Neil Gardner

Creating Customer Connections – A Case for Conference Centers

We’ve all been to a conference or two that, frankly, was a complete snooze.

The speaker may have droned on about their easily forgotten topic. The presentations may have been lackluster, flat PowerPoints. The associate at the welcome desk may have been less than helpful in guiding you to the appropriate meeting room. Or worst of all, the technology didn’t cooperate, and you were forced to awkwardly watch the speaker and the organizers try to get the video to play.

At FLIK Hospitality Group, we can certainly change the game when it comes to the overall conference center experience. As a leader in the conference center and hotel space, we understand the importance of guest interaction and know that as the first point of contact for a guest at a hotel or a client upon visiting an account for a business meeting, the first impression makes the lasting impression.

Service is at the core to any successful hospitality environment.

At FLIK Conference Centers & Hotels, we focus on the meeting and hotel experience, with our service-oriented, tenured teams. But to deliver the best experience possible, we offer our clients two secret weapons: Rapport and Waveguide

Rapport

With Rapport, it’s about building valuable relationships to ensure a remarkable customer experience.

Rapport is our specialist brand, providing high level reception, conference and concierge services to premier clients in the US, UK, Europe and Hong Kong. This elevated level in hospitality and guest service that you would receive at a hotel, we believe, should go hand-in-hand with the meeting experience. Our clients are our guests, too. We anticipate our guests’ needs – even before they do.

We pride ourselves in creating a unique experience tailored to the needs of our client, with a welcoming environment where they are able to feel relaxed and maximize productivity. Our teams ensure your guests will be in expert hands as they are effortlessly assisted from arrival to departure, leaving the perfect impression every time. 


Waveguide

As we all are experiencing every day, technology is changing the very nature of work. The bar is always being raised for what makes an engaging conference. The same goes for the conference centers that host them.

Technology shouldn’t be a sore spot in a meeting; it should make meetings easier, but often times tech falls flat.

No longer is it enough to have an audience sit in a darkened room looking at bullets on a PowerPoint slide. Attendees expect dynamic presentations with an immersive audio and video experience. They expect flawless incorporation of remote participants, wireless presenting and audience response systems. Intelligent wayfinding via mobile apps, combined with interactive digital signage now guide them from event to event. Bright, high-resolution LED walls are replacing front projection systems to allow more ambient light into meeting spaces. Full-spectrum audio is replacing voice-only speakers in rooms that are acoustically optimized for their purpose.

Waveguide designs conference centers with these capabilities and more for our clients. Whether it is designing the Wi-Fi to connect every conference seat, calculating sightlines and image sizes to make sure every viewer can see the presentation clearly or creating a user experience from which the presenter can control content, there is no detail too small for Waveguide to consider. Also, Waveguide’s on-site managed service, Firstwave, is there to make sure every meeting runs smoothly.


The guest experience starts upon arrival. And the way we interact with each individual guest impacts the long-term impression they have of our business and that of our client. From the check-in to the departure, it’s about the warm welcome they receive, the quality in services we provide and the fond farewell they leave with, all starting with our great people. 

By Neil Gardner, Senior Vice President, FLIK Conference Centers & Hotels

+++

Interested in learning more about a hospitality career with FLIK Conference Centers & Hotels? Check out our current job openings here.

For additional questions about FLIK Hospitality Group or for more information about our blog, please reach us at flikblog@compass-usa.com.