Meet Wasps first team player Guy Thompson at Confex
The Ricoh Arena is looking to Confex 2017 to help the venue break last year's record growth.
The multi-purpose venue held a record-breaking 777 events last year – including 583 conferences, 58 exhibitions, 60 sports events and 13 music concerts.
To help attract more events, investment in the venue is underway as part of plans to make the Ricoh Arena, home of Wasps Rugby Club, one of the most digitally connected venues in the UK.
Work is currently ongoing with technology company Ericsson to upgrade the venue's Wi-Fi, which will allow thousands of visitors to stream uninterrupted content at the same time.
Other recent investments include a new link to Hall 3, giving event organisers connected access to an additional 1500sqm of exhibition space, a ticketless car park system and state-of-the-art roof lighting in the 6,000 square foot Ericsson Exhibition Hall where individual LED lights can be controlled via smartphones and tablets.
Wasps first team player Guy Thompson – who has helped the club to a 13 month unbeaten run at the Ricoh Arena - is also set to make a special appearance on the Ricoh Arena's stand to talk to guests about the venue's facilities and sign autographs.
Andy Gibb, managing director at the Ricoh Arena, said: “We have all of the essentials needed for an event onsite – a modern hotel, car parking, train access, bars and restaurants – but we need to ensure we are moving with the times and responding to what event organisers want.
“Events aren't just about talking to people in the room anymore, they're also about engaging with people around the world, and we're making some adjustments to our facilities to enable organisers to do this.
“More event organisers are becoming aware of our venue's convenience and flexibility which is reflected in the number of events staged last year, and we're hoping to spread that awareness even further at Confex.
“We even have the added bonus this year of having Guy Thompson on our stand supporting our events management team to provide insights on what the Ricoh Arena is like from a sporting perspective.â€'
The Ricoh Arena's management team will be on stand D38C at Confex, and will have gin and coffee tasting on offer. Â