When you hire a venue or organise a meeting in Birmingham you have already chosen a great location. Excellent road and rail networks and Birmingham International Airport make the midlands city perfect for delegates travelling across the UK and from overseas but why should an event organiser pick the International Convention Centre to host a meeting or exhibition and why does it deserve the title of Venue of the Month?
4 reasons why the International Convention Centre (ICC) is
Venue of the Month
Experience
In 1991 the ICC hosted its first event when it welcomed the British Small Animal Veterinary Association’s annual congress. The centre and the team clearly impressed; they’ve hosted the event ever since and will continue to do so until at least 2020.
The International Convention Centre was opened the same year by Her Majesty The Queen who also attended the International Olympic Committee’s 97th Session taking place at the time.
Last year, the ICC hosted around 450 events welcoming over 300,000 delegates. The ICC team have worked with Specsavers, Iceland, Volvo, the National Farmers Union of England and Wales, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and will host the Conservatives Party Conference later in 2018.
You know your event is in the best care with the International Convention Centre. With so much experience, the team are often asked to provide consultancy service for other cities, including Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Dublin and Belfast.
Design
It’s all in the detail. Every aspect of the Birmingham building has been thought through. The halls have superb sound insulation so event organisers and delegates would never know the main line railway track runs underneath the building nor would they know there was another event taking place in a different hall.
Not just for international conferences, the International Convention Centre has ten meeting rooms, ten conference halls and its flagship Hall 1 and the larger Hall 3 which can accommodate up to 3,000 delegates or provide 3,000 square metres of exhibition space. Boardroom meetings are equally at home in an exec room for up to 14 people.
Large format digital screens in the Public Mall create a dynamic and interactive space and even the chairs for delegates in Hall 1 and 5 have been designed to deliver total comfort and support for people who will be sat for long lengths of time. Each chair cost over £1,000.
Credentials
The International Convention Centre holds leading accreditations for quality (ISO 9001) and environmental (ISO 14001) management systems but what we really like is how this city centre venue in the heart of Birmingham has created a safe haven on its roof for rare black redstart birds and has a couple of bee hotels, specially installed to encourage Mason Bees.
The International Convention Centre has a CHP generator installed to provide electricity, chilled water for air-conditioning and hot water for the heating. As part of a district scheme, they are able to sell carbon credits and reduce their footprint at the same time.
Following a ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ philosophy and practice, ICC will work with event organisers and meeting bookers to achieve carbon neutral events.
Event food
Over 650 industry awards make the International Convention Centre catering team a formidable force. Using sustainable, local food and putting an emphasis on nutritional values to fuel delegates throughout the day, the award-winning Amadeus catering team’s menus don’t just satisfy appetites, they boost energy levels and smash expectations! Whether it’s a daring menu with a little live theatre added to the table service or the award-winning Food for the Brain menu, delegates can expect pioneering conference and banqueting dishes with talented Executive Head Chef Simon Hellier at the helm, having joined in 1991 from the luxury cruise liner the QE2.
International Convention Centre, you are our Venue of the Month!
If you would like more information on the ICC our Findmeaconference team will help. Available between 8.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday on 01775 843411, they can provide information on room sizes and layouts, venue hire costs and the delegate packages available.