Conference & Exhibitions Management: A Study of The Dorchester Hotel

This report examines the conference and exhibitions sector within the context of The Dorchester Hotel, a luxury five-star hotel in London, highlighting the sector's significant contribution to the UK economy. It identifies the key purposes of conferences and exhibitions, such as lead generation and strategic planning, and evaluates specific venues within the hotel, including the ballroom and conference rooms, detailing their capacity and facilities. The report assesses resources utilized during events, emphasizing technology and venue selection, and recommends incorporating advanced technologies like Google Jamboard, virtual reality, and augmented reality to enhance future events. The Dorchester Hotel's appeal lies in its central location, luxurious services, and skilled event managers, making it a preferred destination for various events, from corporate meetings to grand celebrations. The report concludes that embracing technological advancements is crucial for hosting successful and engaging events, ensuring guest satisfaction, and achieving organizational objectives.

Conference & Exhibitions Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Define and explain the exhibitions and conferences sector in the context of your chosen
organisation......................................................................................................................................4
Examine the key purpose of conference and exhibitions at this destination...................................5
Identify and evaluate specific venues used by conferences and exhibitions at the destination.......5
Evaluate the resources used by a specific conference or exhibition held at your chosen
destination........................................................................................................................................6
Make recommendations for further resources that could be used at future events..........................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference list.................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Conferences and exhibitions in Europe is a rapidly growing market, which mainly involves
applying the management science for the creation and development of festivals and important
events. This is often used by organizations as a strategic tool for advertising and improving their
internal communication process. According to recent research and findings, there is a lot of
optimism in the market and many predict that there will be an increase in all types of events.
Exhibition and conference activity is considered to be more prevalent in France, while the
revenue from sales and marketing meetings continue to be an important factor in the UK and
Germany.
The chosen organisation in this report is The Dorchester, a five star luxury hotel in the heart of
London. The hotel itself is a destination and has its name engrained in long history of London.
The hotel is one of the iconic buildings in the world and is known for hosting some of the
world’s most celebrated icons and great romances. The hotel offers an elegant address and a
beautiful interior space, best for organizing bespoke and amazing events. The Dorchester Hotel
is known to create an occasion that becomes a treasonable memory for their clients and
customers.
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Define and explain the exhibitions and conferences sector in the context of your chosen
organisation
In UK alone, the event management industry is worth more than £40 billion based on the
findings and analysis. The amounts spend directly by delegates, organizers and attendees have
increased by considerable percentage since the past year. The amount that is spent by people who
attend these business exhibition and conferences adds an additional £7 billion into the economy.
According to recent research done by independent groups, the conference and meetings accounts
to about £19 billion of revenue directly or indirectly into the economy of United Kingdom,
whereas, the exhibition and trade fairs inject about £11 billion (Statista.com, 2018).
Exhibition and trade fairs play a significant role in the UK economy as it supports the generation
of exports (Whitfield
et al., 2014). These exhibitions and trade fairs serve as a strong base for
promoting international trade. Many organizations form different places and countries visit these
events for respective purpose. This has a direct impact on the travel and tourism industry as well
as it attracts travellers into the nation for business purposes. Exhibitions and trade fairs attracted
about 13 million visitors each year, which generated about £11 billion in revenue. Various
companies spent about £2.7 billion on organizing these events in order to display their goods and
services to demonstrate (Displaymode.co.uk, 2018).
The Dorchester Hotel offers great palatial and airy spaces that are contemporary and intimate
best for important meetings and gatherings. They have a well-designed media room that offers
utmost privacy and 103’ 3D screen, to show presentations or turn any party and event into live
sports. The place is the best destination that sparkles with glamour and unique spaces. The hotel
offers a blend of five star services with a personalised space and arrangement for corporate
parties and conferences. The Dorchester Hotel has a design that was created modelling a private
residence designed to offer a cosseted intimacy combined with privacy and discretion. Amazing
facilities and services at the hotel makes it the best place in London to organize exhibition and
conferences. Dorchester hotel is able to generate huge sums of profits and earnings through
conference meetings and exhibition events held in their venues every year.
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Examine the key purpose of conference and exhibitions at this destination
Conference and exhibitions are activities that are organized in order to display new products,
services and share information to people with a group of people (Getz and Page, 2016). It is
actually a gathering of people with common interest and aim such as potential customer or
buyers. Most often, the company that wishes to display their products, the exhibitor, usually rent
a space and set up their products or presentation about their services to meet their targeted
audience. The main purpose of a conference and exhibition activity can be getting more sale
leads in the market. Organizing a large exhibition or conference attracts attention of potential
customers and buyers. This results in increase in the sales revenue and spreading awareness
about the organization. Large organizations invest huge sum of money to organize exhibitions
and conferences multiple times in a year with different aims and purpose. In some cases, the goal
can be to share common objectives, set priorities with their clients and make strategic planning
for future. In few cases, the purpose can be to organize an informal meeting and celebrate
success with all employees and staff workers.
The Dorchester Hotel group in London has established its name across the world, due to its long
legacy. It is popular among the customers and many organizations choose this destination for
organizing all their events and festivals. The hotel is located in the centre of London, between
Royal Hyde Park and the historic streets of Mayfair (dorchestercollection.com, 2018). The
amazing location of the hotel adds to the appeal of the luxury hotel. Organizations and clients are
mainly attracted to the destination because the hotel group provides the care and best in class
services. The event managers of the organization are very adapt in organizing a successful event
and have built strong relationships with their clients and customers, which is the main reason that
pulls them repeatedly towards The Dorchester Hotel. They have good knowledge of the
products and utilize every opportunity to offer advice to their guests and participate in planning
entertainment and special arrangements, which is highly responsible for the success of any event.
Identify and evaluate specific venues used by conferences and exhibitions at the destination
The Dorchester Hotel is an iconic place that has steeped its place in the history of London.
Dorchester Hotel is famous for lending a special characteristic and feeling to any event or
celebration that people remember and relish for their entire lifetime. The place is a common
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venue for popular celebrities, world leaders, high society people and royalty. The Dorchester
Hotel has ample amount of spaces well decorated for every event and party, whether it is a grand
reception or dinner, business meet or corporate party, conference or trade fair, the hotel is
equipped with all the facilities to host any kind of event. Dorchester hotel has a large ballroom
to host large events with the capacity to accommodate 1000 visitors, dinner for 500 people and
400 individuals in a theatre (Dorchestercollection.com, 2018).
Dorchester, the historic and paradigmatic British hotel, hosts scores of events every year, ranging
from small, medium and large events in London. The venues and spaces that the hotel offers are
both historic and equipped with all the modern facilities. It gives a feeling of intimacy as well as
luxury and comfort along with that it displays beautiful art developed by Britain’s leading
contemporary artists. This greatly enhances the appeal and beauty of the hotel and gives a royal
feeling to its customers and clients.
Dorchester Hotel offers a perfect venue for hosting conference and meetings, to hold board
meetings, training, product and launches. They have 2 spacious air-conditioned conference
rooms that provide seats for 40 U-shaped or boardroom style and 100 theatre style rooms.
Organizations or individual who wish to use the rooms can book them prior to the day they wish
to hold the event. The conference rooms consist of all technology equipments and modern
facilities. They offer large screen, digital projector, wireless internet hotspot, water, cordials, flip
chart and pens.
Evaluate the resources used by a specific conference or exhibition held at your chosen
destination
The most important resources used in conference and exhibition are technology that makes the
process of conducting the exhibition bit easier (Dowson and Bassett, 2015). All events require
use of technology such as speakers, microphone, and many more. The use of technology depends
upon the aim and purpose of the event as well. Thus, in a large event with high-tech event
production more technology is required such as touch screen kiosks, video walls, stage lighting,
projectors, Wi-Fi, internet connectivity and many more things. Proper availability of all
equipments will support to host an event where the messages are loud and clear to targeted
audience. Other important resource that is utilized in an exhibition is the venue or destination
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where the exhibition will be hosted. The selection of location is critical, as the amount of space
required for accommodating people and equipment for all settings is necessary for smoothly
running the event. In Dorchester Hotel, managers take care of all the needs and requirements of
the events are well arranged.
Other small resources that are utilized are table, chairs, food and water for the guests. These
arrangements need to be done so that guests are able to settle in the event comfortably and focus
on the subject or purpose of the event. The service provided by staff workers or employees were
fast and highly reliable, all the tables and chairs were beautifully decorated with stylish cloth.
Make recommendations for further resources that could be used at future events
Exhibitions and conferences are supposed to be places where people meet to discuss about
different matters, issues or future events. The aim and purpose of an event can be anything but to
host a successful event, in which all the guests are properly welcomed and the goals and
objectives are achieved, the use of technology is indispensable (Jones, 2017). More development
in technology allows achieving more with less. Cloud technology allows managers to attend
conference from their respective offices or even different time zones. Wireless connectivity is the
new trend that can be utilized immensely in meeting rooms (business-display.benq.com, 2017).
Google has developed a new technology called Google Jamboard, which refers to an interactive
whiteboard. It consists of 55” 4k touchscreen display and allows collaborating online with other
team members through cross-platform support. The whiteboard can be mounted on a wall or
configured into a portable stand; this allows moving around the office with single-cable setup.
Google Jamboard comes with an operating system that allows various users to join and work on
projects simultaneously. Other features that Google Jamboard offers are highly responsive and
accurate display; users can download images and content from web and drag straight into the
Jam and create doc files, excel sheets etc. The Jamboard app for android and iOS allows users to
connect with their phones and tablets as well. Such diverse and unique features make it the most
important and must have equipment for conference meetings and exhibitions. The Hotel group
should implement this technology in future.
Virtual reality and augmented reality is changing the landscape of conducting a presentation.
These two technologies can help to improve the content of presenting ideas and prototype
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models (Barzuza
et al., 2018). Augmented reality allows its users to see the real world and
project digital information, whereas, virtual reality help to provide an entire simulation.
Organizations can use these technologies for conveying their ideas and projects more effectively
and efficiently, thus Dorchester Hotel can implement these technology in there conference
rooms. Use of these technologies has been found to increase the attentiveness of viewers and
assist to grasp the concept easily (Liao, 2016).
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Conclusion
This assignment provided an opportunity to research about the events management industry in
the United Kingdom. The exhibitions and conference sector has a huge influence in the economy
of the nation. Every year thousands of events and conferences are organized around the city
London, which contribute billions of revenue directly into the economy. The main purpose of
organizing events is to bring people with same interest and goals to come under a single roof and
discuss important matters or promote products and services. These exhibitions are attracting
many visitors from different places and countries for business purpose and opportunities. This is
having direct impact on travel and tourism industry of the nation. The Dorchester Hotel superbly
located in the centre of London is popular among clients and customers for delivering heart
warming customer service and private suites for conducting presentation and trade fairs.
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Reference list
Barzuza, T., Wiener, Y. and Modai, O., Avaya Inc, 2018. Presentation of enhanced
communication between remote participants using augmented and virtual reality. U.S. Patent
9,959,676.
business-display.benq.com (2017).
Top 5 Conference Room Technology Trends in 2017.
[online] BenQ Business Display. Available at:
https://business-display.benq.com/en/explore/trends/top-five-conference-room-technology.html
[Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Displaymode.co.uk (2018). Exhibitions are a waste of time? | DisplayMode. [online] Available
at: https://www.displaymode.co.uk/exhibitions-are-a-waste-of-time/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Dorchestercollection.com (2018). Meeting Rooms - London - The Dorchester | Dorchester
Collection. [online] Available at: https://www.dorchestercollection.com/en/london/the-
dorchester/meetings-events/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
dorchestercollection.com (2018).
The Dorchester - London - 5-Star Luxury Hotel | Dorchester
Collection. [online] Available at: https://www.dorchestercollection.com/en/london/the-
dorchester/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Dowson, R. and Bassett, D., 2015. Event Planning and Management: A Practical Handbook for
PR and Events Professionals. Kogan Page Publishers.
Getz, D. and Page, S., 2016. Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events.
Routledge.
Jones, C. and Li, S., 2015. The economic importance of meetings and conferences: A satellite
account approach.
Annals of Tourism Research,
52, pp.117-133.
Jones, M.L., 2017. Sustainable event management: A practical guide. Routledge.
Liao, T., 2016. Is it ‘augmented reality’? Contesting boundary work over the definitions and
organizing visions for an emerging technology across field-configuring events.
Information and
Organization,
26(3), pp.45-62.
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Statista.com (2018). Topic: Exhibition, Convention & Meeting Industry. [online]
www.statista.com. Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/1413/exhibitions-convention-
and-meetings/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Whitfield, J., Dioko, L.A. and Webber, D.E., 2014. Scoring environmental credentials: a review
of UK conference and meetings venues using the GREENER VENUE framework.
Journal of
Sustainable Tourism,
22(2), pp.299-318.
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