Viva Espana

Founded in 1903, The Siemon Company has been building innovative solutions to customer needs for over 100 years; it is now a global leader in the network cabling industry. The company manufacturers all the products and services needed to design and build an IT infrastructure that will serve any organisation's strategic business needs. Siemon's heritage is providing the highest quality, best performing structured cabling systems available.

As with any organisation this size and in such a fast-moving industry, it is essential that information is disseminated as quickly and efficiently as possible to all members of staff. Siemon's is a multi-national corporation with staff scattered all over the globe, therefore once a year staff from the European and African offices meet to network, discuss ideas and to be updated on the progress and direction of the company.

"We hold an annual two day conference for our Network Cabling Specialists and rely on an event management company that can source a suitable venue to cater for all our needs and organise all the travel arrangements," explains Mirka Kucharova, business development co-ordinator at The Siemon Company Ltd.

"We had used Expotel's international team for our two previous annual conferences and they had done an amazing job so we naturally called them again this year," continues Mirka.

Selina Grocott, Expotel's international team manager continues: "We have worked with The Siemon Company Ltd on previous events and knew what their requirements were for the event. When Mirka called us we set to work!"

The event was held over two days in mid-October 2005 and entailed two days of seminars from 13pm to 6pm plus having Gala Dinner from 7pm and on the final day from 9am to 5pm. The venue had to ensure privacy as some of the issues under discussion were company sensitive and therefore confidential; it also had to be able to provide lunch and refreshment breaks. The location of the venue had to be convenient for travellers to reach from their various points of origin and had to be able to cater for a gala dinner on the evening of the second day.

After researching various venues, the hotel Incosol was chosen. Based in Marbella in the heart of the Costa del Sol, Incosol is an exceptional five-star hotel with 192 rooms, exteriors with wide terraces with views to the coast. The hotel was a pioneer of the SPA concept in Spain in the early seventies and remains as one of the leading Spa hotels in Spain. With an Outdoor HYDROTHERAPY circuit with six heated pools, the hotel also has a luxury SPA circuit featuring Sauna, Jacuzzi, Heated Beds, Ice Showers, Hamman and Jet Showers all completely free for delegates use. It also offers easy access to numerous golf courses; so for delegates' "down time" there were plenty of activities to undertaken.

The hotel also has excellent meeting room facilities with an option to hold tea and coffee breaks outside which was a key requirement for the client. It was also able to provide a buffet lunch on each of the days and provide accommodation for the delegates. The hotel also fulfilled other criteria stipulated by the clients including free WIFI Internet access for delegates and perhaps more importantly, easy airport access.

With the venue chosen, Expotel's international team was in constant liaison with the hotel to ensure all details from ensuring the meetings rooms were set up in an appropriate manner (classroom and U-shape style) to amendments in accommodation, requesting of visa assistance letters for delegates requiring visas to enter Spain to organising a photographer to be on site for two hours during the arranged Cocktail reception and Gala Dinner.

The final request by the client was that a gala dinner be held on evening of the second day in a distinct and separate part of the venue. The hotel's "El Jardin" the Garden restaurant was chosen, surrounded by pools and gardens it provided the option to have a meal outdoor by the pool with an indoor option should the weather change. The restaurant offered the possibility to have Buffet or Gala Dinner with a three or four course menu choosing from 10 options catering for vegetarians, food allergies and other dietetic special requirements.

The event went very smoothly. The international team sourced transport to and from the airport ensuring all delegates arrived on time. In consultation with The Siemon Company Ltd, they also chose menus for each of the lunches and for the gala dinner.

Mirka explains: "We were very pleased. The hotel was great, the service excellent and food delicious. And, perhaps most importantly, we had very good feedback from the attendees.

"We will definitely be using Selina and her team again for any event we need assistance with."