Press releases

Birmingham Convention Bureau (BCB) hosted 28 people from a national trade organisation last week. ABPCO, the Association of British Professional Conference and Event Organisers, visited the city for two days to experience Birmingham’s conference and events offering. The trip included a tour of the ICC, Aston Business School, the Studio and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The group, which included representatives from MCI Dublin, Intelligent Events and MPI, also had an overnight stay at the Hyatt hotel and a meal at Opus restaurant, recently praised as ‘perfect in every way’ by the Guardian newspaper.

Ian Taylor, commercial director from Marketing Birmingham, said: “APBCO is a large UK wide organisation whose members organise an estimated 3500 conferences and events a year between them. Therefore, getting the best of Birmingham in front of this audience is essential. The city has some of the world’s leading conference and event venues and these formed a key part of their visit, alongside the smaller venues.
“What’s more, Birmingham is a city that’s constantly evolving so it’s really valuable for us to showcase new developments and changes to such an influential audience.”

Rebecca Cadman-Jones, Managing Director of APCO said: “Birmingham Convention Bureau were fantastic hosts to the visiting members of the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers. Birmingham has so much to offer the conference visitor with high tech conference venues such as the ICC and a great mix of the more unusual venues such as The Studio and Aston Business School. There’s also the historic venues available to hire such as the impressive Banqueting Suite. The host hotel, The Hyatt, was first class in terms of quality and service. Even on a rainy November day the city shone and we want to thank all those involved in making us feel so welcome.”