Regional NSW Local Council
The Client's Requirements
Following the demolition and rebuild of their Town Hall, this regional local council in New South Wales required an entirely new venue brand and operation to engage and entice a broader range of members of the community, including businesses.
Part of the change they sought was to reduce in-house operational costs by outsourcing to a dedicated venue management and catering company and to increase their revenue from commercial venue operations.
The Challenges
The newly built Town Hall now boasted a multi-purpose venue that included a 500-seat auditorium, multiple function and meeting rooms, two large communal foyers, art gallery space and a commercial kitchen.
The challenge was how to best utilise and market this new facility, including:
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Establishing a new brand and operation.
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Programming the venue to appeal to a larger number of the community, businesses and private event requirements.
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Ensuring compliance for a new public assembly venue
The Solution
We provided a multi-faceted approach to solve all the challenges the council was facing, such as:
Expert Management and Consulting
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Ensuring the facility was operationally ready for the three months before launch, and day of launch.
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Consultation and advice regarding functional venue design and hospitality service concepts towards the latter part of the rebuild (when we were engaged).
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The production and implementation of all venue operation and compliance documents, and all legal venue documents.
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The establishment of relationships with venue stakeholders, including the Council Executive Branch, local councillors and mayor, past venue hirers, local community groups and local businesses.
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Providing venue hire clients with high-level event management expertise in the execution of their event, conference or performance.
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Ensuring diversity of venue hire use, particularly between community organisations and businesses.
Financial
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The maximisation of sales and return on investment through the establishment of an efficient sales process and system.
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Provision of a financial management system to collect all revenues for the Council as well as supplier engagement and payment for services.
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Ensuring business/financial sustainability and continuation for the Council to assume managing following our consultation period.
Venue Entertainment
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Ensuring - through our already existing relationships - venue hirers such as national touring companies and local entertainment groups utilised the venue.
Technology
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The set-up and implementation of venue booking and documentation systems.
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The creation of a customer service charter and plan to ensure customer satisfaction, including the implementation of a customer feedback system.
Personnel
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The provision of a professional, dedicated team of on-site personnel, including Venue Manager, Event Sales and Administration Coordinator, and a casual pool of staff for catering and beverage service, ushering, fire wardens and audio-visual production.
Catering and Bar Services
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Providing quality catering for private and business events and conferences including the provision of a dedicated range of diverse menus.
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The set up of the retail café and bar menus (including full menu design, costings, supplier provision), supplier management, operational processes and procedures, point of sale cash registers and merchant facilities.
Marketing
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The design and creation of all marketing collateral, including brochures, business cards, website (including ongoing maintenance and content creation), and social media implementation.
Final Results
After almost two years, we handed back a fully functioning, operationally successful and viable venue. We provided a fully trained, locally engaged Venue Manager to continue the operation of the venue.
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A full suite of venue operation documents was provided, including venue operational manuals, work health and safety manuals, staff induction and training manuals, venue operational and cleaning checklists and menu guidelines, as well as the technology system to operate the venue.
