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News Archive
7 Dec 2009 Rapport Thanksgiving Party ‘09
We like to pave the way here at Rapport and think that our annual ‘Thanksgiving’ party kicks off the party season in style, setting a benchmark for Christmas shindigs for the weeks to come, and this years was no exception…
1 Dec 2009 Rapport Beats off the Competition to Win a Place on the Prestigious Central Office of Information (COI) Events Roster.
The new (and we think vastly improved!) COI roster contains over 125 live event agencies, all catagorised into 10 ‘lots’ according to their expertise.
30 Nov 2009 Exciting Rapport news....
coming soon!
30 Nov 2009 The next step in event communication
We recognize how powerful social networking can be as a communication tool for business and regularly Tweet to maintain contact with all those interested in Rapport, but this idea is beginning to expand to such a level that it is predicted that social media will soon become intrinsic to the events industry.
23 Nov 2009 First of three Nord Anglia meetings takes place in Shanghai…
We kicked off the first of three meetings for Nord Anglia this weekend.
6 Nov 2009 A look back at ROI week in Dublin, September 2009
Further to their attendance at ROI week in Dublin back in September, here is a video highlighting the week, what was learnt, what was achieved, important points raised and most importantly if you look closely you can see Abi and Chris in the middle of some deep discussions…
29 Oct 2009 Happy Birthday Abi and Fi
Happy Birthday to Abi and Fi from all the team at Rapport!
29 Oct 2009 Total Performance HR Conference held at The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
This week we delivered an International HR Conference for a global client right here in Manchester. The event held at the Lowry Hotel was a fantastic success and featured a conference, interactive workshops a gala dinner and keynote presentations from business gurus Rene Carayol and Chris Howe.
19 Oct 2009 Mixing networking with speed dating
Over the past year businesses have been forced to become a lot more savvy in order to survive, a major part of this is forming strong alliances with mutually beneficial partners, both new and old.
9 Oct 2009 Rapport delivers 5 events in 8 days!!
Its been a whirl-wind couple of weeks for Rapport, with us producing five events within 8 working days!! Things kicked off last Monday with the long awaited, and eagerly anticipated Tourism Awards.
9 Oct 2009 Code Computer Love Sleeps Rough
9 Oct 2009 Rapport Back Regional Development Agencies
2 Oct 2009 Rapport stages Northwest Tourism Awards 2009 at Blackpool Tower Ballroom
On Monday 28th September the region’s top tourism businesses and professionals gathered in Blackpool’s famous Tower Ballroom for the sixth annual England’s Northwest Tourism Awards.
21 Sep 2009 In Town Without My Car Day - Manchester City Centre
Imagine a city with fewer cars... well tomorrow (22 Sept) take to the streets of Manchester and rediscover your city! Each year Manchester takes part in the international ‘In Town, Without My Car!’ Day celebrations. A road is closed and the space given over to a range of fun activities and exhibition stalls which highlight the health and environmental benefits to be gained from using travel alternatives to the car.
18 Sep 2009 Science of Success
This week we've been educating & inspiring ourselves by attending two fantastic business events, the first of which was the 'Science of Success' conference held at Manchester University and had keynote presentations from Daniel Goleman author of Emotional Intelligence and Malcolm Gladwell author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers.
11 Sep 2009 The High Growth Programme from the NWDA
Rapport are delighted to have been accepted onto the NWDA's High Growth Programme. The programme supports entrepreneurs with ambition in the NorthWest and is a twelve month business coaching initiative aimed at ‘high growth’ businesses and entrepreneurs. The overall aim of the initiative is to generate 2,000 jobs and provide a £250m boost to the region’s economy within three years.
10 Sep 2009 No such thing as a free lunch?
We noticed an interesting concept put forward by John Lewis this week; they suggested that internal events, held to communicate with key stakeholders, including staff do not necessarily have to be free.
8 Sep 2009 Every business conference now starts with a tie-less man in a bad suit, tinkering nervously with a USB port
YOU DON’T know real fear until you’ve stood in front of 30 15-year-old schoolchildren on your first day of teacher training. This happened to me nearly 20 years ago, and I still get flashbacks.
4 Sep 2009 ROI Week
The ROI Week in Dublin has drawn to a close and what a week its been. The sessions have been interactive, informative and truly thought provoking. We even managed to escape for an evening and get to know the multinational attendees over a beer or two. Attendees came from Australia, Turkey, Finland and throughout Europe. The quality of the attendees is testament to the work being done by Maarten & Elling on measuring and demonstrating the value of events.
1 Sep 2009 PowerPoint is 25! Should we Celebrate or Curse the Day?
As 'chief' designer here at Rapport HQ (a self-proclaimed title I must point out!), there are few things which transform me from the usually serene, friendly and helpful guy I am to the monstrously difficult, moody and downright grumpy designer I'm often associated as being, than the requirement to produce anything PowerPoint related.
1 Sep 2009 New Airlines Services Ad Campaign Launched
The latest brand to benefit from Rapport Studio's services was the aircraft presentation market leader, Airline Services Limited (ASL). To coincide with ASL's entry into the aircraft in-flight-entertainment (IFE) market, Rapport Studio were commissioned to create an advertising campaign promoting ASL's new IFE monitor and AVOD unit to targeted airlines, pictured here.
27 Aug 2009 Knowledge is power
Abi and Chris will be attending the ROI week for Meetings and Events in Dublin next week. The series of workshops and courses offers advise on how we can best achieve ROI from our events and we are sure that the certification awarded will help us to help our clients demonstrate, in monetary value, the value of their events.
17 Aug 2009 Mums The Word
We are very excited to announce that we have this week been engaged to deliver a launch event for a major client in less than two weeks time! We would love to be able to reveal more but sadly our lips are sealed, let's just say that August is shaping up to be a very busy month.
14 Aug 2009 COI Update.
We have finally heard some news…after going worryingly quiet we've this week been notified of what stage two involves, so without saying as much we can assume we've made it to round two in the process!
7 Aug 2009 Summer Away Day
Yesterday was the long anticipated 'Rapport Summer Away Day' held here in Manchester. The objective of the day was to collectively agree on a vision for Rapport, what we want to be remembered for, what motivates us all to get out of bed, what drives us to succeed. Following an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable day I'm pleased to say we now have an inspiring vision; one which we co-created and importantly agreed the values and the mindset required to achieve it.
7 Aug 2009 Put the Record Straight
Despite what was reported in this weeks 'HowDo' and 'Drum' we've not launched an Advertising division. We've always had our design team (The Rapport Studio) and they've been working on re-brands for a number of companies.
28 Jul 2009 Rapport Produces Top Notch Advertising Material.
Rapport’s design offering is growing by the day and a few weeks ago we were asked by a leading provider of support services to the airline industry, Airline Services Ltd (ASL), to produce an advertisement for them, to be printed in a national business publication.
27 Jul 2009 Positive actions
Its nice to see some positive initiatives coming from the current economic situations and this one supports the mantra we have been supporting for the past few months.
24 Jul 2009 We are on a roll!
We're delighted to have been appointed to deliver the HR Conference for a global aerospace company.
17 Jul 2009 Chris is off to China now
No sooner has he unpacked his cases from Abu Dhabi, Chris is digging out the factor 25 once again for his trip to China next week.
15 Jul 2009 Cancelled meetings cost UK plc £119m a year
We found an interesting article on the Conference & I T magazine website; it seems that canceling a conference or meeting may not be the solution for a cash-strapped company.
9 Jul 2009 Eventia Summer 09
Earlier in the week Abi and Chris attended the Eventia Summer conference in Brighton. Highlights included a fantastically informative presentation entitled "Green Shoots or Hairshirts' by Roger Martin-Fagg, Independent Behaviourial Economist. Sadly, his prediction is "Hair Shirts' for at least another twelve months, he also suggested Darwin's natural selection was at work and that one-third of businesses will not survive the current climate, his conclusion being "Only the fittest will survive!".
9 Jul 2009 Middle Eastern Rapport
Having won a contract to deliver a series of events in the UK, Middle East and Asia, Chris jets off on Monday to Abu Dhabi to check out the proposed venues. Having delivered events throughout Asia, North America and Europe last year, working in the Middle East takes our tour of the continents to four of the seven. Chris will be tweeting from Abu Dhabi so keep a look out for his updates.
3 Jul 2009 Race for Life
Anyone who happened to be at the Great Yorkshire showground on the 24th June may have been lucky enough to see Rapport’s Ellie battling around the 5k track to raise money for Cancer Research.
3 Jul 2009 Do we need a conference?
We came across this interesting article on the 'Thoughts on Leadership' website so we thought we’d share it….
26 Jun 2009 Rapport to stage NWDA Tourism Awards for second year running
After putting our hearts and souls into creating one of Rapport’s most visually intriguing and conceptually detailed pitches, the call finally came through that we had beaten off stiff competition from some of the best event companies in the region to win the tender to produce the NWDA’s NW Tourism Awards for the second year in a row!
26 Jun 2009 Social Entrepreneurs Revealed
Following the success of the BoS Entrepreneur ‘Search’ and ‘Challenge’ events held at the end of last year, we were delighted to be asked to produce the Social Entrepreneur Awards last night. The event was a celebration of Social Entrepreneurship and the impact it makes on the not-for-profit community.
19 Jun 2009 COI releases more info on its roster
Further to the breaking story we posted yesterday detailing the amazing 1080 applications received by the COI from event companies (amongst others such as PR firms and advertising agencies by all accounts!), all hoping to be included on their preferred supplier list; we now have more news…
18 Jun 2009 We’ve Got To Be In It To Win It
After a grueling and labour-intensive process we proudly submitted our pitch last Friday to become one of the converted few companies appointed to the Central Office of Information (COI) preferred supplier list. This would mean we could have the chance to tender for £12m of government and public Sector events without going through the procurement process.
8 Jun 2009 North West Property Awards 2009
A highlight in the calendar for anyone involved in the region’s property industry, the Insider magazine’s annual North West Property Awards took place last week at Manchester Central.
8 Jun 2009 Abi’s collecting the gongs…
Not satisfied with winning one award in a year, Rapport director Abi has now received two!
29 May 2009 Rapport becomes a proud member of ‘Eventia’
At Rapport we’re always striving to improve our client offering and business practices, so we were pleased this week to be accepted as a member of Eventia.
14 May 2009 No Actions Speak Louder Than Words…
If your business is anything like mine you will get inundated with calls from students looking for work experience, especially at this time of year as the long summer looms ahead.
8 May 2009 Just like buses
You wait for ages then two come along in the space of a week. This week we've been appointed to deliver a national communication roadshow for a global brand. The roadshow will visit five cities throughout May and June.
5 May 2009 Event Win
Following a 3 way creative pitch Rapport have been appointed to deliver the inaugural 'Social Entrepreneur Awards' in London's splendid Christchurch Spitalfields venue.
28 Apr 2009 Deadline Looms
24 Apr 2009 Chris nominated for top award!
We were very excited last night at the Insider magazine’s Young Professional Awards when we found out that Rapport’s director Chris was nominated for a top award!
17 Apr 2009 We will soon be spoilt for choice
A few months ago we were excited to be invited to Lancashire County Cricket Club for an open afternoon where they unveiled their impressive new ‘Gold marquee’. The 2200sq meter structure comes complete with a reception area, bespoke kitchens and a permanent star cloth ceiling.
15 Apr 2009 Manchester offers value, says study
A study conducted by conference company Oxford International has revealed that Manchester's meeting and events industry offers better value for money than a host of other UK and European destinations.
9 Apr 2009 Events No.1
The recent EventView research by MPI and George P Johnson (GPJ) reveals that event marketing delivers more return on investment than any other marketing discipline.
9 Apr 2009 Value of Meetings
20 Mar 2009 Rapport Honours
Rapport has today been commissioned to deliver a major event for The University of Manchester. Due to take place in June, the event will be held at University Place (the fantastic new conference centre on Oxford Road) and will be attended by 600 post-graduate students and researchers. The purpose of the event is to promote and raise awareness of business and entrepreneurial skills amongst the attendees who will be making the imminent transition from academia to enterprise.
13 Mar 2009 Events lead the way
The latest MPI research confirms: Events play an increasingly crucial role in the marketing mix. The largest annual survey of corporate sales and marketing executives, Event View 2009, confirms that among all marketing channels, meetings and events are the discipline that can be leveraged now to best boost return on investment, and accelerate and deepen brand relationships. Details of the findings can be found in the following video.
13 Mar 2009 Ramada Manchester Piccadilly
Congratulations and good luck to Stephen Beech, Andrea Radford and the team at the Ramada Piccadilly Manchester
10 Mar 2009 Further support to keep meetings and events happening
Following on from our news story which focused on the thoughts voiced at the MPI conference in Atlanta, the issue is cropping up in blogs, meetings and opinion polls all over the world.
9 Mar 2009 The Art of Communication
A point we have been trying to get across since the end of last year has been highlighted brilliantly in MPI MeetDifference conference in Atlanta this month.
4 Mar 2009 Lost in Translation
Chris got an unwelcome glimpse into the downside of the life of a celebrity on Monday when he was misquoted in the regional press…
26 Feb 2009 Our prayers have been answered!
Just as we were voicing our concerns about the lack of large and interesting event venues in Manchester, The ‘Concorde Conference Centre’ shows up…
18 Feb 2009 Councils Bid to buy Great Northern Warehouse Falls Through
It seems that Manchester Council's plan to buy the great Northern Warehouse have fallen through. Rapport were backing the idea after we struggled to find a suitable venue in Manchester for an event we were researching for earlier on this year.
12 Feb 2009 Wise words from Abi
Further to speaking at the prestigious 42 Under 42 Dinner in December last year, Abi has been advising businesses on how to effectively communicate with their target audiences through live events.
12 Feb 2009 Going Live
After much ‘tweaking’ and overall perfecting the Rapport Studio is pleased to announce that its latest project –The V Loans website is now live!
9 Feb 2009 The Competition is on!
2 Feb 2009 Unveiled: Rapport’s latest talent
We’re excited to announce the appointment of Fiona Barwell. Fiona joins the team today as Client Services Director, (Monday February 2nd 2009) and will be instrumental in further developing our ‘event led’ communication offering. Further to being a co-founder of a northwest based Medical Communications agency, Fiona went onto set up and establish an events division at a Manchester based creative agency.
16 Jan 2009 Going for Green
Rapport has always prided itself on its ‘green attitude’ so we were pleased to learn that Manchester City Council has announced that it will work with partners over the next 12 years to reduce the city's CO2 output by more than one million tonnes.
15 Jan 2009 Congratulations to The Lowry Hotel
Readers of Conference and Incentive Travel this month voted Manchester’s Lowry Hotel as the UK’s best venue for service standards.
14 Jan 2009 Manchester announced the third best conference destination in the world!
Rapport favourite (as far as industry magazines go) Conference and Incentive Travel has this month announced Manchester above Las Vegas and Berlin as the third best conference destination in the world!
18 Dec 2008 A charity is not just for Christmas
Rapport is pleased to announce that we have chosen the charity we would like to support for 2009. Community Arts Northwest is based in the Northern Quarter and brings together communities from all over the region in arts-based projects such as dance, theatre and music.
17 Dec 2008 A Hidden Conference Gem in the Heart of Manchester!
We thought that not enough attention had been drawn to the fact that another impressive conference venue opened in March this year right in the heart of Manchester!
9 Dec 2008 Abi’s “42 under 42" speech goes down a storm
A specially invited audience at Hill Dickinson were wowed last Wednesday evening when Abi spoke at a “42 under 42” event at the offices in Liverpool.
5 Dec 2008 Congratulations!
Well done to Northwest based The Hut Group who won the 2008 Bank of Scotland Corporate’s, "Entrepreneur Challenge" on Wednesday evening.
3 Dec 2008 Keep in Touch
Those of you who read the Rapport blog should remember the 8th August entry “21st Century etiquette” where we tackled the increasingly prominent issue of mobile phone usage during meetings; should it be turned off and never checked, or is it a sign of the new digital age that we should always be contactable?
2 Dec 2008 The future is Green
As a keen advocator for Green and sustainable events Rapport was pleased to hear that the first venue to offer completely carbon neutral events has now opened in London.
28 Nov 2008 Nord Anglia... DONE!
Following our success in a five way pitch back in June, we've this week successfully delivered the 2008 Nord Anglia annual conference - 'The Next Chapter', in Prague. The event was a tremendous success and it has paved the way for their continued success in 2009. We'd like to thank their board for embracing our creative approach and we look forward to continuing the relationship.
28 Nov 2008 Pumpkin pie anyone?
Tonight we host the second Rapport Annual Thanksgiving event.
28 Nov 2008 Inspiring the next generation
Whilst delivering an event for a new client this week, we had the opportunity to bring a friend of Rapport, 12 time (4 Gold) Paralympic swimming medalist, Marc Woods to a school in Prague. Marc spoke to 150 kids and as always he inspired and amazed them with his achievements despite adversity at the Seoul, Atlanta and the Sydney games.
26 Nov 2008 “All I want for Christmas”
Following on from her entering the prestigious Insider ‘42 under 42’ club in October, Abi Humayun has been invited to speak at a follow-up ‘42 under 42’ networking event which is being hosted by Insider and Hill Dickinson at the Hill Dickinson offices in Liverpool on Wednesday 3rd December.
19 Nov 2008 Rapport are one step ahead...
It’s always interesting to read about “new” industry ideas, especially when you are already implementing them!
18 Nov 2008 North West Dealmakers
We produced the Insider’s North West Dealmakers awards last week, the dedicated amongst you may have read about it in the blog, however how we have pictures!
18 Nov 2008 Media Spin
An article written by editor Paul Colston in Conference News this month mirrored our thoughts regarding the banks still throwing “parties” for their staff after being nationalised.
24 Oct 2008 Not just a pretty cravat
We had the pleasure this week of working with Laurence Llewelyn Bowen at St George’s Hall in Liverpool. Not only did Laurence look and act like he belonged in the opulent, greco-roman venue, but he left us truly impressed both with his professional and enthusiastic presenting skills and his friendly, down to earth demeanour – a big thumbs up and highly recommended from us!
24 Oct 2008 Location, Location, Location
As our nationwide "Search for an Entrepreneur Challenge" roadshow is now well underway we wanted to share some of the venues we have been working in, although difficult at times, which have been extremely interesting and definitely different!
23 Oct 2008 "Swapping Rehearsals for Red Carpets."
Further to our announcement of her nomination in August, last week saw Chris and Abi don their glad rags for the Insider magazines "42 under 42" awards, held at Manchester's Radisson Edwardian.
26 Sep 2008 Shell pitch done
On Tuesday we participated in the pitch to deliver the 2009 Shell Regional Symposium in Asia, USA & Europe. Fingers crossed we've done enough to work with them.
26 Sep 2008 Event Industry: Corporate Manslaughter Act
In the wake of the new corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide act effecting the events and meetings industries, we thought you might be interested in this editorial, published yesterday, which highlights the implications of the Corporate Manslaughter Act and forthcoming sentencing guidelines which has real implications for UK event organisers, corporate clients and, de facto, event suppliers.
10 Sep 2008 Manchester Gets Set To Welcome an Innovative New Venue
We were pleased to hear this week that chic “W Hotels”, part of the Starwood group of hotels, are planning to open a W Manchester hotel in 2010 right on Rapport’s doorstep in the vibrant Northern Quarter.
13 Aug 2008 Director up for top award!
We opened our copy of the North West Business Insider this month and were extremely excited to see that Rapport co-director Abi had been nominated in this year’s “42 under 42” awards, due to be held here in Manchester in Autumn. After previously being nominated himself, Chris put Abi forward for the prestigious title earlier this year, with Rapport’s phenomenal success so far this year (which looks to continue well in to 2009) we think she’s a sure win!
7 Aug 2008 The possibilities are endless
Rapport are pleased to announce that from April 2007 – March 2008 we recycled:
7 Aug 2008 Experience Marketing Win
We just found out we've won a 5 way pitch to produce the regions glitziest tourism event. The event is due to take place this October in Liverpool and we can't wait to get started and deliver our creative concept for an innovative event marketing experience. Attendees are in for a real treat!
28 Jul 2008 New Event for M&S
The M&S brand Per Una commissioned us to produce a conference to introduce their new clothing line in London this week. The event definitely stood out as one of Rapport’s original and creative designs.
21 Jul 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
Another success story this week when Rapport found out we had won a pitch to deliver 12 events in 10 venues over 3 months this autumn.
11 Jul 2008 New look for summer?
Our designer Paul has been busy over the past few weeks creating an innovative new corporate identity for Manchester-based company V-loans. The re-brand includes an impressive new company logo and strap line and will be used across all their marketing materials, including the company website.
10 Jul 2008 Event planner turned presenter!
Vicky got a chance to be more involved than ever in this year’s Insider’s South West Dealmakers when she was asked to present the award for Specialist Finance team of the Year. To see Vicky with the delighted representative of the winning team, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, just follow this link!
1 Jul 2008 The cat's out of the bag...
Rapport has had some exciting news but been sworn to secrecy for over a month, all we can say is follow this link!
30 Jun 2008 Looking for Love?
Forget speed dating; it seems the newest way to find a new partner could now be the AGM! According to a recent article a potential romance is one of the main motivating factors in the decision to attend a business event.
20 Jun 2008 Spaces Design Competition Launched
This year sees the launch of a new and exciting venture by Rapport, aimed at students covering courses from Interior Design to Architecture; the “Spaces” design challenge will invite interested participants to come up with inspired ideas, from lighting and decor choices to space allocation and music, all for a fictional networking event.
20 Jun 2008 Three Continents, Two months, One event
Rapport has gone global, as we produce an Investigator roadshow for an international pharmaceutical giant in locations spanning three continents. The first leg took place in April and saw Rapport lead a team of technicians to the Hilton Hotel in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
23 May 2008 BAE Systems Hangar Party
23 May 2008 North West Property Awards Celebrates in Style
Insider’s annual North West Property Awards celebrated its 10th birthday in May with a glitzy event at Manchester Central.
20 May 2008 Spotlight on Abi
The Rapport office phone was ringing off the hook in April when that month’s edition of Conference News hit the shelves.
10 May 2008 Nord Anglia Account Win
Rapport’s winning streak continued last month when we won a four way tender to produce Nord Anglia Education’s annual conference.
28 Apr 2008 Rapport gets IoD Nomination
Rapport’s hard work was recognised last month when we were nominated for Young Business of the Year in the annual Young Director of the Year Awards.
15 Mar 2008 Retail Achievers 2008 is a Huge Success!
2008 was kick-started in January with the much anticipated Retail Awards
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