Butlin's ensured community and choice remained at the heart of a conference it has been hosting for more than 40 years...
Hosting more than 10,000 people across two resorts on opposite sides of the country over two weeks is no mean feat.
In April this year, Butlin's events teams at Skegness and Minehead tackled the logistical challenge of organising these events, using all the venues at both resorts in an exclusive hire.
Essential Christian, a registered charity, has partnered
with Butlin’s for 40 years to host Spring Harvest, an event where people from
UK churches connect, re-engage and meet as one community.
Spring Harvest is designed to feel like a festival. The
daily programme ran from 8am until midnight and included everything from
morning runs, all-age family events, teaching events, keynote seminars and full
concert-style events and took full advantage of everything Butlin’s can offer.
As a church event, inclusion is important, so the event also offered an additional
daily programme for attendees with additional needs.
Several factors were considered and an example of how the
resort team adapted when planning was by ensuring that the Reds venue in
Skegness included a sensory area for children with additional needs.
Spring Harvest ran in consecutive weeks, first in Skegness
followed by Minehead, offering attendees a choice of dates and locations. The
same programme and themed content ran at both resorts, but the details were
expertly adjusted by the Butlin’s events teams to work within the venues and
facilities available at each resort.
Group CEO of Essential Christian, Phil Loose said: “The
resorts at Butlin’s, whilst similar, provide different experiences for our
guests. Some people have a favourite, others just can’t decide!
"The Skyline in Minehead is a large, unique venue, whereas
the Skegness Skyline venue makes for an excellent community space with
exhibition areas and access to other venues. Because of these subtle but
important differences, we need to tailor our event to work within the
facilities teams at each resort. To do this we bring creativity and our own
event personality and culture to an already established and successful brand.”
Butlin’s head of conferences & events, Nick Tipper,
said: “The Spring Harvest event is always an exciting challenge for our resort
teams. There is always a dedicated in-house conference team at each resort to
help with all the planning for the event.”
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
