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After a few months break, we’re back!  We’re so excited to continue chatting to guests about getting back to business and how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience live events. This is a particularly special episode, as not only is it relaunching the series, but it features a guest that we were extremely excited to get the chance to talk to… the new leader of Manchester City Council, Bev Craig. Our guest host and CEO, Shaun Hinds, joined Bev to chat all things Manchester; how she feels about being the first female and openly gay council leader, the reasons why she continues to call the city home having grown up in Northern Ireland, and of course, her ambitions for the city.   Find out more about Manchester City Council and Bev: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about the venue on our website

In this new series, hear us chat to guests about how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience live events.  As 2021 comes to a close, Samantha takes a look back at the year and recaps on some of the key highlights both at Manchester Central and in the events industry. The return of live events, the rise of hybrid and virtual, increased awareness of sustainability in the industry... it's been a year to remember.   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn   Find out more about the venue on our website

In this new series, hear us chat to guests about how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience live events.  In this episode, Samantha Pike-Devlin is  joined by Heather Lishman – Association Director at the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers, more commonly known in the industry as ABPCO. Heather chats to me about the growth of the association, how they’ve adapted to the changes in the industry with the launch of their new event ‘The Festival of Learning’ and how they are beginning to share their knowledge with non-members.   Find out more about ABPCO and the Festival of Learning: Website | Twitter   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about the venue on our website

In this new series, hear us chat to guests about how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience live events. Taking over on hosting duties once again is our CEO, Shaun Hinds, who chats to Tim Else - Founder and Managing Director of What Else Events. Tim has has launched a brand-new event – ‘Safety, Health and Wellbeing Live’ - which will be taking over our Central Hall in February 2022. He chats to Shaun about how he’s found the process of planning and launching a new event during these times, how he chose the locations and venues for his new event and his view on hybrid and virtual events.   Find out more about Safety, Health and Wellbeing Live: Website | Twitter |LinkedIn   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about the venue on our website

In this new series, hear us chat to guests about how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience live events.  Hosted by Digital Communications Executive, Samantha Pike-Devlin, the first episode features Jack Thompson - Technical Director at Manchester International Festival (MIF) – the first large-scale event that we hosted at the venue after reopening in July this year.  Jack chats to Manchester Central about how he and his team felt on the opening night of the festival, how they adapted their event planning process to ensure the festival went ahead and their exciting new event space opening next year.   Find out more about MIF: Website | Twitter | Instagram   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about the venue on our website

Manchester Central is back, events are back and now we’re back with a new series of Central Chat! Last year, we recorded a run of episodes for series two that focused on understanding how event professionals and local businesses continued to do business during a global pandemic. … but now that we’re getting back to business and events have returned, we want this upcoming series to focus on the unrivalled of experience of live events. Central Chat: Now We’re Talking with...’ will hear us speak to guests about how it feels to once again plan, attend and experience the buzz of an in-person event again and any learnings they have for other event professionals.

We've put the spotlight back on Manchester Central! Having spent 12-months as an NHS Nightingale Hospital, supporting the UK’s fight against COVID-19, Manchester Central is now in the process of being transformed back to a world-class events venue. The venue’s facilities management team have been working tirelessly over the last few months to restore the iconic Manchester Central spaces to their original state; working with contractors to remove the hospital infrastructure and ensuring that all venue facilities are fully reinstated, ready to welcome the return of events.   Digital Communications Executive and Central Chat host, Samantha Pike-Devlin, returned to Manchester Central earlier this month to speak to some of the team onsite to find out what they’ve been working on, how they feel about being back and what they’re most looking forward to about the venue re-opening next month.  Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn  Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].

Welcome to the next of our special 'guest host' feature episodes! Our CEO Shaun takes the mic to chat to Holly Moore – CEO and Founder of local live events and brand communications agency, Make Events.  The Make Events team have worked with big name clients including Puma, Vimto, Twitter, Autotrader, Booking.com, ITV, BetFred and Kellogg’s and since the start of the pandemic, they have pivoted to provide for even more clients. Holly chats to Shaun about how the pandemic led to an expansion of the business beyond just events, how they recently hosted their own ‘Make Events Show’ to showcase their virtual event offering and how they’re managing business in 2021.  Find out more about Make Events: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn  Find out more about Holly Moore: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn  Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram  Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].

 In this new series, we put the spotlight on guests as they share their personal and professional experiences of doing business during a global pandemic.  Hosted by Digital Communications Executive, Samantha Pike-Devlin, episode five features Sabrina Meyers, Social Media Strategist & Consultant, MICE vlogger and global event planner.  Sabrina has more than 16 years’ experience working in the events and hospitality industry having worked in hospitality sales to venue-finding to freelance event planning and management roles.  In 2018, Sabrina founded her own company – Hot Hospitality Exchange – with the aim of creating online content for hotels, venues, destinations, and events worldwide across a variety of social media platforms.  In this episode, Sabrina explains how the pandemic and the surge of online and digital content has affected her professionally, how she has stayed visible online and what event professionals and businesses can do to improve their own online content.   Find out more about Sabrina: Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn   Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].

Welcome to the next of our special 'guest host' feature episodes! Taking over on hosting duties once again is our CEO, Shaun Hinds, who chats to Liz Taylor – CEO and Creative Director of the Taylor-Lynn Corporation (TLC) - a corporate events company based in Manchester renowned for bespoke celebrity and corporate events across the world. A leader in events management for 30 years, Liz is renowned for producing bespoke events for a clientele that includes celebrities, royalty and top corporate names, so pulling from experience, she chats to Shaun about how she sees the events industry returning. The episode also gives an insight into how Liz and her team responded to the pandemic and how circumstances led to the launch of an exciting new business venture.   Find out more about Taylor-Lynn Corporation: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn  Find out more about Liz Taylor Consultancy: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn  Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram  Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].

In this new series, we put the spotlight on guests as they share their personal and professional experiences of doing business during a global pandemic.  Hosted by Digital Communications Executive, Samantha Pike-Devlin, episode six features Scott Brown – Cluster Director of Sales at Meliá Hotels International – Scott’s focus is on the north of the UK and he’s based just a few minutes down the road from the venue at INNSIDE Manchester.   Scott chats to Manchester Central about how he and his team at INNSIDE Manchester have adapted over the last 12-months and why Manchester is a destination of choice for his guests and such a key part of the international brand’s portfolio.    Find out more about INNSIDE: Website | Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about Scott: Twitter | LinkedIn   Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram   Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].

In this new series, we put the spotlight on guests as they share their personal and professional experiences of doing business during a global pandemic. Hosted by Digital Communications Executive, Samantha Pike-Devlin, episode five features Sarah Netherway - Head of Strategic Partnerships at EventWell - the event industry's charitable social enterprise, dedicated to educating, campaigning and supporting better mental health and wellbeing in events. At a time when mental health has become a major focus for people across the industry and the world, the work that EventWell do has never been more important. Sarah chats to us about the services that EventWell offer and how the pandemic has affected the ways in which they continue to support event professionals across the UK.   Find out more about EventWell: Website | Twitter | Instagram  Follow Manchester Central: Twitter | Instagram  Find out more about the venue on our website  If you have an interesting story to tell about how you or your business have shifted focus or if you have any views on hot topics in the event industry at the moment then get in touch with podcast host, Samantha Pike-Devlin on [email protected].