Client: LUSH Retail Ltd - UK&I Retail Managers’ Meeting
Number of delegates: 120
Event spaces used at The Celtic Manor Resort: Caernarfon Suite, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Denbigh 1 & 2,
Conwy 1 & 2, Caldicot
Event brief:
Bringing UK & Ireland Retail Managers together to focus
on planning LUSH’s ‘Best Christmas Yet’. Including a main plenary section, alongside a festival of drop-in rooms
to engage with different workshops, demonstrations and to showcase brand
creative windows.
Event set-up:
Caernarfon Ballroom for main plenary and stage talks plus
multiple ‘drop-in’ rooms where Managers could focus on a specific theme with
round table drop-ins. It was great to be able to have a corridor of meeting
rooms that could be transformed into the different spaces that we needed. A
particular highlight was the room named ‘The Lushiverse’ which had full star
draping, star flooring and displayed upcoming window displays for the Christmas
season with added haze. It was magical!
Food and beverage:
In-line with the ethics of the LUSH brand, wanting to leave
the world Lusher Than We Found it, fully vegan food was required - a mixture of
vegan buffet food, bowl food and on the final night street food stations
including vegan churros were installed. Delegates were very well fed, and many
commented it was the best vegan food they had ever eaten at a Managers’ Meeting
and they had never felt so full! Celtic Manor delivered ‘wow’ food and even
created mini-intergalactic-style vegan cupcakes inspired by LUSH’s best-selling
bath bomb... it was a real crowd
pleaser.
Event solutions:
As always there were challenges on the day, and due to
sickness, the event had to go from 4 ‘breakout’ spaces down to one large space
for all our delegates, about 30 minutes before we were due to go live. The
venue team was so helpful, with everybody in the area, whether they were a
manager, assistant, senior or junior, coming in to help turnaround the room -
it was a real team effort and we felt that the Celtic Manor team was always
on-hand to make a success of anything that got thrown our way. Reactivity and
teamwork at its finest.
The venue:
We loved the combination of a multiple room venue, with
large open spaces, greenery and wellbeing offering. Our managers sometimes
don’t get time away from their busy lives at home so a mixture of impeccable
customer service, delicious food and relaxing spa facilities were exactly what
they wanted. The bedrooms were lovely and clean and again, our delegates felt
like they were really looked after!
The verdict:
“We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Celtic Manor. The event really
prepared Managers for the busy Christmas time whilst giving them the space to
engage, network with colleagues, learn and develop their skills whilst also
taking the time to relax and recuperate before a busy retail season. Celtic
Manor’s customer service went above and beyond for our delegates and they
walked away feeling well looked after, seriously well fed and inspired by some
amazing content that Celtic Manor helped us deliver. Thank you!” - events manager, retail & internal events lead, LUSH Retail
Ltd.
