Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) and the Pavilion

Bournemouth Gets on Board with Event UK

Surf’s up for the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) and Bournemouth International Conference Bureau (BICB) at Event UK. The leading UK conference and exhibition venue and conference bureau will be riding the waves of success at the exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham on 16th-17th September with their surf themed stand, including surf board tables, right down to their surf branding with VW camper van giveaways.

The surf theme is in honour of the £2.6m scheme for Europe’s first artificial surf reef which is currently under construction in Bournemouth, due for completion by the end of October. The reef is estimated to provide direct income of £3m a year when finished; land based preparation work started in July. The surf reef is part of the wider £9m Boscombe Spa Village Regeneration Programme, including super beach huts designed by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, a surf retail outlet, surfing school and glass fronted restaurant.

Visitors can catch up with surf dude representatives from the BIC and BICB, who will be in their uniform of T-shirts and flip-flops. Lisa Ashurst, Conference and Exhibitions Sales Manager at the BIC said: “Competition has always been fierce in this industry and every venue has to compete to be innovative and original. The sales and marketing team at the BIC and BICB came up with the surf theme stand and branding to show what Bournemouth is all about – sea, sand, sun and great meetings!”

You can visit the BIC and BICB on stand V714 in hall 12 to find out more about what’s going on in the cosmopolitan town and the premier UK congress centre. If you pop your business card into the beach bucket on the stand you’ll automatically be entered into a competition to win an incentive themed weekend trip for two to Bournemouth, including hotel stay, a meal, tickets for a show and surf lessons.

Karina Gregory, BICB Manager, added: “Bournemouth is buzzing; it’s full of incentives! August sees the More Bus Bournemouth Air Festival, which expects 500,000 to a million visitors and the surf reef will offer a young and fresh activity for the event organiser market. Come and have a chat with our reps about what’s going on whilst you put your feet up in one of our deck chairs or listen to some classic surfing music.”

It really is a case of get on board with Bournemouth, with the BIC and BICB having won Best Stand, Space Only at International Confex earlier this year.