This incident reminded us just how organic relationships are. Not only the one with customers but also with employees. Everyone in the company was interested about this issue, trying to help sort out the confusion, with e-mails being sent back and forth and transparent discussions with the client via Twitter. We realised how important it is to share the same values in times of need.

The studio team

Much like a tree a business needs to have roots. Those roots are found in the values that it nurtures. With care and attention thestudio has developed the roots that have allowed its growth both in number of customers as in numbers of venues. In 2007 on our first team away day at Cowley Manor in Gloucestershire the team created the studio core values.

It’s been now 7 years and Customer First is still at the heart of everything we do every day! We share the same set of values with our customers and that’s what made possible our growth and development of the business.

To celebrate and remind ourselves to stay faithful to what we believe in as a business we’ve decided to come up with a more organic representation of our core values. Thus the thestudio core values tree was born. From a small seedling 7 years ago we’ve grown into a fully fledged tree with the future in mind.

Do you think sharing the same values with a business is important? Let us know by leaving a comment or tell us on Twitter or Facebook.

Looking back through our blog’s archive or Twitter history one word stands out more than any: Engage. Our small but steadily growing community keeps connected, lets others know about different events of interest for their particular business, helps with recommendations, advice and suggestions about any topic of interest. Our team keeps their ears and eyes peeled to anything that happens around the business that might affect how delegates travel from traffic news to the recent developments in New Street in Birmingham.

Social media advocates (I dare not call them experts since there is social media is so versatile and volatile that hardly anyone can be called and expert) call on relevant and insightful content to be delivered to consumers, a content that carries with it what the brand stands for. With so many companies that are in the game how do you keep content relevant: how not to be pushed into the shallows, how not to take after so many others that offer small rewards for tweeting and retweeting, or promote exclusive social media offers?

Well, if Scott Stratten is right “to be great at customer service, you only need to be mediocre, because everyone else sucks” then what are we doing? Nothing more than to treat people like we would like to be treated; everyday; in our venues and outside them. Do you think we could do more? Please share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment here or tweet @studiovenues.

Later edit: 1st of May  – it’s official. Director Emma Jennings graduates the Goldman Sachs 10000 small business programme. More about this here.

The weather, however, didn’t bring spirits down and at 8 o’clock on a Saturday morning we were all (Birmingham and Manchester) having a lovely warm breakfast in the Quarnford Lodge , Buxton in the beautiful Peak District wondering what secret activities were planned for us. The morning fog made it even spookier as we were driven away to an unknown location which we soon discovered it was a bike rental just feet away from the Monsal trail!! Before you knew it we were all up and ready to go on our biking activity which, despite the fog and the drizzling rain was a great way to start the day. We thoroughly enjoyed the warm cups of tea and coffee at the end.

The afternoon was quiet but nevertheless interesting with some fun indoor activities (I never knew there were so many chocolate lovers at thestudio) followed by a more serious discussion that included plans and ideas for the future of the company. It’s always a good thing to have a big picture of where the company is moving and how you can contribute to its growth and success. After all as clichéd as it may sound the success of the business is the individual success of everyone working there. The dinner and the karaoke that followed was a great way to end the day.

The feedback everyone gave was fantastic even despite the weather everyone seems to have genuinely enjoyed the day’s activities and we have to agree that cake baking is always fun when you get to taste the results. Thanks to the team in Bimringham and Manchester for giving up their weekends to enjoy it with thestudio family.

What do you think about team away days and team buildings? Leave a comment here or tell us @studiovenues.

This year we were part of an elite selection of venues that were brought forth under the Meet Birmingham umbrella. It was great to see so many people who recognise the advantages of holding meetings in the Birmingham area. More than ever, people realise that the West Midlands is a great hub for business and recent developments have really turned around people’s opinion about the city.

Julian Kettleborough, Commercial Director along with the team at thestudio are always happy to help agencies and companies with questions and queries and enjoyed the company and the nice little treats provided by the Meet Birmingham team and the Confex goody bags. Our visitors enjoyed our very own brain-friendly fruit and nut mix which is available whenever your book a room at thestudio. Some really interesting topics were debated at the live experience theatres. There’s no shortage of guests hungry to learn more about the industry and future trends.

One thing in particular was really exciting for us as a business: the press release announcing the growth of our venue in Birmingham! Keep checking our website for news about this and many other interesting projects we’re currently developing.

Did you attend International CONFEX this year? Tell us what you thought about it. Was it useful attending? Did it help your business? How? We’re really keen to know. Just comment here or use our @studiovenues Twitter page.

Wishing you all HAPPY EASTER!

Here are a few tips from the studio team to help you choose the right room for your event.

Room layout
If you’re looking for a creative space then a room with a view is always nice. If it’s a boardroom meeting or presentation then something more focused with a neutral décor would be more appropriate. This is one of the reasons why our team want to know more about the purpose of your event. The more they know the more appropriate the choice of room will be!

Accessibility
If you have an attendee who uses a wheelchair, or who has any other special needs, make sure you check that the venue is geared up with ramps and disabled toilets to enable easy access to the room. There is easy access, ramps and disabled toilets on each floor of thestudio building. Let our team know and we’ll be on hand to help if necessary.

Catering
Check that your venue will supply tea, coffee, water and biscuits/pastries. If you are hosting an all-day workshop you might also want to check that you can get lunch there. Our food is seasonal, using local suppliers to ensure provenance and reduced food miles. The team is always happy to discuss and meet your individual dietary requirements.

AV equipment & stationery
Make sure you ask the venue if it will supply flip charts, pens, projector and screen depending on the requirements of the event. Check the rates for any additional equipment you might need and ensure you have an IT savvy person at hand. Our IT staff is always available to help support with all your technical requirements and you can even book one all day for your event.

Lighting
In a rainy weather such as the one in UK a ray of sunlight will always brighten up the mood. Of course, if you want to show a film or you have some other reason for wanting a dark room check that the venue has the right facilities for that. Depending on the nature of your event our team can recommend any of our bright airy and flooded with natural light rooms that have adjustable blinds so that you can control the amount of light you want for the event.

Ever since 2006 our new clients have had the chance to book a free meeting room to test the services we offer. Now in its 7^th year running this is one of our clients’ best way to get to know the level of customer service we deliver on a day to day basis. Call us today to test our  try before you buy offer.

To all our readers: What are your 5 key reasons for choosing a room in a venue?

Next blog post : See us at Confex 19-21 March Excel London.

Today, we’re also celebrating Pancake Day and all our delegates in Birmingham and Manchester will enjoy a nice and warm pancakes served with sugar and lemon.

On Valentine’s Day we’ll be greeting all our delegates with love biscuits (Birmingham) or cupcakes (Manchester), and don’t spread the rumour just yet but there’s talk about a special studio love potion… Exciting!

If you’ve had an event with us in the past week you might have noticed that we’ve started serving complimentary Studio porridge with honey, maple syrup or brown sugar for all our delegates. These cold winter days do deserve a nice hot start and there’s nothing like a bowl of porridge to warm you up. This is being served everyday on the second floor of the Atrium in Birmingham and the Revive area in Manchester.

It’s a busy and foodie start of the year and we’re excited about the future months. We’re looking forward to our new spring menu which will be available from March so pick up the phones and start booking your rooms to be one of the firsts to taste our chefs’ specialities for spring.

You can contact us via www.studiovenues.co.uk or tweet us @studiovenues, like us on Facebook or check out our profile on LinkedIn.

Check in next week for a special blog post about our try before you buy offer.

Strings on a Guitar
Eggs in a carton
Legs on an Insect
Sextuplets
Feet in a Fathom
Days to create the world (apparently!)
Feet under when you get buried
Sides to a cube or hexagon

As far as six goes we also know that 3 of them together means bad, very bad! And that a 6 pack in relation to men whichever way you look at it is a good thing (again apparently!) As a cricket nut I could also point out that it’s the highest score from a single shot and that 5 cricketers have won international matches hitting a six off the last ball. For the football mad amongst us I would also remind us of Leeds United 6 Besiktas 0……Sorry had to mention that, it’s been a tough decade!! I’m sure locals will remember Derby 0 Villa 6 or Millwall 0 Blues 6 or City’s 6 against United last season. There is even one for you Craig; Newcastle 6 Villa O from 1896, sorry no it was in fact 2010 (When Andy Carrol was a footballer!)

Anyway I am sure you will all have worked out by now that the reason I am banging on about the number 6 is because thestudio… as a business celebrated its 6th birthday this month. Friday October 13th 2006 being that fantastic day when our journey began. It’s been a hell (666) of a trip, but I am not going to use this as a romantic nostalgic report on all the events of the last 6 years, there are too many and we all know most of them by now! but I do want to look ahead to what’s next, hopefully with a bit of a sixth sense!

On Friday we had our latest menu tasting and once again the chefs proved what an inspiring bunch they are. We had a superb Autumnal orchestra of food, boundaries as usual were pushed, flavours were experimented and the end product will once again show our customers why we are different from the other venue offers in town. Well done and thanks again team food, six out of six.

We have just had our record August, obviously not in terms of hours of sunshine or lowest rainfall but certainly in terms of customers using our facilities. It’s tremendous for once to be reporting a high sales figure in what traditionally has been our quietest month. It shows that during a recession some light can always be found.

With regards to studio Manchester I can again report that we continue to be the venue of choice for many in Manchester, with our business there again growing month on month compared to last year. During the last 12 months we have grown the Manchester business by over 12% and that is an amazing result in a down turning market. It is true testament to the excellent job that Wendy and her team of six do. Whilst Manchester continues to grow we are keeping our options open on the possibilities of expansion. So if the right opportunity comes then we will definitely be considering it.

We are now in the busy period which sees us through until Christmas. Craig started this off with his “back to school” sales day which was our most successful conversion day ever. Thank you for those that joined in with the fancy dress on the day. I finally made head boy! The image of Julian as a rather naughty school boy will stay with me for a long time! Six of the best for him! And Emma and I setting out in the afternoon for some very important meetings in Birmingham dressed as we were and then getting the train home, only studio! We followed this up with our Bonkers Conkers offer to welcome in the Autumn. I’m sure ours will be a sixer….

Times as we know continue to be challenging for many small businesses across the UK. Here in Birmingham our marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive with some very big fish (At least 6lb) now swimming in our pond. There is not going to be a quick fix to the economy so we have to continue to be innovative and focus on the right areas and the quality and value of our offer to our customers. Now is the time to remind ourselves that we are unique and continually ask the question “why would our customers go anywhere else?” In answering that we will challenge our own standards and improve and adapt. We are and always will be dedicated to “customer first” but we are now having to find new and better ways of attracting and keeping our customers from the temptations of our competitors. We will never have all their resources at our disposal so we have to make absolutely sure that we are the best we can be every day and that every customer receives the full studio experience every time they are with us.

So 6 years have gone and there will be many more to come. Once again thank you all for your amazing dedication.

Now I’m off to start the planning for Christmas at studio, I wonder how many Geese there will be a-laying!

NBT

“I have been working at thestudiobirmingham for the past month. Even in such a short time I have learnt a massive amount about how thestudio operates and its fantastic customer first ethos facilitated by a lively and enthusiastic team. This is one reason why I sought an internship at thestudio.

Having completed two years of a BSC Event Management course at Plymouth University, I was ready to throw myself into the real world for a year and learn about events practically. I have a real thirst for events and was drawn to thestudio primarily for its modern and creative brand and its adaptability as a venue to offer a whole range of events from one day meetings to late night celebrations and alternative team building workshops. I hope to have involvement in all types of events that the studio offer and increase my experience and skills in the fast paced event industry.

thestudio offers a fresh and uplifting experience and is a brand I am proud to be a part of and learn from.”

Laura Nash – Graduate thestudio venue company

The team did a brilliant job, loads of new provisional bookings and lots of new contracts secured, the team enjoyed some great prizes too; books, candles, a velodrome taster day, Dan Whitehouse tickets, shopping vouchers and the overall highest sales figure went to Becky winning a “teacher inset day” (a duvet day to enjoy at her leisure!)

Well done to all the team who really are #ourgreatestteam

It’s that week of the year again, which most of us I believe can recall quite clear memories about from childhood.

This week in September has a definite feel about it, something in the air changes. Did you as a child wake up with a sense of trepidation and dread or looking forward to getting up putting on your new shoes and writing those first VERY neat lines on the first page of your text book?

This week to acknowledge those nostalgic feelings here at studio we are having a back to school day! The team including the directors will be rocking up to work in “old skool” uniform. There will be prizes throughout the day for various targets with the grand prize being a much coveted “duvet day!”

Look out for the next blog to see the photos and see who was top of the class …..