Anthony Hyde and Rob Davidson have joined forces to publish the first ever book dedicated to business development in venues.
Winning Meetings and Events for Your Venue is published by Goodfellow Publishers Limited. It is available via http://bit.ly/MfCaxp for £29.99. ISBN: 978-1-908999-86-3. A percentage of the income from the book will be donated to the MPI Foundation.
“Winning Meetings and Events for Your Venue is the first of its kind,” says author, Rob Davidson. “It is written as a practical guide for venue sales staff looking to increase their revenue from the meetings and events sector.”
Recognising the fact that venues often struggle to keep up with the fast-paced needs of modern event organisers, whether they are associations, agencies, corporates or not for profit, the book answers the need for a structured, comprehensive guide to business development and sales, including detailed instruction on the most effective ways of winning meetings and events to fill their meetings spaces, whilst creating loyal customers.
Hyde continues: “There are so many venues looking to increase revenue from meetings and events but competition is growing incredibly fast as new dedicated venues are built and unusual spaces are turned into unique venues… all of it driven by ever-changing client needs. Venues need to react quickly to a fast moving market, they need to understand the commercial needs of their clients – not just their logistics for an event and above all they need to be speaking the same language and selling what the client needs, not a venue’s facilities.”
In particular the book offers:
- Guidance on key tools and techniques, from traditional face-to-face selling, negotiation and the use of social media to site inspections and trade show attendance.
- Case studies of transferable best practice drawn from a wide range of venues of all sizes in the UK and overseas.
- Advice from experienced sales and marketing venue managers, demonstrating original and creative ideas.
- Checklists summarising key points and guidance on sources of further information on the themes covered in the book.
Anthony Hyde and Rob Davidson will be developing the themes of the book and offering a series of venue sales training sessions and education over the coming months.
About the Authors:
Rob Davidson is a Senior Lecturer at University of Greenwich Business School. He is a respected academic in the meetings and events field, and the accomplished author of seven books and a great many reports on trends and developments in the global meetings industry. He has experience of training venue sales and marketing staff both in the UK and overseas. Indeed, it was his experience of running these training courses that led to the realisation that there was a vast untapped market for a manual on this subject.
Anthony Hyde is a specialist in venue management, sales and operations. Formerly General Manager of the Business Events division at the Barbican in London, one of Europe’s largest combined arts and conference centres, Anthony now works with clients internationally on all aspects of venue management, including strategic direction, business planning, design and operations. He has over 15 years’ experience in the events industry and is widely recognised in the UK and beyond for his work with MPI – Meetings Professionals International, one of the principal global professional associations for the meetings industry. He was President of MPI’s UK and Ireland Chapter during 2009/10.
