference organisers so that the most relevant information can be sent to delegates. The system not only provides the means to send conference information quickly but it offers sponsorship opportunities too – it even allows delegates to send a postcard from Brighton.

“We wanted something that would help delegates organise their time better, keep them informed on conference programmes and to get the most out of the time they spend in the city, all in an easy-to-use format,” said Penny Parker, Business & Communications Manager at The Brighton Centre. “Not only is the information available on the delegates’ own phones, it will also help conference organisers keep in touch with their attendees and save on printing costs.”

Catherine Lake, Insight Mobile’s Managing Director said that this was an app where everyone would benefit. “Attendees get their information for free, while exhibition companies can use it as another promotion opportunity and as a means to attract additional revenues, while local businesses get an opportunity to advertise their services on a medium that is going to be used. This information will help give delegates a hand-held, personalised guide to Brighton & Hove.”

Insight Mobile Ltd, winner of a Beautiful South Award for Excellence, has worked with a large number of organisations on iPhone apps but the technology for the Brighton Centre is the first time that it has worked with a conference venue. The app, which will be available for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, was trialed at the recent BNMS 2011 Conference and feedback from delegates was positive, identifying the app as very useful. Charlotte Weston from the British Nuclear Medicine Society, based at the University of Nottingham said “We were really happy with the App and very pleased to be able to trial this innovation at our conference. Delegates are always looking for ways in which event organisers can adapt new technologies and make them relevant to their event.”

Following the successful trial the Conference App it will be utilized at the GMB annual conference in June and thereafter the service will be offered free to delegates at all events with more than 450 delegates lasting at least three days at The Brighton Centre.

For more information contact:

Penny Parker, The Brighton Centre

Email: penny.parker@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1273 292642 OR

Catherine Lake, Insight Mobile Ltd

Email: catherine@insightmobile.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1273 803133

Mobile: +44 (0)7976 923733

New computer simulation technology gives guided tour of venue to computer users

Visitors to the Brighton Centre will be able to benefit from a view with a difference – a guided tour of the building, without leaving their seats. Computer users will be able to see a 360 degree, virtual view of the interior, thanks to the same technology that the local football team, Brighton and Hove Albion used to demonstrate the potential of their new stadium.

The new technology is the work of Brighton-based Makemedia and presented a very different challenge to the company’s regular work but the company's experience in the gaming industry stood it in good stead. Besides its work with Brighton and Hove Albion, the company has worked with several other local businesses as well as major corporates.

The Brighton Centre is increasingly using technology to showcase its potential as a conference and exhibition venue – it recently launched a mobile phone app to provide up-to-date information for conference delegates – and the new simulation technology will provide prospective clients with a real feel for the advantages that the Centre has to offer.

Work to develop the simulation model has already commenced and will be completed in August. It is based on 3D technology Unity and has been designed to work with every browser.

While the design of the Brighton Centre could have proved a tricky proposition, Makemedia believes that the layout of the building means an online tour is particularly interesting. “The nooks and crannies of the Brighton Centre will make it a more interesting environment to explore for users. Exploring the model will help them to know exactly where they are going when they visit the real Brighton Centre! It will also help those who are investigating hiring the venue get a real feel for the building,” said Laura Evans, Makemedia's head of marketing.

“The Makemedia technology will be the perfect way to demonstrate the potential of the venue,” said Penny Parker, business and communications manager for the Brighton Centre. “In a competitive marketplace, features such as this 3D simulation will really help attract new clients and will help highlight some of the most attractive aspects of the Brighton Centre to event organisers.”

For more information contact:

Penny Parker, The Brighton Centre

Email: penny.parker@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1273 292642