The M&IT agency challenge took place at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, which has been voted Best UK Hotel by M&IT readers for five of the past six years. This title certainly did not let us down. We were greeted with a warm welcome by the receptionist who gave us clear instruction of where we needed to be. After a much-needed coffee and freshly made scotch pancakes, we headed into the conference room which had coloured shirts on each table indicating which team we were a part of.
The conference and presentations were broken up with well organised team building activities including making a short and comical film, archery and laser shooting, and last but not least the classic ‘it’s a knock out’ challenge. We lucked out with the small window of sunshine when it came to the archery and lazer shooting.
On the first evening, the BBQ spread was magnificent with a fantastic selection of meats and salads. Entertainment included ‘The Wandering Hands’, a roaming three piece band who were fantastic and great at interacting with the audience. With a new seating plan at every meal throughout the event, we were given the opportunity to network with new suppliers as well as other agencies.
On the second day, we had a morning of presentations followed by one of the three team building activities. After lunch, we went into one on one meetings each lasting 10 minutes with suppliers that we had signed up to meet. This was a great chance to start to build the base of what will hopefully be a lasting and beneficial relationship.
Although we had to leave early and sadly couldn’t join in with the gala dinner, our team met some fantastic suppliers and agents who I will be able to connect with in the future should relevant enquiries come up. The event was fantastically organised by M&IT.
