News & blog

Team Building Ideas That Won't Leave You Cold

The challenge of engaging conference delegates in team building exercises can be tricky enough, but when the weather turns cold and the rain starts drifting in, it can be even harder to generate enthusiasm for getting active and involved.

Choosing a Venue to Suit Your Needs

At Lane End we offer a variety of venues to suit a wide range of events, but how do you know which is right for you? To answer this question you must first understand what you need from a venue before you can select the most suitable.

Presenting Technology - Virtual Reality

Virtual reality first surfaced in the 80s and was touted as the next big thing in interactive technology. However it was big, heavy and prohibitively expensive. Since then it has been made smaller and benefitted from tremendous leaps in technology including high definition displays, phenomenal computing power, lithium ion batteries and breath-taking graphics.

How to perfect your work-life balance

It’s the age-old dilemma. How to make sure that you are not working so hard that you cannot enjoy the rewards it brings to your personal life while resisting the urge to slack off at work in favour of having fun elsewhere. Getting your work-life balance right is considered so important that it has become the focus of National Work Life Week’, a UK-wide initiative taking place between 2 and 6 October this year.
So, how can you get the balance right? Here are some ideas.

The Dos and Don'ts of Product Launches

For your company there aren’t many occasions more important than the launch of a new product or service – they are after all what keep businesses afloat through the generation of sales.

Good product launches can take on a life of their own, with the World Wide Web taking it to corners of the globe and markets you may never have envisioned. And while this level of reach and recognition is usually reserved for the true masters of marketing with the budget to match, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a big impact too.

Presentations - Balancing Needs and Wants

A common tip for pulling off a great presentation involves calming your nerves by picturing your audience in their underwear. And then once the nerves are gone you can wow your audience with your charisma and charm.

We can’t say we’ve ever tried this technique so cannot comment on its success. Charisma and charm are of course desirable traits for anyone to possess, particularly if addressing groups of people, but there are other things you can also do that definitely will help to make your presentation a great one.

Icebreakers - The Scariest Moment of Your Life

Trust is important.  Some give it freely but for others it must be earnt - and who we choose to place it in and why can be revealing about a person.

But while the level of trust you have in a colleague would not typically be comparable to that of a close friend or family member it is still a vital part of being an effective team that will work together and not in spite of each other.

5 Ways To Engage Your Audience From The Conference Stage

In a world filled with distractions, engaging your audience during presentations and talks is becoming more and more difficult. You only have a few minutes to get your audience on your side before they start thinking about checking their Facebook feed..

How To Avoid Death By PowerPoint

PowerPoint is great. There. We’ve said it. Despite numerous free and freemium versions of presentation software being released into the market, Microsoft’s offering still continues to dominate the market.
The main reason for this is largely familiarity but it is likely to do with the robustness of the program too. Because of its market share, it is largely supported by Google and bloggers where you can find a solution to any issue you’re having nice and quickly. 

The 'Feng Shui' of Conference Rooms

The ancient art of feng shui is said to bring balance to a room and to aid the flow of ‘chi’, or ‘life force’ around it. Simply by knowing where to position furniture and other objects in the room, you can enhance your positive energy and thus improve productivity and spark inspiration. Whether or not you believe in the notion of feng shui, there is a lot to be said for planning the layout of your room, both in your own office and at a conference venue. Making the most of the space you have available to you can help streamline the day’s logistics and help your delegates feel comfortable and ready to work.

Presentations - Understanding Your Outcomes

Think back to presentations you have seen. There will no doubt be some which stick in your mind as being truly fantastic, while others simply diminish from your memory, never to be thought of again.
Having clearly defined outcomes can make the process of delivering an unforgettable presentation much easier and inform not only the content, but the way this content is presented.

Icebreakers - Living Histories

Think back to the last team building event you attended. You were likely there with colleagues that you work day in and day out with, colleagues you speak to and email on a daily, if not hourly basis, colleagues you know… or do you?

There is a common misconception that the person we interact with on a daily basis is the whole person. On average we spend around 50% of our waking day at work (allowing for 8 hours of precious sleep) so does the half really equal the whole?