The Northern Premier Football League (NPL) is the competition in which 88 clubs across Northern England and some parts of the Midlands and East Anglia in the seventh and eighth tiers of the football pyramid participate. The League chose the Winter Gardens Blackpool as the location for its 2023 AGM and Presentation Awards. While a local Blackpool hotel has hosted the event for the past two decades at a local hotel, 2023 saw 350 delegates travelling from across the north to the historic venue. We talked to Mark Harris, Chairman of the NPL, to find out how the Winter Gardens team facilitated the league’s showpiece event and helped them meet their event goals.
Why did you choose the Winter Gardens for your event?
Except during Covid and one year near Birmingham, this event has been staged in a Blackpool hotel for over 20 years. When we started out, the League comprised around 60 clubs. Now, we have 88, so we needed somewhere to host a larger audience. The Winter Gardens offers an abundance of space, which suited our larger-scale event, with plenty of layout options to stage a formal AGM, and a small exhibition, as well as a black-tie awards dinner, and evening entertainment.
We already knew Blackpool very well and the fact that the Winter Gardens is so conveniently located was one of the deciding factors. We had worked with team members from the Winter Gardens when the event was previously staged in Blackpool, and we were always impressed by their can-do attitude. This, combined with feedback from member clubs, and the professional way in which the destination markets for events itself via Meet Blackpool, made it an easy decision for us in 2023.
Tell us about the set-up of your event, including any standout features.
We made the most of the venue’s ability to stage multiple event formats, which worked well for our one-day event. The Foyer Level Lobby provided an ideal setting for delegates to network over refreshments, as well as providing plenty of space for a mini exhibition, where 20 commercial partners and potential partners showcased their products and services to our clubs.
For the AGM we needed a space with high quality acoustics, congress style seating, and comfortable cooling and ventilation systems as our event was held in mid-June. The Foyer Level Room met all these needs. The evening event consisted of a pre-dinner drinks reception in, followed by a three-course black tie dinner, with live entertainment. The gala style seating enabled us to incorporate a large dancefloor after the awards.
How did the venue’s AV and production equipment bode for your event?
The fixtures and fittings in the Circle Level Lobby were very suitable for the pre-dinner drinks reception. The presentation and awards ceremony were staged in the Circle Level space, which was well-facilitated with AV equipment including an LED screen, and hazed lighting which was essential for the atmosphere during the awards. We also made the most of the option for external and internal signage throughout the venue.
Were there any challenges on the day, or in advance, for which the Winter Gardens provided a solution?
It was the first time our event took place across two venues, with the bulk of our delegates housed at a hotel on the outskirts of Blackpool. This presented some minor logistical challenges around transport, which was more of a reflection on the town’s transport providers than the Winter Gardens. These challenges were not fully overcome, but were mitigated by the resourcefulness of the Winter Gardens team. The Winter Gardens proved a superb venue, not just because of its quality, but because the event staff were proactive both before and during the event.
Delegate feedback
Delegates had high praise for the location, awards, catering, and evening entertainment. As an organising team, we felt that the Winter Gardens lived up to its reputation as well as the high standards of service we had experienced during our previous encounters.
Attendees were most impressed with the service on the day – testament to the incredible work of the highly professional team at the venue – and scored the overall atmosphere and room layout very high.
One of our delegates commented: “I thought the Winter Gardens as a whole, for both the AGM and Awards presentation, was an excellent and fitting venue. It was a two-hour drive for us, but worth it. The AGM was well organised as usual and the set-up of the room for the awards this year was excellent and fitting for the purpose.”
How would you describe your overall experience at the Winter Gardens Blackpool?
The venue itself was excellent and helped us achieve our event objectives, which included recognition for achievements both on and off the field during the preceding football season, opening a forum of discussion amongst shareholders, and for our partners and members to network and connect.
The pro-activity, responsiveness and understanding of our needs demonstrated by Julie Vincent and her team at the Winter Gardens were key factors in staging this year’s event. MeetBlackpool met all our needs without losing the personal touch and projected a real sense that the event mattered as much to them as it did to us as clients.
