News & blog

Open Space Technology

Open Space Technology is a meeting format you’ve probably not heard of - but it is such a departure from what is considered to be the norm, it promises to be unlike any meeting you’ve ever experienced before.

Despite the slightly misleading name, Open Space Technology doesn’t involve much technology at all. In fact it strips things back to an almost base level – at least at first – combined with a communal approach to problem solving. Issues are given over to the group to be solved by those best equipped to do so.

Let Your Objectives Determine the Format

The host of a meeting or conference has the task of deciding what format the occasion will adhere to, but often this decision is based on the wrong criteria. 

Remote control? How to organise a winning webinar

While it is great to get like-minded people together in one room to debate the important issues at hand, this isn’t always possible to achieve. Luckily, today’s technology allows meetings to be set up remotely, with participants dialling in to provide their input over the phone, or logging on to their PC, laptop or tablet to watch and take part in a seminar happening elsewhere – even on the other side of the world.

'Feel the love' on World Kindness Day 

A little kindness makes the world a better place, and this is just as true in the workplace as it is in the family home or school playground. So, with World Kindness Day approaching on 14 November, here are six ways to inject a little kindness into your work.

Find your perfect keynote speaker

Very often, a keynote speaker will be the highlight of a conference, seminar or AGM. The opportunity to listen to an engaging presenter who is an expert in his or her field is something that will attract many delegates to your event and will guarantee their attendance. So, how do you know who to invite, and how to ensure they will definitely accept your booking? 

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.