A Bumper Year for the OD&V Team
According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon! The mythical creature symbolises power, strength, good luck, and wisdom, and as we take a few minutes to reflect on what has been a very busy year for the OD&V team, we can say with some certainty that we have drawn on all of those strengths too!
Over the past 10 months, we have managed five international conferences, looking after more than 1500 delegates; with two events to follow before the year-end, and 2025 looking exciting for many reasons, we do feel that after the difficult years of the pandemic and its immediate aftermath, that we are back to doing what we do best, undertaking ordinary things, extraordinarily well!
The first conference of the year, in May, took us North to Liverpool for a repeat client, the British Medical Laser Association. Their event was held at the fantastic Spaces at the Spine, Royal College of Physicians. Billed as ‘one of the healthiest workspaces for mental health and physical wellbeing in the UK’, the venue suited everyone’s needs perfectly and delegates enjoyed a range of educational courses before a packed two-day programme with an exhibition.
Liverpool is, as always, a fun and interesting city so we were spoilt for choice when it came to options for social activities! The gala dinner took place in the Hard Days Night Hotel in the heart of the city’s Beatles Quarter, adjacent to the famous Cavern Club.
The next conference of the year took us to Cambridge in early July to work for a client that came to us via our partnership with Meet Cambridge, the convention bureau for the city. The International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) has its own PCO but as they are based overseas, they also needed assistance locally. It’s one of our strengths that we can be flexible with the services that we offer and that we are happy to dovetail with existing provisions, so the relationship worked very well. ISTA was celebrating its centenary having held its first conference in Cambridge in 1924 and befitting the occasion, a VIP gala dinner was held in the historic Christ’s College whilst the conference itself took place in the incredibly unique setting of the Debating Chamber atthe Cambridge Union Society.
We were back in Cambridge at the end of July for the International Conference on Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC5). The conference started with a welcome reception in the stunning surroundings of St John’s College. This conference was truly immersive; sessions took place in the very heart of research at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, an institute that has made revolutionary contributions to science, which really did enhance the programme.
August brought us closer to home for the annual conference of the Archives and Records Association (ARA), which this year took place in the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre (BCEC) right in the heart of the city. We have been working with ARA for 2 years and it was a joy to be back on site with them; the organising committee are incredibly creative. This year we had ITV’s Des Coleman hosting the gala dinner and awards and we also found our way into the beautiful Grade II listed banqueting suite at the Birmingham Council House, one of the city’s most historic buildings, for a social and supper evening.
From Birmingham, we headed straight back to Cambridge for the 16th Meeting of the International Neurotrauma Society, the largest, most complex event that we have managed to date. The event was five years in the planning, and it really did take over the city, with plenary, exhibition, breakout sessions, dining and accommodation being delivered in 13 different venues over four days. The ambitious programme was extensive with several pre-conference courses offered alongside a fun run, charity football match and a Hurricane fly past over King’s College during the welcome reception! It was a definite case of ‘all hands on deck’ and for this event, we increased our team numbers from 5 to 10 to ensure that the operation ran smoothly and that the 670 delegates that attended had an exceptional experience.
And…here we are in October, we have just arrived in Cambridge, this time for the Lean in Higher Education Conference (LeanHE), a world-leading international conference which aims to improve universities around the world using lean methodologies to build processes now and in the future. The conference is taking place in the historic Debating Chamber at the Cambridge Union Society and the Hilton Cambridge City Centre, with the Gala Dinner at the contemporary Fitzwilliam College.
We will end our 2024 events with the Worcestershire Apprenticeship Awards, an event that is remarkably close to our hearts having been involved for some 5 years now. This will be its 10th year, and with a record number of finalists, it will be the biggest yet. It’s such an inspirational event and a privilege to see such successful young people at the very start of their careers.
As for 2025, the planning never stops and alongside delivering the incredible 2024 events, we are also working on some exciting large international conferences for next year too. Circling back to the Wood Dragon, we will be drawing on the strengths and learnings from 2024 as we continue to navigate the bustling world of events. We are looking forward to embracing new opportunities with resilience and creativity, to turn our clients’ visions into reality and just possibly soaring to new heights, like our metaphorical dragon!
Need help with a future conference or event? We'd love to help, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.today by email or give us a call on +44 (0)1562 731788 for an informal chat about your ideas.
