Visit to Imperial College London

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to visit the beautiful campus of Imperial College.  I left my room at 8:30am and joined the throngs of daily commuters using the Underground to get to work.  I  had to squeeze my way on to a train and bobble back and forth with everyone else until I reached my destination (secretly I was loving it :-).  Once I arrived at Imperial I was able to speak with Michael of the Events Department, Lauren Helps who is the Business Development Manager and Amina Hofri the Accommodation Business Development Manager.

Michael is one of the Operation Managers overseeing the setup of campus events. The amount of meeting spaces and lecture halls this campus has is truly daunting.   I gave myself blisters looking at all their lecture halls and conference space.   I would kill to have that much space.  Lauren then gave me an overview of her sales strategy and marketing efforts.  They are one of the many universities who use universityrooms.com and have an excellent website themselves. 

Lastly, I toured the housing accommodations with Amina who is in charge of overnight accommodations.   Most of their rooms are sold as Bed and Breakfast type of accommodations and are just fantastic.  Great comforters, complimentary bottle of water, coffee maker and a comfortable bathroom.  I was even given the opportunity to go behind the front desk and watch guests check-in. All keys are activated for the entire summer and are hanging on a wall behind the desk.   There is also a full bar available to guests and neighbors with unbeatable prices. Burger, fries and beer for about 5 pounds!

If  a group holds an event during the academic year Imperial has a staff member dedicated to booking hotel rooms for you at local hotels.  Of course they make commission off of this but it is such a great service to offer.

If you would like to see more of this college check out their conferences website as well as a site dedicated to one of their meeting locations:
http://www.3.imperial.ac.uk/conferenceandevents
http://www.170queensgate.co.uk/

A sampling of their meeting spaces:

Front desk for guest check-in

Sample B&B room and shared kitchen: