Keep Calm and Carry On – the RCS Venue Team Go Above and Beyond for their Clients
One of the best things about our venue family is being able to pitch in and help when things go wrong. Last month, the team at Royal College of Surgeons had to use their problem-solving skills to get their clients new venues after their own was unexpectedly shut due to a nearby building collapse. With quick thinking and a little help from ITA*, everyone’s events went ahead without a hitch! This post first appeared on the RCS website on 19th May 2015.
On the 20th April 2015 our crisis management skills were put to the test when a building collapsed behind RCS leaving us without use of our event spaces for a whole week. With 24 hours’ notice the Venue Team had to source a completely new venue for two large events that were due to take place in our iconic Edward Lumley Hall. Here’s how the Venue Team pulled off more than one event miracle that week…
It was an average Monday afternoon in the Venue Team office when we heard a thundering sound. As a team that also deals with the College emergencies it was immediately brought to our attention that the building directly behind us had collapsed during demolition works. Luckily no-one was seriously injured and emergency services were immediately on the scene to deal with the issue at hand.
Whilst the collapse didn’t directly affect RCS, we were informed the following day by surveying professionals that until the rest of the structure was secured we could not use our rooms at the rear of our building. These rooms included our Edward Lumley Hall – the largest of our event spaces and a room that we had two large bookings in that week.
Instead of cancelling these two event bookings the team worked around the clock to find new venues that could accommodate our client’s events. By bringing in our ITA* Venues family we then had all of RCS and the team at ITA* on resolving the matter! By mid-afternoon the ZSL London Zoo was confirmed as the venue for the following evening and by the end of the day, the Law Society was also confirmed as the venue for the evening after. Panic over!
“There wasn’t any time to panic because everyone was straight on the phones trying to source alternative venues. Cancelling the events didn’t even cross our minds. By the time we called the clients to tell them the news we had already found where to buy generic xanax online them a great solution for which they were extremely grateful. The whole week was a great example of amazing teamwork!” – Jade Harrison, Business Development Coordinator at RCS
The challenge didn’t stop there….. RCS then sent its Chefs, Catering Managers, Waiting Staff, Operational Team, AV Team and Events Team all over to the Zoo to run the event itself. This was a new venue to everyone and we were lucky to have the amazing Events Team from the Zoo on hand to support us. Whilst moving the event was a huge inconvenience, the client was thrilled that we came back to them with a fantastic solution at the Zoo. This was a charity event and it was highly important that the event went ahead so that lifesaving funds could be raised for The Cure Parkinson’s Trust.
The Cure Parkinson’s Comedy Quiz Night turned out to be a huge success in its last minute home. the quiz night attracted some great hosts including Alan Davies, Jo Brand and Claire Balding to name but a few. Fear of dropouts due to the last minute location change was not an issue and we were left with 250 people cheering at the end of the evening. Perhaps more importantly our wonderful client was thrilled with the event and a whopping £35,000 was raised.
The following day the team were off to run an event with the amazing team at the Law Society. Conveniently the Law Society is just a short walk from RCS so logistically it was a lot simpler than the day prior. This event was the UK launch of a client roadshow and proved to be a great kick-start to a yearlong event. Yet again, we were very fortunate to work with very understanding clients who took the change of venue in their stride.
RCS is grateful to be part of a portfolio of venues that all use Ampersand as their caterers, it is with the ITA* family and it’s venues that we were able to resolve these issues and ended up with 2 very happy clients. At RCS we pride ourselves on going above and beyond for our clients and we believe that the events of that week were a prime example of how we went the extra mile.
