BeaconHouse Events was established in 2014 to establish environments and experiences that brought people and ideas together; creating space for conversations that could change the world. Support for local causes is baked into the culture at BeaconHouse Events and each charity on the list has been chosen by a member of the team because it aligns with core value of the business. These donations sit alongside the business’s ongoing hands on support for local non-profit organisations, including the The Children’s Foundation. Over the past year the team has volunteered to weed and dig at the charity’s inner city young people’s allotment, took to the lanes at a fundraising bowling night and supported a project bringing vital mental health workshops to schools in the region – all to give children and young people in the North East the best start possible.

Co-founder Sarah Thackray said, “Events are ultimately about people, and we would like to mark this milestone year by partnering with charities and community groups who are working hard to raise aspirations and create opportunities for people who live and work in our region. This forms a key part of our ESG strategy which aims to position us as a leading voice when it comes to driving positive change across the event sector, It includes a considered and consistent commitment to support projects focused on health and wellbeing, quality education, and climate action in the North East.

“We have a dedicated pot which will be divided among the charities, and rather than simply donating, we are working with the teams to understand what will be most beneficial to them at this point in their journey.”

Project co-ordinator Rebekah Hutchinson said, “I think I can speak for all the team when I say volunteering and charity support is embedded into the culture – it stems from a shared desire to do something good. Being involved with local community organisations who share our values gives us a sense of purpose; it’s a fulfilling and rewarding experience to share together which boosts our team morale, and it’s a chance to learn new skills to grow personally and professionally.”

Without further ado, our ten chosen charities for 2024 are…

1. Newcastle Food Bank

Newcastle Food Bank is an anti-poverty charity that provides emergency food and welfare support for people in the North East. In a bid to stop food waste at our events, we work with the team to redistribute food that would usually go to landfill and see first-hand the dedication and passion of the team behind the charity. With the use of food banks at an all-time high in our region we agreed it was important to support Newcastle Food Bank to deliver their vital work supporting people experiencing financial hardship right here on our doorstep.

2. North East Rewilding Network

The North East Rewilding Network champions the rewilding and restoration of ecosystems in the region so nature can take care of itself. While we might be orange on the outside, we’re green through and through and we unanimously agreed that supporting a project that promotes nature’s recovery and climate solutions while empowering communities aligned perfectly with our environmental aims for BeaconHouse Events.

3. Rise

Rise Mental Health supports the well-being of individuals, teams, and organisations and is inspired by the belief that with the right support, every person can flourish. Working in a fast-paced environment with high burnout rates, the mental health of our colleagues is always front of mind for us. Recently the whole BeaconHouse team was trained in mental health first aid which equipped us with the knowledge, awareness, and tools to promote health and wellbeing and have each other’s backs. Our brilliant project co-ordinator Rebekah a champion for mental health within the business put forward Rise as a charity close to her heart and we couldn’t agree more.

4. North Tyneside Arts Studio

Creativity with purpose underpins every event that we bring to life and we believe that everyone should have access to, and get the benefit of, engaging with the arts. North Tyneside Arts Studio provides a safe, supportive environment where people can discover how creativity can support their mental health and personal recovery.  Their community has a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and diagnoses, but their common experiences of living with mental health issues help to build the tools and social connections that empower people to achieve long-term change. Our resident artist and project co-ordinator Alice put forward their work for consideration and we are thrilled to support their work.

5. Stepney Bank Stables

Our neigh-bours in the Ouseburn Valley recently launched an appeal to help save the inner city stables after facing a critical funding gap which meant the vital community resource was under threat of closing due to a perfect storm of financial challenges. Stepney Bank Stables operates a valued youth programme just around the corner from our home in Hoults Yard so as part of our commitment to making our local area a vibrant place to grow up we wanted to safeguard the organisation’s future and contribute to the welfare of the horses who rely on the stables for care and shelter.

6. Groundwork North East and Cumbria

Our co-founder and sustainability champion Sarah sits on the board of trustees for Groundwork NE and recently we have partnered with the organisation to ethically offset our carbon impact by opting to donate our carbon credit equivalent for 2023’s events programme. The donation went towards supporting the charity to deliver its nature-based Solutions portfolio of environmental community initiatives. The work that the team at Groundwork is doing is inspirational and aligns completely with our values and vision for the region. This donation as part of our 10-year campaign is just one part of a much larger relationship we have with the charity, including volunteering on-site with the team in the coming months.

7. FareShare

FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food re-distributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. We work with clients across the UK and as part of our ongoing efforts to combat food waste in the events industry and make positive change in the sector, we want to support a national charity working to find solutions to the issue. FareShare delivers a range of projects including school breakfast clubs, older people’s lunch clubs, homeless shelters, and community cafes. Every week they provide enough food to create almost a million meals for vulnerable people.

8. Ouseburn Farm

We are always striving to be the G.O.A.T when it comes to events, so when we heard about the opportunity to sponsor Sonny the micro-goat at Ouseburn Farm we jumped at the chance! Ouseburn Farm sits nestled in the Ouseburn Valley, just ten minutes along the road from Hoults Yard providing visitors with the opportunity to learn about the origins of food and care for nature through engagement with farm life. As a team that is actively looking to create events that are accessible to everyone, we were particularly drawn to the fact that the centre is also a care farm with a placement programme for adults with learning disabilities, difficulties, and ASD (autistic spectrum disorder), where people can learn new skills and connect with nature. Fingers crossed Sonny can visit us soon!

9. Curious Arts

Curious Arts is a North East-based charity championing and developing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual + arts, artists and communities across the North East of England and beyond. Creating inclusive spaces where everyone feels comfortable to attend and participate is high on our agenda for every event we create and when we heard that Curious Arts offered training to organisations and venues so they can feel confident to create safe, inclusive, and welcoming environments for LGBTQIA+ people, we knew we had to support them as part of this campaign.

10. Rainbow Trust

Last but by no means least is the Rainbow Trust, a national charity supporting families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness. As a family-oriented organisation, we resonated with the work the team at the Rainbow Trust is doing to support over 86,000 children with life-threatening conditions across the UK. We hope that our small contribution will make a difference to families who have a seriously ill child.

To speak to the team about our campaign to celebrate ten years in business email info@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

As well as partnering with private businesses across a whole range of sectors, our client portfolio also includes prestigious academic institutions. This year we were brought on board by Newcastle University to deliver the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC), the largest applied mathematics conference in the UK. The event took place over three days in April 2024 and brought together students, academics, and industry professionals to discuss recent advances in the field. The organising committee for the event was chaired by Dr. Magda Carr, a Reader in Applied Mathematics at Newcastle University. We sat down with Dr. Carr to discuss what it was like bringing this prestigious event to the North East, how event management is a far cry from her day job, and talk through some of the unseen legacies that the event has created.

Tell us a little bit about BAMC 2024 and why it was an important milestone that it was held here in the North East. 

The BAMC is the largest conference in the UK for applied mathematicians, attracting delegates from across the UK and internationally. It is hosted by different universities each year and this year it was the turn of Newcastle University which gave us an amazing opportunity to welcome people to the city and put Newcastle on the map in our field. As well as getting fantastic feedback on the event itself, it was uplifting to hear the positive feedback for our city from first-time visitors too. Almost 400 people attended the event and we had lots of delegates commenting on how welcoming they found the city; how easy it is to navigate and how much there is to do here. It is easy to forget how lucky we are when all this is right on your doorstep so it was good to see it through fresh eyes.

The last time we (Newcastle) hosted the BAMC was in 1984 so we were delighted to be able to host this prestigious event again in 2024.

 

How did you find working with the BeaconHouse team to organise such a high-profile event for your sector? 

This was my first time chairing an event organising committee and this particular event is quite a big undertaking but I was happy to take on the challenge. I’m quite an organised person naturally so it wasn’t too daunting, and I did get teaching relief as the School of Mathematics does value how much time it takes to give the delegates a memorable experience, and it was great to know that BeaconHouse Events were there to support throughout the whole process. The team was recommended to me by another academic in the School who had recently worked with the team at BeaconHouse Events on a large-scale medical science conference where complete autonomy had been handed over to BeaconHouse and the feedback was fantastic on what was achieved.

We had a scoping meeting with Sarah to talk through our ambitions for the event, what we wanted it to entail, and how much in-house resources we had, and discussed budgets and timescales. That meeting was really helpful for me and the rest of the committee, who of course don’t come from an events background, because it was flexible in terms of what budget we had and how we could make best use of that. From that meeting, Sarah took all of our thoughts and came back with a detailed approach that she thought would be the best way to achieve what we needed to achieve. After that, we were introduced to our dedicated event manager Katie who took over all of the organisation and we were able to really get into the detail of what the event would look like. What we appreciated was BeaconHouse taking the reins and being very transparent throughout the whole process which helped us understand what support we were going to get. This communication and transparency meant that we were able to utilise the budget effectively and felt like we had a robust understanding of where all the resources would be allocated.

 

The event was over three days, that’s a lot of content to manage. How did you decide what that looked like and how did you keep people engaged? 

We had a good idea of what worked well from past BAMC events, but we worked closely with Katie to develop a timeline so we could get abstracts (a summary of the papers that were being presented) in advance, and when they came in we were quite heavily oversubscribed which resulted in the team making the decision to increase the length of the conference from two and a half days to three full days. BeaconHouse were great at keeping the schedule very flexible and we ended up booking the venue for the full week, just as a contingency plan if we did run over with the volume of abstracts being presented.

We were conscious that we needed break-out spaces for conversations to happen and where people could digest complex information, and the venue (the Frederick Douglass Centre) lent itself to that perfectly. We were aware that it was a packed programme so as well as the breakout spaces where people could meet in small groups to talk, we made sure that there was a designated quiet room where delegates could take some time away from the main conference if needed too. We also created an LGBTQIA+ safe space where anyone who identified as part of this community could meet other peers working or studying in the field.

 

This is a tried and tested conference, how did you make sure that BAMC 2024 was a unique experience? 

We worked very collaboratively with Katie and the team at BeaconHouse to bring ideas to the table, it was a very creative process to be part of. We held a minisymposium on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion which had not been seen at previous BAMC conferences and was really well received. This is something we should be discussing and addressing as a field and the delegate feedback was that they were grateful that EDI was included in the programme as a topic in its own right. The EDI symposium set the tone for the rest of the conference and people were very generous with their time and expertise. We also invited chairs for each presentation from the community which meant we had a real mix of people with established careers alongside people who were quite early-stage researchers which made the event a little more relaxed and gave people the confidence to speak up regardless of career stage or gender which was an evolution from past BAMC events and made it as inclusive as possible.

Conferences like this can be quite intimidating, especially for PHD students or postdocs who are presenting work, and one of the highlights for me was how inclusive and welcoming the whole environment had been designed to feel. Where the BeaconHouse team was fantastic was pushing and challenging us on sustainability. We aimed to make the carbon footprint of the event as low as possible which meant we had to interrogate every aspect of the conference that might have an impact on that. For the first time at a BAMC event all of the catering was vegetarian or vegan, and while we were initially worried about how that might go down with meat-eaters, actually people understood and embraced what we were trying to do and the positive feedback reflected that.

 

What has the legacy of this BAMC been so far?

One of the really positive spin-offs from the EDI session was a group of LGBTQIA+ community members meeting and going on to set up a network to support applied mathematicians in their community. They had a working lunch as part of the conference and that was the first-ever meeting of a brand-new network that has now been established to support applied mathematicians who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community across the whole of the UK. This was never something that was planned or on our agenda but an organic thing that is a real testament to the power of events and having the opportunity to connect with others.

 

Planning an event can be stressful. What was the relationship with BeaconHouse during this process? 

This is the first time that I have been heavily involved in something like this and we couldn’t have been more supported by Katie during the process. I had a weekly half-hour meeting with Katie each week to touch base and make sure that both sides were on track with what needed to be delivered. While we had a plan, we also had the flexibility to change and adjust things during the process which was appreciated, and I knew that the team at BeaconHouse was all over detail as things changed and flexed as we got closer to the event; that weekly meeting meant we could react to things in real-time and keep things moving.

As the event came closer the support from BeaconHouse ramped up and they brought in expertise that we just wouldn’t have thought of on our own. Katie was great at making sure that we had all of the speaker presentations in advance (something that doesn’t usually happen in the community and just alleviated so much stress on the day) and had such a professional and friendly way of communicating with us and with our speakers. Their approach made the event feel a lot more professional and ran so smoothly, just because of those seemingly small details that they took care of. Even when things were out of our control that didn’t go as planned, Katie and the team reacted in such a positive and solution-focused way which meant all of the delegates still had a fantastic and memorable experience.

Before an event, you have no idea how it is going to be received and the feedback on the professionalism of the event has been incredibly positive – several people have comment to myself and colleagues that BAMC 2024 was one of the best they have ever attended both in terms of scientific content, environment and organisation.

Find out more about how we brought BAMC to life and speak to the team about your event ideas email info@beaconhouse-events.com or call +44(0)191 691 3456.

 

 

Companies that invest in the importance of creativity and innovation have a much better foundation to develop new ideas, products or solutions, but people need space to develop these skills and a culture that celebrates creative thinking, considered risk taking and collaboration. Creativity, imagination and innovation are all fuelled by new experiences, interesting conversations and spending time with different people – which is why events can be such a power catalyst for new ideas and creative problem solving. Whether it is a conference, a staff engagement event, a festival or round table, events offer a unique opportunity for teams to share ideas and think outside of the box.

 

Expose your team to new ideas

Your keynote speaker or expert panel doesn’t necessarily have to be from within your sector. Choose relevant speakers who have interesting stories, insights and experiences to share and your team will come away inspired, motivated, refreshed and armed with the tools to think differently. Getting the opportunity to hear external perspective can encourage your team to think big and aim high.

 

Give them space to think and have fun

An event offers a break from the daily routine and provides a chance for people to step out of their comfort zone. Even something as simple as a change of scenery can stimulate new ideas, insightful solutions and push colleagues to explore new approaches to what they are working on, rather than moving on to the next thing on the to-do list. Success is often defined in organisations in terms of productivity or efficiency – and unfortunately creativity is rarely efficient, but it is effective. Give your team space to step away from the day-to-day, learn new things, get inspired and have some fun.

 

Foster psychological safety

Teams that feel psychologically safe are more likely to unlock creativity, innovation and results. An event is the perfect opportunity to help build trust and connection between immediate colleagues and wider team members, making it much more likely that they will feel comfortable enough to share new ideas, and challenge current thinking to make it better. Connection is a powerful way of boosting creativity within your organisation, and shared experiences can strengthen bonds between team members and create a sense of camaraderie that can enhance creativity and innovation across the business.

 

Receive feedback and validation

Everyone is busy and events offer a valuable and unique opportunity for people to share ideas that they might have been sitting on for a while. Receiving feedback and validation from peers though group discussions, organic conversations or pitch sessions can make ideas take shape much faster than when they are stuck in an email chain. Sharing creative thinking with others can help refine and evolve ideas, while giving a platform to identify pitfalls early. By giving space for people to discuss big ideas, your team can challenge their assumptions, think critically about their idea and develop more innovative, collaborative solutions.

 

A chance to mingle with new people

Creativity can’t happen in a silo and with remote working limiting chance meetings and algorithms feeding us curated information, it can be easy to get stuck in an echo chamber of the people you work closest with. By bringing a diverse mix of people together at an event you expose them to new perspectives and give space for organic conversations and idea sharing. Speaking to colleagues who are separate to their usual roles and responsibilities will expand a person’s world view. Remember innovation happens where conversations are, and if you are only speaking to the same people, then your ideas are going to stay the same too. Workshops or interactive sessions that encourage conversation will expose your team to new concepts, trends or industry insights that they wouldn’t usually have access to.

If you want to inject some creativity into your team, get in touch with the BeaconHouse Events team to find out more about how we bring ideas to life! info@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

There’s something about needing to exceed the expectations and create the ‘wow’ factor that will inherently be something we strive to achieve as a team, when adding that need to planning an event for a bunch of event planners, well the pressure is really on!

The Grand, York though…somehow made the whole experience…effortless! With a special mention to Janet Scally who from the moment we outlined our brief made the entire 24 hours a whirlwind of York-based inspiration. The brief; half day workshop with excellent meeting room tech, people engagement activity x 2 (learning based and interactive), wind down and reflection time, an overnight stay and some excellent food and drink. Luckily we chose a hotel that for most of that brief it’s second nature! From the moment we stepped into the lobby (actually the platform at Newcastle *tip of the cap* to the customer service levels on London North Eastern Railway) at the hotel the staff couldn’t be more accommodating. Whisked into our meeting room ‘The Gibb’ for the morning to enjoy coffee on demand and some freshly baked pastries, whilst bathing in the natural daylight from the original double-glazing floor to ceiling windows. If anything, it was a little difficult to focus on ‘business at hand’ and not peek out at the sights and sounds of historical York, but the huge 90″ screen helped keep our attention. After a morning of business strategy, culture review and team awards, 🇬🇧 John Paul Addison 🔴🔵🟡/🟢 joined us for part two of our Insights Personality Assessment, we learned more about working as an effective team and how we all like to be communicated with – announcing our lead colours with personalised treat boxes.

Time for lunch, again no challenge for The Grand, York to serve an energy boosting, pescatarian lunch for a bunch of hungry event managers. Then we donned our new ten year anniversary t-shirts (shout out to Clothes2Order for the apparel and our own Alice Adams for the design) and headed to York Dungeon, our horrific* host Mark Mattinson (*on theme!) took us through the options for private hire, themed tours and seasonal changes to the visitor attraction before the whole team got locked up and ‘edutained’ (our take on education / entertainment) for the next 90 minutes.

Back into the sunshine before checking in to the 5 star luxury of our suites at The Grand, York cases already in our rooms, welcome chocolates, personalised note, branded stationery and obviously a fine selection of fine Yorkshire brews, could arguably make it a little difficult to drag ourselves out of the fluffy robes if we didn’t have the pièce de resistance still to come…

The Cookery School The Grand, York if you haven’t yet been is a treat for all the senses. One chilled glass of wine down, Luke, our chef and host for the evening took us through the intricacies of making our own vegan curry paste to set the scene for the main show, an express cookery class for cauliflower sweet potato and spinach curry with garlic and herb naan and lentil dahl. Cue the competitive ‘ready, steady, cook’ nature of your team and you’re in for an evening of fine dining, fantastic banter and an all round memory-making experience. We came away with a branded apron, lots of leftovers and the threat of returning on numerous occasions to complete one of the many upcoming classes they offer including dim sum making, french brasserie and Weber LLC essentials!

Back for a spot of shut eye before sampling York’s finest French toast for breakfast at ‘The Rise’ after an early morning steam, sauna and swim. All in all, The Grand, York set a bar of hospitality that we recognise and appreciate whole heartedly as we proudly proffer to offer ourselves. If you’re looking for somewhere to host a senior leadership team workshop, second-level private dining, a speaker dinner, a pre-event party with a little razzle-dazzle, or a people engagement event for a medium-sized team, stop the search… you can thank us later. If you need an introduction or a means of personalising the experience to suit your particular needs we’ll be happy to relive the memories with a detailed slideshow.

Steve is dedicated to leading every business to be the energy for great change in the world, and he has inspired many to make every action they take a force for good, including through Planet Mark’s esteemed annual awards recognising outstanding achievements in the sustainability space.

Over to you Steve…

BeaconHouse Events has been working with Planet Mark for over five years – how did it all start?

Very early on in the Planet Mark days, I was invited to be part of a design industry event in London. Sir Tim Smit, the co-founder of the Eden Project was speaking and one of the key topics of the day was sustainability. It transpired that Sarah and the team at BeaconHouse were the organisers of the event. I was really impressed with how this event had been put together and after experiencing the quality of what they deliver first hand I reached out to Sarah to see if we could get a piece of that too. 

That initial idea was the first Planet Mark awards which have gone on to become a highly anticipated annual event. We didn’t want it to be a formal sit-down dinner and speech, we wanted the experience to be much more theatrical, participatory, and with a faster pace. The venue was a theatre near The Angel in Islington, London and it was this incredible performance space with huge screens, just perfect for what we were looking for. We hit the right style from the get-go and we haven’t really deviated from that over the years since then. BeaconHouse Events brought our vision to life and we were on the same page from the start. We wanted something that celebrated the incredible work that individuals and businesses were doing in the sustainability arena, and it was key that it was action-orientated rather than the ‘business as usual’ approach you see at a lot of conferences. Cost can sometimes be a barrier for smaller businesses attending events like this, especially if you have to pay to take a table, and we wanted to create something that allowed everyone to celebrate their achievements, regardless of the size of their organisation. The brief was to create an impactful event with interesting speakers who engaged with the audience, rather than just becoming background noise, and have wrap-around experiences to carry that energy through to post-event too and BeaconHouse did that from the start – the only thing that has changed is that it has got phenomenally bigger since that first event in 2016. 

The Planet Mark Awards celebrate sustainable practices – how has the landscape changed in the UK since you first designed the event?

When we first launched the Planet Mark Awards ESG and net zero  were in their infancy. The awareness of our planet changing around us, the loss of biodiversity in nature, and the impact that this is having on our societies are so much higher than it was, and we have had to adapt and scale to reflect that. We believe that most people and organisations are responsible citizens at heart and as the market has grown, so has Planet Mark. As a result, our Awards have become more and more meaningful, and to win a Planet Mark award really means something to businesses these days, and the team at BeaconHouse understands that the event is a reflection of that.

Whilst we have Nikki Faigen our events manager, we always want to work with partners who are excellent in their specialist areas and BeaconHouse totally compliment our in-house team, so that together we can put on an event that is spectacularly good.

Is the process collaborative?

Absolutely. I put that down to both teams being open to collaboration and working to a strong brief with great enthusiasm. Events are so important to us that we have an events manager in-house, Nikki Faigen, but we have always wanted to keep our awards with the team at BeaconHouse because it is such a big undertaking and they do it so very well. I put a lot of that down to the leadership and clarity of vision that Sarah has, and Event Manager Katie has been with us from the start, so she understands our organisation and community inside out. The Planet Mark network now includes over 800 businesses and tens of thousands of people and BeaconHouse has a really strong understanding of that which translates into a symbiotic and collaborative relationship.

Our certification is based on data, and so detail is incredibly important to us across the whole organisation, all the way through to events. Katie works with our internal events team to focus on those small details that add so much to our awards and the logistics of the day are always seamless. Once we have the big picture and the vision for the event, then we can get into the details and I am always impressed that the team can do both so well. They can bring us to incredible venues, while also looking after everything from the staging, award entries, sponsors, and engagement with other key stakeholders. That is then fed into the relevant parts of the organisation so we can make sure that everything is aligned with our messaging and communication in the lead-up to the event and post-awards. 

What skills have particularly impressed you from BeaconHouse? Why do you enjoy working together?

Katie and the team are great at communicating with our team in a really straightforward and personable way, which completely aligns with how we operate. In the lead-up to an event the pressure can start to ramp up a little bit, but they are always really calm and thoughtful about helping us to make decisions that make the event successful.

I like working with people that I trust implicitly. In life, nothing ever goes completely as planned and it is all down to how you plan for and adapt to those bumps along the way. Sarah, Katie, and the team are meticulous planners – they look around corners to see things that could turn into issues, they jump on problems and I know that they will be solved. Their communication is second to none, and they also know how to have good fun in doing it which makes for a very positive working relationship.

Sustainability can sometimes go under the radar – how important is having an events portfolio as part of your business strategy?

Events are an incredibly important part of our business. When we created our certification, we recognised that there is value in three particular types of activity when it comes to sustainability. The first is measuring the impact of what you are doing, the second is to engage people in the process and the third is to communicate what you are doing. We take every opportunity to show that sustainability is interesting, exciting, and relevant to all of us – and bringing people together is a fantastic way of doing that. BeaconHouse Events can put on the most impeccable, exciting events that people feel proud to be part of. The people who win a Planet Mark Award are going above and beyond and delivering something extraordinary, so we want to give them the best experience possible to celebrate that success and inspire others with what is possible – the awards take that to another level.

Bringing people together is fundamental to what you do and the awards are a great way of communicating with external stakeholders – do your internal team take a lot away from them too?

Absolutely yes. The high standard of the awards makes people very proud of where they work and has a definite impact on morale. It is also one of the rare opportunities during the year when the whole team can come together, but it is also a chance for us to meet so many of the organisations that we work with in one place. The energy of the awards is truly uplifting. Everybody in the team looks forward to the awards, they serve as a reminder of the role that every person in the team plays in helping our members to unleash their potential and so we all look at them with a great deal of pride.

You are having big conversations at the Planet Mark Awards – can the structure of the event be a catalyst for innovation and action? 

We spoke to the leader of a member organisation just today who told us that they will never miss a Planet Mark Awards event because of the opportunity to be in a room with so many people doing incredible work. You can’t help but learn from the other people in the room and the energy and inspiration are infectious too. The event is set up for people to meet new people and have those important conversations, get fired up, and wake up the next day newly invigorated to do good work. The off-the-cuff conversations that people have at our awards are where the magic is. When you bring people together in a room, if there is a challenge or an issue to be resolved people are inherently ingenious, and relentless, in working together to solve some of the biggest problems that we are facing as a society and BeaconHouse is fantastic at curating an environment that gives space for those conversations to happen.

Thanks, Steve!

Find out more about how we bring Planet Mark Awards to life and to speak to the team about your event ideas email info@beaconhouse-events.com or call 0191 691 3456.

These staggering statistics show the enormous impact that the event industry is having on our planet, but we can’t make change alone. We know that there are brilliant initiatives, big and small, happening up and down the country when it comes to tackling food waste and creating sustainable catering experiences, and we are constantly inspired by the creativity that we see to tackle environmental issues. If we all commit to making small, considered practices within our industry, maybe we can start to turn the tide when it comes to food waste.

So, how can you create high-impact events that don’t cost the earth?

1. Partner with sustainable caterers

Where possible we partner with sustainable caterers to help us to reduce the amount of food wasted through our events. Magic Hat Café in Newcastle offers bespoke, freshly prepared catering for events, all created from food and drink destined for landfill. The team at Magic Hat collects food from hospitality venues and shops across the region and uses these surplus ingredients to make delicious food. We love working with the team and our delegates are always impressed with the quality of the catering they deliver. By partnering with an organisation like Magic Hat, you’re directly impacting the amount of food being wasted in the UK with every mouthful.

Make sure you communicate your sustainability goals to venues and catering teams, so everyone is on the same page when it comes to combatting food waste. We love to learn from our partner venues and organisations, by having an open conversation and sharing ideas you can make real change, rather than trying to combat the issue in a silo.

 

2. Don’t over cater

Try to accurately estimate the amount of people you are expecting at an event and try not to over-order when it comes to food and drink. We’ve found that serving food through sharing platters or ‘family style’, rather than in individual portions, reduces the amount of food wasted and also limits the amount of packaging being used per event. This method allows delegates to serve themselves according to their preferences, or how hungry they are and avoids plates of wasted food at the end of a meal. Why not provide branded food boxes so guests can take home food to enjoy later if they can’t quite finish everything during the event?

 

3. How are you disposing of waste?

While limiting the amount of waste produced is the goal, there will inevitably be some food waste left over at the end of your event. For the Dynamites Awards 2023, we worked with a North East based anaerobic waste digestion plant to dispose of excess food, converting it into renewable energy, biofertiliser, and biomethane Gas. The biomethane produced is also injected into the local Gas Grid, helping to heat local homes and businesses as a renewable alternative to natural gas. How amazing is that?!

If it is safe to do so, leftover catering and ingredients could be donated to local charitable initiatives like The People’s Kitchen so people in need can get a taste of the event too, rather than it being destined for the bin.

 

4. Get delegates involved

Engaging attendees in your sustainability efforts will help people feel more invested and foster a sense of shared responsibility while allowing you to communicate your sustainability goals authentically. Why not try incorporating integrative elements into your event like a waste sorting station where guests can learn about your recycling practices and feel like they’re doing their part? Provide interesting educational materials on the impact of food waste and what you’re doing to combat it, and signpost to charities or organisations where people can visit to learn more about mindful consumption.

 

5. Track and evaluate your success

Make sure that at every event you have a robust way of tracking how much food was wasted, and where you have started to see positive change. This will help you to build on your success and adapt future events to have even more impact. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem like a lot at first, by making small changes together we can help each other to turn the tables on how much food is wasted in our sector. Share your success with your team and delegates so everyone can celebrate the part they played in your achievements.

For more information on how to create a sustainable and impactful event contact info@beaconhouse-events.co.uk or give us a call at +44 (0)191 691 3456

This might be a reaction to more colleagues craving connection with the rise of hybrid or remote working, global businesses looking for innovative ways to engage teams around the world, or simply a way to celebrate success and shared achievement after a turbulent few years – whatever the cause we are thrilled to see more organisations realising the power events have when it comes to retaining and attracting the best people.

Forget the boozy summer get-togethers and forced fun, these days leaders are looking to engage their teams with a diverse programme of events; keeping the momentum going with things like round-tables, dinners, awards ceremonies, or event programmes that bring people together in an authentic and considered way. We’ve been working with clients to utilise a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid event formats to engage audiences and empower as wide a range of people to attend as possible.

Engaged people are more committed to their place of work, tending to stay at their organisations longer and be more productive and effective when they are there. According to the 2023 ‘State of the Global Workforce’ report from Gallup, nearly 90% of UK employees are disengaged from their job and are either quiet or loud quitting. This puts the UK at 33 on Gallup’s table of employee engagement in European countries. Only Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, and Northern Cyprus scored lower.

So how do events help you to engage your teams in 2024?

1. Celebrate shared success and say thank you

People are busy, and when everyone is focused on the next thing to do it can be difficult to reflect on what has gone well and learn. An event is a collective moment to stop, give each other a pat on the back, and say thank you for all the hard work that has gone into the previous period. Truly thriving teams understand their purpose and feel like they are making a valuable contribution to the overall success of the organisation.

 

2. Connect multiple sites or remote teams

With the rise of remote or hybrid working patterns and teams often sitting across multiple sites and time zones, it can be difficult for people to feel connected to the organisation or their colleagues. Bringing people together at an event helps co-workers to interact away from the usual day-to-day, spend time with departments or people who they might not usually cross paths with, and strengthens their sense of belonging in the organisation – all things that directly impact the likelihood of them staying with the business long-term. Building real-life relationships with colleagues through shared experience leads to a strong sense of community and camaraderie, which in turn has a positive effect on teamwork, creativity, and collaboration.

 

3. Keep everyone informed

Be honest, how many times have you read a company update email or annual report cover to cover and retained that information? Yeah, thought so…

Events are the perfect tool to communicate important information or complex ideas in a way that is memorable and engaging. Inviting all colleagues to take part in a company-wide event will make your people feel informed and heard. When we have an understanding of the bigger picture, people are much more likely to be engaged with their particular role and how it fits with other priorities. We work with clients to understand the key messages that they would like taken away from the day, and from there, we devise the best strategy to convey the information to the people in the room – this could be anything from an engaging presentation, a panel session with the senior team, digital downloads for people to read post-event or opportunities for 360o discussions.

 

4. Boost morale and motivation

An event that is well put together, professional, and engaging shows that a business is authentic when it says it invests in employee development, learning and success – all things that are proven to boost morale and motivation. And don’t forget that events can be fun too! Giving people the opportunity to spend time away from their day-to-day jobs and let their hair down can invigorate tired teams, especially if it is at the end of a stressful period, rather than moving right on to the next priority.

 

5. Inspire new ways of working

Investing in an event for internal teams is an investment in their CPD and future learning. By understanding issues or barriers to success, we can find the perfect keynote speakers to fire up your team and get them thinking from a different perspective. Inspiring speakers, learning opportunities, and the chance to share their knowledge are powerful tools when it comes to engaging teams in 2024. By understanding a business inside out, we can devise the best tactics to encourage learning and problem-solving together. Creating a culture that champions learning, creativity, and innovation through events can unleash the full power of your people and drive sustainable growth and success.

 

What do our clients say?

“As we grow as a company, so does the scale and the ambitions for internal events, and BeaconHouse is with us every step of the way. It feels like a true partnership. They understand our company values, the kinds of experiences we want to give to our people and, importantly, what our people respond well to. We always know we are in very good hands with our events, strongly supported by BeaconHouse from the concept stage all the way through to evaluation.”

Julian Blake, External Relations | Opencast

To speak to the team about your event ideas for 2024 email info@beaconhouse-events.com or call 0191 691 3456.

In our new series, we’ll sit down with our clients to talk about what it is like working with our team and why events form such an important part of their business planning. First up we spoke to Rob Charlton, CEO of Space Group, a collective of four different companies working across the built environment, Space Architects, BIM. Technologies, bimstore and Twinview. Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, Space Group operates globally, working with high-profile clients including universities, local authorities, and national names like Vistry Homes, Barratt Developments, and Lidl.

Over to you Rob…

BeaconHouse Events has been working with Space Group for a long time – how did it all start? 

I had to rack my brains a little for this one, it seems like such a long time ago. Space Group had been running an event called BIM Show LIVE in London for quite a few years and it had become huge, with almost 2000 people attending at one point. We’re not events people, we just wanted to use the event to spread a message. In 2017 we decided to move the event back to Newcastle and take back control of it a little but we didn’t really know any event management agencies in the area who could help us to bring it to life. By chance, I met Catherine at a meeting at Northumbria University and agreed to talk through what we were looking to deliver at the event and that was where it all began! BIM Show Live continued to be hugely popular after its return to the North, with 400 national and international delegates joining us over two days. BIM Show Live was one of the most trusted information-sharing platforms for Building Information Modelling (BIM), but we always endeavored to make it fun and engaging for the delegates – and BeaconHouse showed that they can take any brief and make the magic happen.

From there we worked together to create and develop _shift, an annual event that is focused on showcasing the decarbonisation of the built environment and the value of innovation in the industry, which forms a key part of our status as a BCorp. We also work with the team on One Space, our conference which brings together our internal teams.

 

What makes working with the team at BeaconHouse Events different? 

Since that first event together in 2017, BeaconHouse events have become an extension of our team, not just an external agency – every year we challenge ourselves to do something different and I always throw some challenging  ideas and watch the horror on their faces. The team at BeaconHouse always brings their brand of creativity to every project, but what I value is that they push back if an idea is over the top  and I really value their expertise and opinion on what is going to make the event the best that it can be. Sarah, Catherine, and now Katie always take full ownership of the event and that means that I know all of the detail is taken care of – they just take all of the logistical pain away.

On-site the BeaconHouse team keeps the day moving and you don’t get sidetracked. I’m always looking to Katie for what we should be doing and I know that she has an eye on timings, the AV, and all of those logistics so I just don’t have to worry and can enjoy the day.

Any events we have will always be through BeaconHouse Events.

 

Is the process collaborative? 

Absolutely. We work on the content for each event together and the team is very talented at finding the best speakers that align with what we are trying to achieve. Both sides will share ideas about people who might be a good fit, but it is always aligned with the budget and what is realistic. Sarah is a spreadsheet queen, our FD likes working with her because they speak the same language so they keep my feet on the ground when it comes to event spend. We work together at the start of the process to set that budget and we discuss each time we meet to make sure we have enough for what we want to do. Their financial management is very strong as an agency and their transparent way of discussing budgets is refreshing and gives me confidence in what they are delivering. There is a lot of trust there, and that’s what happens when you build a long-term relationship.

They liaise with our internal graphics and marketing experts to make the most out of the assets from the events, like video and photography to make it work hard on our social pages, website, and other platforms.

 

How important was it to you to partner with a North East based event partner? 

We want all of our partners to be based in the North East. It is really important to us as part of our BCorp commitment to maximise the local pound and it is great to find talented businesses that we can work with.

Over the years we have seen the team at BeaconHouse grow and develop; from working closely with Sarah and Catherine back in the BIM Show days, we have now seen Katie move through the business and take on _shift as very much her event, that’s a testament to the strength of the business and the great people they employ. That’s what’s good about working with relatively small businesses, you still have that owner connection that I enjoy, despite the team growing and evolving. Even as they are less hands-on with the events these days. Sarah and Catherine make a considered effort to keep in touch with me and they do that really well – there is nothing transactional about the way that they work and I never feel like it is just someone doing a job.

 

How have events shaped your strategy as a business? 

I’m a frustrated party planner, and you tend to spend time on the things that you enjoy doing, I love it and it is never a chore. Seriously though, I think we do it well and it is genuine – not just something to tick a box like you sometimes see in our sector. What we learned from BIM Show Live was if you have a level of familiarity then you can build a real rapport with your delegates that continues from year to year – for example, for ten years we had the same two brilliant guys MCing, a standard format that you can then play with and tweak. We’ve taken that learning through to _shift and use the time to bring together fantastic speakers for our clients, it’s not about selling Space Group, and you build a reputation and get people talking. We’ll hear people talking about the conference throughout the year and they look forward to it because it’s different from what other people are doing. Boozy lunches are great for some businesses, but that’s just not us.

 

Your team is based all over the world, how have events helped you to keep them engaged with business? 

Our One Space event is a quality event for our people. We work with BeaconHouse to make it professional, bringing in paid keynote speakers to inspire and support our learning. We are at our strongest when all of our four businesses are working together because there is absolutely nobody else doing that, so the One Space event is a fantastic opportunity for all of the businesses to come together and present what we are doing.

 

How important was it to find a partner that operated sustainably in the event space? 

To be honest, it wasn’t always on our agenda, but what has been good is that BeaconHouse has educated me on that during the journey. What I like is that when I have ideas that maybe aren’t sustainable, they push back and they are very innovative in how they approach sustainability. We re-use everything year after year so we limit the amount of waste, we have moved away from printed materials in favour of digital information and most recently our catering has been fully vegetarian, which I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure about at first and had to be convinced. By the time we got to the event I had forgotten that we had made that decision and I didn’t notice that it wasn’t meat, it was just delicious. The team is always challenging what can be done and coming up with new ideas but it never feels like a gimmick – it’s just a core part of how they operate as a business.

 

As architects, how important is the venue to you? 

Incredibly important, and we work with BeaconHouse to find spaces that align with our brand and what we want to achieve with the event we chose the Henry Daysh building on the Newcastle University campus for the _shift and One Space conferences. That was strategic for a couple of reasons, one because it was a building that we designed and fitted out, but also because it aligned with the sustainability messaging of the event. As an existing building, there is a lot of embodied carbon in it, and it highlights our message that ‘creative reuse’ of buildings is more sustainable from an energy perspective.

Catherine and I visited the venue together to understand how we could work with the space to make it conducive to learning and the team worked with the director of estates at the University to take care of the contracts and logistics.

Choosing the right space is crucial to the success of the event and I know that the team put a lot of thought into how and why certain spaces are chosen over others. I hate events in boring old hotels, we have to keep it interesting.

Thanks Rob!

Find out more about how we bring _shift to life here and to speak to the team about your event ideas email info@beaconhouse-events.com or call 0191 691 3456.

Throughout the past year, our team at Hoults Yard has forged partnerships with leading businesses across various sectors, including emerging tech, education, innovation, architecture, healthcare, and creative arts sectors. New clients include Newcastle Building Society, Newcastle Strategic Solutions, Newcastle Carers, CF Fertilisers, HyHubs, North of Tyne Combined Authority, the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (the largest applied mathematics conference in the UK) and the British Society for Oral and Dental Research.

The increase in turnover in 2023, fueled by a blend of in-person, digital, and hybrid events delivered for our national client base. As organisations grapple with burnout and talent retention challenges, our strategically designed staff engagement events have been pivotal in driving our growth trajectory. Additionally, the addition of three new team members has bolstered our capacity to deliver exceptional experiences.

Alongside an organic growth plan, we unveiled our ambitious five-year ESG strategy early in 2023. This comprehensive initiative aims to position BeaconHouse Events as a trailblazer in driving positive change within the event sector. Over the past year, we’ve spearheaded collaborative efforts to offset our carbon footprint ethically and instigate sustainable practices industry-wide. This includes ‘meat-free by default’ catering at major events (a tactic that significantly reduced the carbon impact with one simple, measurable change), an investment into in-depth carbon tracing technology TRACE and donating the carbon credit equivalent to local charities and community organisations who align with the business’ mission.

Looking ahead, as we approach our 10th anniversary in 2024, our vision remains to drive lasting, positive impact with every event that we deliver. We have seen a rise in clients looking to engage with their teams in a really meaningful way post-pandemic and we see that trend continuing over the next year as organisations strive to recruit and retain the best talent and say thank you to their teams for navigating a particularly turbulent few years. We have had the pleasure of working with a range of incredible clients over the past year, both here in the North East and nationally. We are proud to call the North East home, and it is encouraging to see national organisations looking outside of London, especially to our region, to deliver events of national and international significance. We have big plans for 2024 and beyond and we can’t wait to get stuck into another busy year and work with even more ambitious businesses to raise their profiles, engage their teams, and put our region on the map.

We have some high-profile projects in the pipeline this year and these plans will mean more opportunities for BeaconHouse. The talent in our regional freelance community is fantastic and we are always looking to speak to resourceful and trusted people to partner with us. We continually invest in our people and our success is truly a testament to the team and the culture that BeaconHouse Events has today.

In 2023 we co-curated and delivered the inaugural TechNExt festival in partnership with Dynamo and Sunderland Software City. The festival is set to take place again in June 2024 and will see over 3,000 attendees and feature a lineup of 50+ community-led fringe events alongside its flagship event programme and a new schools challenge initiative to engage young people in tech.