Comedians stand-up for Great Ormond Street Hospital

On 30 March, the biggest comedy line-up in history is coming to the O2 to raise money for a truly amazing cause, the work of London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Channel 4’s Comedy Gala has seen an all-star cast of comedians volunteer their services for free. Monies raised will help to pay for two new anaesthetic rooms allowing parents to stay with their child right up until they enter the operating theatres.

If you’ve not been able to get a ticket to this one-off gig, it will be televised on Channel 4 over the Easter weekend. In the meantime here’s an exclusive interview with Michael McIntyre to whet the comedy whistle.

What do you do to stay fit?
Just standing up I’m out of breath, which is really unfortunate as when I’m on stage I have one of those mic things on my head where it is right in front of my mouth so you can hear how out of breath I am. It’s no secret.
I have actually got myself a personal trainer now, his name is Matt. I don’t know why I pay him. I do all the work and all he does is count. 1, 2, 3, 4… that’s all he does!
It seems all you need to be able to do to be a personal trainer is count. I could have got my accountant to do it – it would have been cheaper.

What are your top tips for looking and feeling good?
I like to look at the day as two days. You wake up, have three meals and then go back to bed. Then wake up in the afternoon, have three meals and then go back to bed. And that’s how you do it, that is how you become happy and fat.

Have you ever had to stay in hospital? How was it?
I was there when my wife was giving birth but I just sat there in stunned silence.
I was also in hospital myself when I dislocated my shoulder but I don’t remember it. I have been told about it, and apparently I was really arrogant. I was out of it on morphine and all I would talk about was my tour. I don’t remember a thing about it.

What is your advice to children and young people who have health problems?
Oh, no. I can’t give out advice. Not someone like me.

Would you have liked a health website written specifically for teenagers when you were younger?
It would have been lovely. All we had was the little red book under my mother’s bed. It can be dangerous to Google injuries so it’s good to have something like this to trust. You go on some sites and it’s terrifying.

Do you have any other health advice you’d like to share?
I’m not the one to be giving out health advice. I was told that if I exercised I would have loads of energy and look good but that’s not the case. I only still go because I paid in bulk. I exercise and now I look terrible AND feel terrible.

Meet the Market introduces ISES members to event buyers

It was a busy few days last week as International Confex got underway at Earls Court. On the show’s first evening, I had the privilege of hosting and playing compere at a ‘Meet the Market’ event, which brought together more than 300 corporate buyers to meet with UK members of the International Special Events Society (ISES).

Meet the Market took place at the recently refurbished Wyndham Grand London hotel. More than 25 ISES UK member companies showcased their services from exhibition stands in the hotel’s new ballroom.

ISES UK members were able to spend the evening networking with client buyers after the trade association teamed up with Confex and Visit London hosted buyer programmes.

During the evening, corporate buyers were entertained by The Globe Girls and two West End theatre performers. Raffle hospitality prizes were donated by Sandown Park Racecourse and Lord’s Cricket Ground. Buyers who visited the ISES member stands were also given a passport stamp, which entered them into a competition to win a bottle of Dom Perignon 2000.

Meet the Market concluded with a discotheque and casino table entertainment supplied by Sharper Solutions.

Watch my video blog from the evening below and to see more photos, courtesy of Simon Lane Photography, click here. If you’re unable to view the video below, find it on YouTube by clicking here.

Brits lose their French appeal

Has the main after-party at the Brits become another victim of recessionary times or has designer Bruce French simply run out of ideas?

Last night the Brit Awards celebrated its 30th anniversary at Earls Court with a star-studded ceremony, elaborate set and stage designs and the obligatory rock ‘n’ roll moment, which saw organisers having to plead with the pit full of baying teens to hand back Liam Gallagher’s microphone during commercial break.

But once the cameras stopped rolling and sing-a-long with Robbie was finally over, it was time to head next door for what should have been another year of Tim Burton-esque party theming.

Down the years, Bruce French has produced some spectacular backdrops, which would regularly make it onto the covers of my former magazine RSVP.

In 2005, the Brits celebrated its 25th anniversary with a Silver Jubilee Cockney Street-party, complete with East-end pub, whilst on Valentines Day 2007, revellers partied on Love Street complete with its own Elvis Chapel.

I first heard about his work from those that remember the fully blossomed pink and white trees he once installed at the Brits. So in 2004, when looking for a cover story to launch RSVP, I headed to his two-tier Heaven and Hell themed extravaganza.

Being the 30th anniversary, this year should have been special so I was shocked to discover that Lady Ga Ga was better dressed than the 2010 after-party.

Earls Court’s Brompton Hall looked like...well..it looked liked the Brompton Hall with dodgems, an out-of-place over-sized crazy golf course and a Rockeoke stage inviting wrist-band holders to screech out their favourite song whilst a band tried desperately to keep them in time.

It was achingly bad and budgetary issues aside, I know a hundred different events agencies that could have done a better job. Maybe it’s time that the Brits organisers put this annual party contract out to tender. Let theatre designer Bruce French be remembered for his legendary Brits work and next year, give this after-party contract to the UK’s creative events industry.

Decade of Sport demonstrates a raft of event opportunities in the lead up to 2020

More than 200 events industry professionals gathered at Somerset House on Wednesday 27 January for an exclusive opportunity to learn about major sporting events planned for London and the rest of the UK over the next ten years.

Decade of Sport, staged by ISES UK in association with Visit London, was the first major conference to detail opportunities that exist for venues, suppliers and agencies around significant sporting occasions planned and confirmed until 2019. These included the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a possible FIFA World Cup in 2018, the NFL’s competitive American football matches, ATP Tennis Finals and many more events outlined by the four speakers.

Hosted by me, the conference and subsequent networking event took place in the Embankment Rooms at Somerset House, staged with the assistance of key ISES member companies Fisher Productions, Sound By Design, Thorns, Simon Lane Photography and Leith’s Catering.

Speaking to a packed auditorium, Visit London Director of Business Tourism Tracy Halliwell and 2012 Director Mark Howell updated delegates on London’s plans for 2012. With just over 900 days left until the greatest sporting event on earth comes to the UK capital, both keynote speakers urged delegates to proactively seek out business opportunities and, be talking now to potential clients about a full-range of satellite activity including live sites, fan festivals, media hubs, broadcast points, destination houses, hospitality programmes and auxiliary events.

Following a coffee break, during which delegates could discuss the enormous amount of detailed information they’d just received, Decade of Sport resumed with a session from Iain Edmondson, Senior Projects Manager for Events for London.
Iain provided the lowdown on how this specialist division of Visit London works to attract major events to the capital and some of the ways it can help organisers to unlock the city’s full creative potential in order to stage spectacular stunts such as Robbie Maddison’s death defying back-flip over Tower Bridge to promote Red Bull’s X-Fighter event last year.

Iain concluded his session by describing London’s role in becoming one of the host cities in England’s 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. He was then followed by the bid’s Accommodation and Hospitality Consultant David Hornby, who talked about the national set-up for bringing the FIFA World Cup to UK shores in eight years time.

ISES UK President Zanine Adams says: “Through our collaboration with Visit London and England 2018, we’ve been able to offer ISES member companies true value and provide an afternoon’s worth of invaluable business advice. I am so pleased with how much relevant content we’ve been able to deliver during this event and it’s a strategy we are working hard to maintain for all ISES member activity.”

Jedward tear it up at the NTAs

In a month when The O2 has been named the world’s most popular music venue after selling 2.3 million tickets last year, it was only fitting that the celebrity world should descend en masse on the docklands arena for the National Television Awards.

In the days leading up to Wednesday’s showpiece ceremony, all the talk on Twitter was about the X-Factor’s Jedward performing their dubious version of ‘Under Pressure / Ice Ice Baby’ alongside the original Vanilla Ice.

From my vantage point alongside a bevy of celebrity boozers and movers, it looked like a few extra post X-Factor rehearsals have done the twins the world of good (although that may have been the free beer!).

I was going to post just a one-minute highlight from their performance but come on, you know you want to relive the whole shebang! And if you missed it, here’s a chance to catch this instantly forgettable moment of pop history. It’s definitely not one for the O2’s British Music Experience exhibition but it did add to a fun night of celeb spotting and hospitality courtesy of The O2’s Comms team. Enjoy!

A decade to be done with?

As we enter into the final month of the Noughties, most events businesses will be glad to see the back of the opening decade of the 21st Century.

For many, it began with the irrational fear that the Millennium Bug would wipe computer systems off the face of the world. It will end with the very real threat that event budgets, purchasing power and creative execution will never be the same again.

In event terms, the Noughties will be remembered as a decade when humans were given the power to stop talking all together. Instead, we could tweet, poke, MSN or Skype. How event management companies adapt and integrate this communication revolution into their face-to-face strategies will determine their success in years to come.

In world affairs, the Noughties introduced us to terms like global warming, tsunami, Jihad and Jedward. At first we were too scared to travel, then we were too green to travel and now we are too cash-strapped to travel.

'Staycation', 'carbon footprint', 'procurement' and 'phoenixing' are all words that event and incentive planners would rather consign to the archives. Instead, these words are now cemented into language by Wikipedia editors and for a while, resulted in pretty decent Scrabbulous scores.

In Milan last week, I chaired a conference round-table discussion between event agencies from France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. In front of a European audience of around 200 suppliers, venues, agencies and planners, we discussed if the events industry would ever be the same again.

The outcome across Europe, as you may expect, was not wholly positive but, there were some things to look forward to once this decade of death and destruction is done with.

Hardship brings forth collaboration and entrepreneurship so creativity will win out in the end. Client relationships are more important than budgetary spend and so, business will grow more personal as networks grow ever more promiscuous. The economy will recover (the majority forecasting green shoots towards the end of 2010) and reckless bankers will be prevented from ever bringing us to the verge of bankruptcy again. And, despite all the options to the contrary, people across Europe still prefer to do business face-to-face. Besides which, here in the UK we have the Olympic Games to look forward to!

Westfield welcomes the BT Visit London Awards

Whilst most of the country were out celebrating the discovery of Guy Fawkes sitting on twenty barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the Houses of Parliament, London’s tourism and events industry came together at Westfield Shopping Centre to celebrate the 2009 Visit London Awards, sponsored by BT.

Staging an awards ceremony in the heart of the capital’s newest retail centre, with the shops remaining open until mid-way through the awards, was always going to draw a crowd.

But what if guests disappeared during the pre-awards drinks reception to grab a bargain? Had we been asked to don black-tie just so store security could recognise and return us to our seats should the urge to begin our Christmas shopping early grow to strong? And what would have happened if one of the actual shoppers that stopped to peer down on us from the balconies above had suffered a fit of excitement at the mere sight of host Neil Fox, outstanding achievement award winner Tony Hadley or cater Rhubarb’s amazing sticky toffee pudding?

I suspect that, at times, the 700 guests gathered at tables in a basement mezzanine area at the heart of Westfield, probably felt a little exposed to an over excited housewife throwing her La Senza purchase off the balcony in the direction of Foxy.

Heavens forbid, a depressed shopaholic X-Factor fan should have decided that this was the perfect moment to end it all and, in the same final breath, extract revenge for Britain’s Got The Pop Factor….And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.

Thankfully however, the shoppers on the balcony above simply looked on with mild curiosity as London’s attractions, people and businesses were rewarded for their hard work and dedication.

This was my first visit to Westfield. It’s a truly modern and first-class retail complex and made for a uniquely fitting setting for the annual leisure and business tourism awards. I can’t wait for Westfield Stratford to open closer to my doorstep in 2011.

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2009 Visit London Awards. The full list is outlined below:

Outstanding Achievement Award
Sponsored by BT
Tony Hadley, lead singer of Spandau Ballet
Visitor Attraction of the Year
Kindly supported by Visa
Gold: National Maritime Museum
 Silver: ZSL London Zoo
Bronze: Imperial War Museum London
Best Tourism Experience 
Sponsored by Smiles of London
Gold: National Maritime Museum for International Year of Astronomy 2009 at the Royal Observatory Greenwich
 Silver: Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms 
Bronze: BBC Tours
Best Consumer Event of the Year 
Sponsored by Cake
Gold: Greenwich+Docklands International Festival
Silver: Winter Wonderland 
Bronze: Westminster Council for West End Live
Best Corporate Event of the Year
 Sponsored by Conference & Incentive Travel
Gold: ExCeL London for The London Summit; Growth, Stability & Jobs
 Silver: The Brewery for Glaston-Brewery
 Bronze: Maybourne Hotel Group for Event Organisers Party at The Berkeley 6th April 2009
Business Venue of the Year 
Sponsored by Confex Group
Gold: ExCeL London 
Silver: Natural History Museum 
Bronze: Cavendish Conference Venues
Small Hotel/B&B of the Year 
Sponsored by SML Marketing & Events
Gold: Bingham 
Silver: The Colonnade 
Bronze: SACO Holborn/SACO Serviced Apartments
Large Hotel of the Year
 Sponsored by OMD
Gold: Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel 
Silver: InterContinental London Park Lane 
Bronze: The Athenaeum
Budget Accommodation of the Year
Sponsored by visitlondon.com
Gold: Generator Hostel London 
Silver: Palmers Lodge Boutique Backpackers 
Bronze: Think Apartments Limited
Outstanding Customer Service Award
 Sponsored by British Airways
Gold: The Operations team at The Cavendish Hotel London 
Silver: The Meetings & Events team at Royal College of Physicians 
Bronze: Nicholas Babbs at National Maritime Museum
Sports Tourism Award 
Sponsored by BT


Gold: England and Wales Cricket Board for ICC World Twenty20 England 2009
 Silver: Arsenal Football Club, Emirates Stadium for Emirates Cup 2008 
Bronze: Chelsea Football Club for Chelsea Football Club Stadium Tours & Museum
Sustainable Tourism Award 
Sponsored by Heathrow Express
Gold: Cavendish Conference Venues
 Silver: ExCeL London 
Bronze: The Cavendish Hotel London
Accessible Tourism Award 
Sponsored by OpenLondon
Gold: St Martin-in-the-Fields
 Silver: Greenwich+Docklands Festivals 
Bronze: The British Postal Museum & Archive
Best Gastronomic Experience 
Sponsored by London Restaurant Festival
Gold: Bingham
 Silver: Paternoster Chop House
 Bronze: Vinopolis
Marketing/PR Campaign of the Year
 Sponsored by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R
Gold: Natural History Museum for Darwin Exhibition 
Silver: Historic Royal Palaces: Tower of London and Hampton Court Palaces for Henry 500 - Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill and Henry VIII: Heads and Hearts 
Bronze: Westfield for the launch of Westfield London
People's Choice Awards
London Evening Standard's Best Family Fun 
Wicked – The Musical
London Evening Standard's Best London for Free Experience 
Natural History Museum
Kiss 100's Hottest Music Event
 West End Live
Magic 105.4's London Hero 
Emma De Souza