Review of the year 2015

November 24, 2015 : News

Is it really nearly December?

Maximillion have had an incredible year! We have continued to grow, welcoming three new members to the full time team, delivering more fantastic events, and providing our clients with an even better service. We asked members of our full time team to summarise their year.

Sarah is our Conferences and Incentives lead, and she says:

“2015 has been a great year for the Conference & Incentive business area at Maximillion…it has to be said more so on the conference side of things thanks to a great deal of repeat business. Below are some of the highlights we thought you would be interested to hear about.

Technology
We tried and tested several new pieces of technology this year including Meetoo – an app designed specifically for meetings to enable gets to interact using messaging and live polls, live satellite transmission working with SIS LIVE and an event app with quickmobile. We have also set up a new relationship with Eventsforce to provide us with our Delegate Management System and are currently learning all the time saving tips it has to offer when organising a conference or meeting!

New venue’s
We have extended our venue working relationships and hosted events at the following venues for the first time:
Carlowrie Castle, Edinburgh
200SVS, Glasgow
Gosford House, Edinburgh
Walton Hall, Warwickshire

Newcomer of the year
We welcomed Danielle Kydd to the team in March and she has been a valuable asset, learning the ropes very quickly and adding value to every event.

Furthest we travelled
Ackergill Tower in Wick provided the idyllic setting for a Highland Games and Bond evening for a group from France. Certainly made a pleasant change from driving to Manchester, Birmingham or London!

Strangest phone call
Searching for a replacement dwarf for a circus themed event…

Biggest disappointment
Coach arriving 1.5 hours late to collect the clients with no apology…they had been held up on an earlier transfer…

We have worked with a wide range of suppliers and venues to help deliver all our events over the year and must express our thanks to them for working with us to help deliver memorable events (for the right reasons) for all our guests! What will 2016 bring?!

Glen is our Activity Centre Manager and, since joining the company in March, he has been driving forward our MadMax Adventures and Turnberry Adventures offerings.

Glen says:

“Contemplating a review of the year normally evokes thoughts of financials or percentages and whilst we enjoyed an all time record month in June with our Quad Bike Safari remaining our most popular activity, I felt that some more random factoids may be of interest. So, in no particular order 2015 has seen MadMax and Turnberry Adventures:

  • Welcome over 2,900 intrepid adventurers
  • Host 90 4×4 Off Road trails in our Landrover Defenders
  • Run over 235 hours of Quad Bike Safaris approximating 950 miles
  • Have over 13,000 arrows shot in our Archery ranges
  • See 22,300 clays shot

We look forward to another fantastic year and some more impressive factoids next December.”

Thomas is our Wildgoose Scotland manager extraordinaire, and he comments:

“2015 has been a great year for Wildgoose Scotland with loads of interesting new games, content and event styles. We kicked off the year with a big event for Calderys in Lisbon and later in the year ran an Amsterdam City Explorer. We created several bespoke challenges including a partnership with the National Trust for Scotland on a public David Livingstone Centre game, the Ballantine’s Edinburgh Explorer and a unique GPS-enabled 4×4 off road driving challenge in Land Rovers through the Perthshire hills.

We ran over 60 events, 8 featured over 100 participants and several were used to support our Checkpoint Challenge format. Our greatest achievement of 2015 was that over 90% of participants were blown away or their expectations were exceed by their Wildgoose experience! We’re hoping to better that in 2016 so watch this space!”

Sandy is our Learning and Development lead, who also provides us with some brilliant facts:

“A solid year for Maximillion L&D, as we strengthened existing relationships with UEBS, Axis Shield and Boehringer Ingelheim, re-engaged with previous clients like NFU, RBS Group and GE Oil & Gas, whilst enjoying projects with new L&D clients, including Bett Homes (now Avant Homes), Aggreko and BayWa Re. Delighted to report the following client feedback collated from our L&D interventions over the year:

  • Programme Structure and format: 97% delighted or happy
  • Relevance to organisation: 88% delighted or happy
  • Quality of presentation: 96% delighted or happy
  • Content & information given: 91% delighted or happy
  • Practical exercises: 95% delighted or happy
  • Expectations: 97% exceeded or met
  • Use Maximillion again?: “Yes” box ticked in 80% of participant feedback returns

Our Lead Facilitators – Mike Tierney and Vicky Russell in particular – continue to ‘go the extra mile’ when it comes to supporting collective efforts to secure repeat business. Talking of which, Vicky receives the Airmiler of 2015 prize, having traversed three continents to deliver a suite of development programmes for Boehringer Ingelheim, notching up over 29,000 miles in the process in 6 months!”.

An incredible year and we are ready to smash it again in 2016!

Maximillion offers a wide range of events and services to suit different group sizes, objectives and budgets throughout the UK and beyond. Please click here to find out what we can offer, make an enquiry or speak to one of the team on 0131 333 0066.

« back to blog