G S C Events

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by G S C Events's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from G S C Events is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.gsc-events.com

45GSC EVENTS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Timothy Warren, founding

director

Meiji Kinenkan: The outer gardens

of the Meiji Shrine were used by

our client for a private meeting

Based in Weston-super-Mare, GSC is a company that

works on a variety of event projects, great and small.

Quite simply, the purpose of GSC Events is to provide a

personal, professional and efficient service that helps corporates,

government departments and associations confirm suitable

meeting space and accommodation for their events worldwide.

Getting things right in this industry is crucial and is the only

reliable means by which one can achieve a long-term client

base. This is especially necessary in the digital era, whereby the

internet is causing disruption in all corners of the economy.

Remaining in this market is no mean feat, and how a company

successfully achieves this is something that Timothy Warren,

GSC’s founding director, elaborates on in the following

Reviewarticle.

We help run events taking place for product launches, rewards ceremonies,

sales meetings, takeovers and motivational and training sessions, among other

things. We also help with events for another, very important reason – namely

engagement programmes. Many people are not happy in their jobs, and it is

not the salary or the job they are doing that causes this; it is because they feel

their employers either don’t appreciate what they are doing, or don’t think

they matter. As a result, there is often an unrecognised underperformance

issue or a considerable amount of time and money spent in replacing good

people. An effective engagement programme is the toughest challenge facing

the business world and is the most important benefit to give an employee.

FACTS ABOUT

GSC EVENTS

»Founding director:

TimothyWarren

»Founded by Timothy Warren,

David Fox-Pitt and Bob Davis

»Celine Remen, food marketing

specialist, joined in 1994

»Established in 1988

»Became a limited company,

GSC Events Ltd, in 2009

»Based in Weston-super-Mare

»Services: Finds venues for 10 to

1000+ delegates for day and

residential meetings

»Concentrates on pricing, venue

suggestions and knowledge

»Has held meetings in

36countries worldwide

»With UK and international

clients

»Works with speakers, AV,

transport and entertainment

companies

»Supports the National Trust and

Weston Hospicecare

»www.gsc-events.com

GSC Events

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

46 | GSC EVENTS

Performancelevelsincrease when

they are put in place, and the key to

that is to plan ahead and start with a

meeting to discover how to make a

difference. GSC works with organisers

who value returning all-round

performance through meetings that

have a purpose.

Helping meeting organisers

Meeting organisers are faced with a

great deal of choice when booking

events, which we help sort out by

looking at budget, location and service

levels. The venue business is vast and

growing. London, as an example,

between 2017 and Q1 2018 added

7,000 bedrooms to the mix, all offering

something different. Meeting planners

are busy people deeply engaged in

their subjects, and not always aware

of these new opportunities – it’s our

job to help them. Bear in mind, too,

this is just one example; there is in

fact activity of this kind happening

everywhere.

We engage, help and advise; we save

time, money and hassle, and source

the best possible options for an

upcoming meeting. In April this year

a survey concluded that New York,

followed by Geneva, Zurich, Paris,

Washington DC and Monaco, were

the most expensive places to meet, so

this information is helpful in decision-

making, where five cities could be

looked at for one meeting.

Here are a few different experiences

we’ve organised:

»A US company meeting for 200

delegates to Tokyo, with exclusive

restaurant bookings

»An EMEA meeting for 200 delegates

to Monte Carlo with a treasure hunt

»An exclusive booking to the

Bundestag National Parliament’s

restaurant for over 100 publishers

»An accountants conference for

400delegates to Berlin

»An incentive trip for 90 software

engineers to Morocco to play golf

»A corporate meeting for

800executives to Disneyland Paris

for a week

We help organisers customise, design

and deliver memorable events to suit

their budgets, and have held many

types of event requiring detailed

planning. Spending preparation

time with Bear Grylls and his team

in France before their epic world

record-breaking altitude flight over

Mt Everest was a learning experience.

Organising an event in Rio was more

difficult than in London because of

the language, currency, security and

logistical issues. Having local contacts

in international markets is essential to

getting local supplies reliably. A good

speaker makes a huge difference in

how memorable an event will be.

Approximately 36 per cent of an event

budget is spent on the venue, and

Hilton Tokyo Bay: meeting

held recently for 200

delegates for US clients

Celine Remen,

director and food

marketing specialist

The internet

shows the

glory; GSC

tells the real

story

“

47GSC EVENTS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

another 34 per cent on catering, with

the remainder going on production

costs. Many large events we plan are

booked 12 to 18 months ahead in order

to reserve adequate meeting space.

Small to mid-sized competitive hotels

have become popular with organisers

with budget restraints, as have

outdoor, cultural and educational

establishments. Providing internet

access and Wi-Fi is essential, unless the

event is designed to be unconnected.

An effective meeting must allow

people to focus and network. With

the wrong mix of people, a subject will

not stick. Meetings are about targeting

messages for people to work on. An

events organiser wants their delegates

to be alert, leaving happy and

recommending the event thereafter.

The destination has to be memorable,

and therefore our work is key to the

decision-making process.

Trends – return on investment

(ROI)

Meeting colleagues at events is as

important and helpful as their content.

Those who perform this in-the-flesh

exercise outpace those who don’t,

because they learn more, which leads

to increased efficiency, better staff

retention, higher profits and improved

customer service.

Why it pays to use GSC (ROI)

The internet increasingly offers and

promotes wonderful venues and

destinations, but this is not enough

to make important decisions on

spending and where to go. Knowing

the relevant questions to ask, in

conjunction with our investment in

travel to see key suppliers, is helpful

in updating clients on developments,

brands, trends, ownerships,

refurbishments, and ideas for

meetings – helping us establish long-

term client relationships.

Our unparalleled services for VIP,

incentive, conference, corporate

meeting and association business can

cater for their demands in accordance

with budget and specific needs. Our

direct experience and knowledge in

this area is at the client’s disposal,

helping to deliver an exceptional event

with confidentiality. We have helped

clients concerned with the first and

second Gulf crises, SARS, 9/11, the ash

cloud, the banking crisis and Brexit,

in addition to less seismic topics like

internet advertised prices, descriptions

of properties online, contracts, deposits

and billing. The key to successful venue

finding and conference placement

is getting the right people to the

right place at the right time and at

the right cost. All of this, moreover,

is done by having worked alongside

our professional venue providers and

owners since1988.

All industries face disruption (for us this

is the worldwide web), but business

is a matter of surviving and working

on and figuring out your strengths.

We are confident that our industry

still requires people on the ground

with experience and an eye for detail.

This is something at which we at GSC

Events excel, and on that basis we will

continue to thrive into the future.

Over the last

30years GSC

has successfully

booked

meetings in over

36 countries

“

GSC – time is money

www.gsc-events.com

This article was sponsored by G S C Events. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy