Overview
Convenus was originally established as a professional conference organiser 25 years ago. Over the past 10 years however we have developed our own PCI compliant online booking platform - bookingzon - to manage and maximise delegates accommodation bookings and now work with 7 destinations across the UK - including of course with our lovely colleagues in Dundee.
In addition, we provide individually designed delegate support services including:
Online registration & Abstract submission management
We have invested in the technology to raise your delegates experience of registration and abstract submission to a new level. All forms are of bespoke design and include your own requirements, branded to match your overall conference theme and included in the conference website. All results are available for data management to further easy. Our newly launched delegate dashboard provides a central location for complete data management at a reasonable cost per registration.
Event Website design & maintenance
With highly skilled and experienced design at our fingertips we will plan, design, create and maintain your event website as part of our service provision. Full details of Speakers, Exhibitors, Programme and Social events will be included together with all required online registration and abstract submission tools.
Our in-house developers support our customer services team in delivering a personalised and individually designed service to enhance delegate experiences.
Industry Expertise
Our Managing Partner Simon Richards is the Director of Finance for BEAM - representing the interests of over 70 agencies and almost 150 hotel, venue and serviced apartment organisations.
As such Simon regularly interacts and works with other industry representatives such as BVEP and provides comment to national media sources particularly in relation to treasury related issues.
Client Expertise
Convenus has been established for over 25 years during which we have never advertised or marketed our services - all clients have been generated by word of mouth recommendation - many of which stay with us for 15 years or more. Our business has therefore grown organically based upon our service excellence. Wow are now one of the leading providers of online accommodation booking services in the UK.
Wide Ranging Experience
We provide our partnership services to a wide range and size of events from 150 to 5,000 delegates. We work closely with our destination partners to maximise the delegate and client experience.
IT and Technical Expertise
We design and manage all aspects of IT, design and online delegate experience in house and do not rely on outside contractors as we have our own in-house Application Developer and Graphic Designer to ensure systems and design of the highest quality in a competitive timescale. We have also developed our own secure online hotel accommodation booking system, venue search facility and online registration and abstract management tools which we provide at highly competitive costs to enable even the smaller organisers to benefit from modern technology solutions.
Community Support
Wherever possible we employ local staff who may not be able to undertake a full time job. We have always provided placements for interns undertaking a related qualification and work experience opportunities to local school and college students. Simon Richards also served as President of a formal assessment panel at an international business school contributing to the overall final marks for degree course students and has lectured at local and international colleges on a variety of subjects including event management, setting up a business, managing staff and entrepreneurial skills.
Awards and Recognition
Nominated for local technology awards for innovation of systems - however given that our preferred operating model is to work in close partnership with local colleagues we do not overtly advertise our services and prefer that the destination receive any accolades.
Gallery
Reviews
"Simon was extremely helpful and kind, and excellent at listening to and responding to our requirements as well as making time for update meetings. The services provided, including delegate and sponsor registration and printing and supplying of badges and holders, were superb and we would highly recommend this company to other conference organisers."
"I have worked with Convenus recently, in my role as president of the craniofacial society of Great Britain and Ireland, organising a face to face conference in 2020 and a virtual conference in 2021. Simon and his team came highly recommended, having organised two
previous conferences for the society and I have found them to be incredibly professional and supportive. The 2020 conference had to be cancelled at short notice due to covid-19 and it was made much less stressful by the help, organisation and advice provided by Convenus.
I would highly recommend them, and have recommended them to other societies already."
"I worked with Simon and his team at Convenus in 2017/2018 after appointing them as the conference organisers for a 3-day national Annual Scientific Conference. I found Simon and his staff extremely easy to work with, communication was consistently excellent, and they
worked tirelessly to ensure the event was a success from the beginning to end. They managed all aspects including budget, sponsorship, advertising and marketing, practicalities, liaison with venue and they dealt with all logistics during the conference which allowed me to fulfil my role as president. I would highly recommend them as a company and I would definitely use them again. The conference itself was hugely successful and we made a large profit for our charitable organisation, which had never been achieved before."
"I have known Simon Richards since April of 2018. I was introduced to him by one of my colleagues. At the time he was running our annual scientific conference, in Birmingham.
As president of the craniofacial society for the following year I had the task of hosting the annual scientific conference in London. This attracts between two and three hundred delegates coming from many specialities nationally and internationally. The multidisciplinary nature of the meeting means that there are tight budgetary constraints when trying to put on and engaging and educational 3-day programme. Mr Richards experience in this area was absolutely invaluable to us being able to run the conference successfully. From our first meeting it was entirely clear that he had an excellent handle on exactly what was required to run a conference of this nature. He was able to introduce me to a range of venues that he thought might be appropriate for such a meeting and his experience was invaluable in helping me weigh up the pros and cons of each of these potential venues. His connections in the hotel trade were particularly useful in engineering the discussions in our favour, once we had chosen our preferred candidate. He then went on to give me very clear guidance on exactly what we should be doing a year out from the conference in terms of preparation for the various stages. He was able to guide me on delegates rates, to allow us to balance the budget, whilst still delivering an engaging, academic and social three day programme. He sought accommodation which could be accessed, along with delegate registration, through the conference web site which his company designed. He managed all the materials required to support the conference including the detailed conference program. As we got closer to the date, with the pressure increasing, his Khan reassuring presence make sure everything round with a minimum of fuss. The conference was very successful, and we got excellent feedback from the delegates who attended. The intention had always been for us to effectively pride provide conference the cost neutral basis and we ended up making a small profit.
The reason I am highlighting this particular example is that over this period Mr Richards was constant source of reassurance. His experience in this area, along with his supportive team, meant that at every stage I felt entirely in control of any decisions that were being made and that they were considered carefully in advance. As a person he is confident, reassured, has a wealth of experience and most importantly is a pleasure to work with. I would be entirely supportive of the role that he is proposing to undertake."
"Working with Simon and his team was a great help and their assistance with planning and delivering our event was integral to its success.
They provided an excellent accommodation service and demonstrated an approach to customer service that ticks all the boxes for us."
"We have worked with Simon and his team for a number of projects over the last three years and have always found them exceptionally professional. They are very easy to work with, happy to be flexible and make changes to websites etc. as needed.
They are extremely enthusiastic about what they do and are committed to going the extra mile in ensuring that the customer is happy. Their high standards and expectations on our behalf are such that I am usually quite happy to leave them to get on with the job on our behalf knowing that they will expect the same level of customer service from the hotels and venues that we do."
