LAUREN HAY
SKILLS
ENTERTAINING Sweet 116
Pall Mall Four reasons why the IoD’s HQ is an event venue par excellence
Picture perfect
The interiors of number 116 are so camera-friendly that they have caught Hollywood’s eye numerous times. Scenes from the Oscar-winning biopic Gandhi were shot in the Nash Room, while the famous “Why so serious?” scene from Batman flick The Dark Knight – starring the late Heath Ledger as The Joker – was filmed inside Café Duke.
Touch of glass
The showstopping 4m- high Regency chandelier above the grand staircase was a gift from George IV to the United Service Club – a group of generals who were 116’s first tenants – in 1828 to mark victory at Waterloo 13 years before.
Live and let dine A member of the United Service Club, Ian Fleming often lunched at 116 while serving as an intelligence officer in the second world war. The creator of James Bond paid homage to his regular haunt in You Only Live Twice, calling it the “greatest of all services clubs in the world.”
A certain Horatio Among several notable artworks on display around the building is a marble bust of Lord Nelson in the grand entrance. Mounted on a plinth made from part of HMS Victory, it’s said to be the only bust that he modelled for in person.
Visit
116pallmall.com for event booking information
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director.co.uk
6
STEPS TO HOSTING THE PERFECT EVENT
For more than 25 years, Phil Jones has been hosting senior-level networking events in fields ranging from music and sport to design and digital business. As the entertaining season approaches, the founder of Podge Events shares his tips for staging functions that will attract a good crowd and leave the right impression
1 PLAN – EARLY AND THOROUGHLY
We do a huge amount of research before selecting dates for the four or five events we run every year. Each one requires at least six months of planning and three months of invitation-only marketing. Find out the dates of competing functions as soon as you can to avoid clashes. Autumn to winter is the busiest period. If there are key people you
want to attract, run the date by them at an early stage. A personal approach will make them feel valued and more inclined to commit their time. Check your pricing too.
We always ensure that we’re off ering more value than our main competitors are, as networking functions are not business-critical events.
2 CHOOSE A DISTINCTIVE AND
ACCESSIBLE LOCATION An attractive, central venue is crucial, especially if you want to draw in guests from out of town. In London, for instance,
we have held our events at places including the Arts Club, the Café Royal, the IoD, the Groucho Club and L’Escargot. A place that people may not usually have the chance to visit makes it all the more appealing. We tend to steer clear of the standard conference venues.
3 GIVE IT THE HUMAN TOUCH
The guest list is the most important part of a successful function – our events are all invitation-only aff airs. Personalising every email takes longer, but it is worth every second. I have found over the years that, if you make people feel special and build relationships with them, they will rarely drop out on you.
4 MAKE YOUR GUEST LIST A WHO’S WHO
The best way to attract high- quality guests is by having a high-quality guest list. We spend a lot of time putting feelers out to key people to check their availability before sending formal invitations.
Once you have them on board, they will attract others. It’s an advantage to have an event website that shows the guest list – see
sportspodge.co.uk, for instance. Every year we ensure that at least half of our guests are new, which keeps a nice balance of fresh blood and familiarity.
5 OFFER A NOVEL EXPERIENCE
Given that people have so little free time and so many events to choose from, you need to make yours stand out from the crowd and ensure that your target audience will make space for it in their busy diaries. Come up with a creative design theme that runs from the invitation through to the website and the lanyards. Make the function clever and fun; keep up with the times; and use the element of surprise. We always add something that is never expected but always topical and/or connected in some way to the guests. From the speakers to the entertainers,
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