Telecommunications Delegates Get The Message

Nortel Networks, the international telecommunications company, understands the importance of good communications and stages several face-to-face events each year to elucidate its business strategy to its employees, partners and customers.

For several years, it has brought together its pan-European sales teams for an annual conference in order that the sales force can understand the organisation's goals and their role in delivering them.
However, managing the travel arrangements for around 1,500 people based across Europe and complementing a professionally-run business agenda with an integrated social programme is a complex and demanding task.

So when Nortel Networks started planning its conference in Monte Carlo last year, it called on the experts from QTS for support.

QTS had already organised several annual conferences for the company, and therefore had a good understanding of its requirements in terms of overall event management.

One of the first jobs to tackle was the creation of an on-line registration system to handle all the event administration. The system, configured and hosted by QTS, freed the customer from having to worry about the logistical arrangements for each delegate, such as arrival and departure times, dietary requirements and making sure delegates received the right package of information on time.

Flights were reserved using globally negotiated fares, allowing the customer to make significant savings on costs, with the QTS team looking after all the delegates from the moment they arrived. Delegates were transferred to various hotels in Monte Carlo and then from the hotels to the conference venue, and back again.

The conference itself included business and social programmes with lunches, coffee breaks and sessions in 15 meeting rooms with delegates changing every hour. Several senior managers opted to run additional events for their own teams on top of the scheduled agenda, and the QTS team built these changes into the overall conference schedule.

Changes to return flight arrangements could be made via the computerised airline reservation system Galileo, which was available on site.

Feedback at the event plus evaluation reports compiled by QTS confirmed that the conference had achieved its objectives, enabling the business messages to be clearly delivered and understood.

The conference was voted an outstanding success by the company, and as a senior company executive said: "Having QTS look after all the logistics enabled my team to concentrate on communicating the messages & strategy to our sales force.

"With people coming from a variety of locations and staying at different hotels, and with break-out meetings changing up to the last minute, the pressure can be intense, and so it's good to be able to rely on people who really know what they're doing."

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