January 2025 Monthly Roundup: reflecting back on 2024, a bustling venue and strategy planning.

Congratulations on making it to the end of January 2025!

Many people I’ve spoken to have said that it has felt like the longest month ever, but for me, the snow week has meant a major catch-up since. I can’t believe we’re about to enter February!

Reflecting on a fantastic 2024

It’s been exactly a year since I returned from maternity leave after spending a year with my little girl. I marked the milestone with a blog reflecting on the past year. It was wonderful to look back at all that has happened at Horizon Leeds and in my role. I’m excited to build on this in 2025.

One to one meetings

I absolutely loved this month as it was full of my favourite thing – meeting people! I have finished many a day with that lovely warm glow where your head is full of exciting product ideas, potential partnerships, and fantastic event concepts. Being out and about learning what companies have planned for 2025 and how Horizon Leeds can get involved is such a privilege.

Networking

2025 networking got off to an amazing start with a great crowd at Get Connected, I loved learning about people’s success stories and am excited for some collaborative projects on the Horizon. As always, City Networking was bustling with familiar friendly faces but also some lovely new people who again have some great opportunities to work together this year.

A bustling venue

I’ve loved being at the venue this month. We’ve had a busy few weeks with an exclusive conference for a brilliant new client who loved the space, and our fantastic regular clients who use it so well.

Seeing every area in use, from the reception for calls to Meet@ as a breakout space with engaging content on the screens, makes my heart sing. This is exactly what I envisioned when designing the space.

On some days, we hosted up to five different events, and clients who know Horizon Leeds will often say, “We’re back at our favourite venue,” leading to chats about both work and their personal lives. It’s such a wonderful place to work.

Lunchtime site visits

With our busy schedule, I’ve been offering many lunch site visits to potential clients, giving them a chance to see the entire space, the flow of delegates during lunch, and the food. If you’d like to visit one lunchtime, I’d love to have a cuppa and hear about your plans for next year. Whether you have an event agenda and want to add a health and wellbeing element or explore ways to engage delegates, we have great ideas to help.

Check out our latest blog, “New Year, New Trends: 4 Event Planning Trends to Watch in 2025,” which highlights the importance of event experience. The AI section is particularly interesting. I’ve just started exploring it and am impressed, and I’ll be sharing my tips in future round-ups.

“Strategy First”

“Strategy First” – with Ian Kirk’s words from Opportunity Marketing in mind, we had our yearly sales strategy day yesterday. Wow, there are so many fantastic ideas and opportunities to explore this year!

In a small team, everyday tasks often take priority, so it was wonderful to have a whole day dedicated to focusing solely on our goals for the next financial year and how we’re going to achieve them. Although it doesn’t start until April, the work begins now. I’m excited to discuss this more over the next couple of months and for you to see what we’ve got planned.

Roll on February, when we have our marketing strategy day and we can get our creative juices flowing!

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