Meet Cambridge

What transforms a standard business event into an unforgettable experience? The answer lies not just in content delivery but in creating an environment where learning, wellbeing and memory-making seamlessly intersect. 

Cambridge, with its historic colleges and verdant gardens, offers a masterclass in holistic event planning. Meet Cambridge's Anita MacDonald reveals how this compact, walkable city becomes more than a venue, it becomes part of the delegate journey. 

The science of Customer Experience design takes centre stage throughout our conversation. 

Tune in to this conversation to consider how you can create emotional connections through storytelling. Whether in sunshine or rain, at dawn or twilight, the most powerful experiences emerge when we design environments that understand both human psychology and the unique power of place.

https://www.meet-cambridge.com/ 

Georgie Stayches, host of The Art & Heart of CX, brings a human lens to how businesses design Customer Experience (CX). She explores how every little detail impacts how a customer interprets, experiences and recalls a situation - from our senses to the built and natural environments - and how this can impact brand loyalty, word of mouth marketing and revenue.

Each episode she invites a special guess from all works of life and industries to share what they consider the art and hear of CX.

Want to hear more from Georgie? Her keynote presentations inspire audiences with real-world strategies to elevate CX, understand human behaviour and build lasting audience loyalty. 

Find out more at georgiestayches.com 

Transcript

Introduction to Meet Cambridge

Speaker 1 0:49

Hello. Well, I'm very excited to welcome you to today's episode where I am actually live from the meetings show floor at London XL and joined by Anita MacDonald, deputy Marketing Manager at Meet Cambridge. Hello, anita, hi, nice to meet you, nice to meet you and thank you so much for your time. You're welcome, very excited. Obviously, cambridge is a stunning place and you look after well. You help people plan their events and bring them into the region.

Using the City as Your Venue

Speaker 2 1:16

That's right. So Meet Cambridge is a conference and events bureau and we fall under the university's umbrella because we're owned by the Cambridge colleges that make up the university. But as well as the colleges, we've got links with hotels and other sort of quirky venues in and around the city. It's quite an eclectic mix, so it doesn't matter what a person's budget is or what they're looking to do. We'll always help them try and find a venue in Cambridge.

Speaker 1 1:43

Fantastic. And event managers when they look at spaces and function rooms and so forth, we're often just sold oh this is a room that can fit this many people, but you sell so much more. You sell a story with Cambridge.

Speaker 2 1:59

Yeah, absolutely so. Cambridge is a really quite compact city. You can walk end to end within 15 minutes. So quite often we'll talk with event bookers and planners and say, well, actually don't think of just having one venue. Use the city as your venue, maybe have your meeting or your conference in some really contemporary, modern space, but then get out into the city, walk those cobbled streets, look at the architecture, imagine whose footsteps you could be walking in and then have a dinner at a really beautiful old college. Or you could go and dine under the wings of Concord at the IWM Museum in Duxford. So there's a range of venues.

Speaker 2 2:44

But we encourage delegates and we encourage attendees to get outside and actually see the city, especially for overseas visitors as well. You kind of want to experience it. Live the city like a local and see what is all the fuss about. There's so much green space and outside space and it's good for everybody's mental well-being. It's a really great way to kind of decompress, take in what you've heard and if you're a speaker, it's a way to kind of like unwind and think, ok, the pressure's off, now I can enjoy my time here. So we really encourage people to get outside and enjoy the beauty of the city because much of it as well, is pedestrianised, so we have very few cars, and buses come right into the heart of the city, so it's really safe as a pedestrian as well. You just have to be careful of the bicycles because we have lots of bicycles.

Speaker 1 3:39

You do have a lot of bicycles and I just I mean you're speaking to the converted here around so many elements. But the first thing I'd love to sort of tease out a bit is I love that you've thought through not just the customer experience for the delegate, but you're thinking about it from an event planner. So when they come to view or they come and chat to you or they come and do a site visit, you're telling them a story, so you're selling them a whole concept, not just the bricks and mortar of this is the ballroom that can sit 250 cabaret style.

Speaker 2 4:09

Yeah, absolutely. I've been an event booker myself so I kind of know there does. When you're doing site visits and fan trips and you're doing so many, there is a little bit. One starts to blend into another, into another. And you know, if I was an attendee, if I was a booker, you know what do I want my delegates to feel, how do I want them to remember my program, remember my event.

Nature's Impact on Event Experience

Speaker 2 4:40

So you know, we've got so many illustrious alumni from the university and people who have lived or grown up in the city. So Pink Floyd, the rock band, they were founded by a gentleman who lived in Cambridge and went to one of the local schools and they've gone on to influence bigger bands as well, you know, and future upcoming bands with their experimental music. So we're just saying, you know, when you come to Cambridge it's kind of more than that bricks and mortar. It's about getting into the green space. There's so much green space as well, so lots of our venues. Certainly with the colleges they have these most beautiful gardens. So you can be in the heart of the city where it's really hustling and bustling and really vibrant, and you'll go through these big oak doors and it's like going through the wardrobe in the chronicles of narnia and the noise just goes, quietens down.

Speaker 2 5:40

Yes, and you're in this really serene, calming environment. But our venues that maybe don't have gardens, they're either overlooking large green space or they're recreating that with um flora inside their own venues to make sure that the delegates still get that kind of green experience or they're still getting that well-being because it's been scientifically proven Absolutely, and I talk quite a bit about that.

Speaker 1 6:07

So anyone who's seen me talk or listen to the podcast knows how passionate I am about biophilic design, so that bringing the natural environment into the built environment, how important things like fresh air, natural light, views to nature are to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, reduce depression, improve concentration, improve relaxation, as you say, there's been so many studies.

Speaker 1 6:30

We know the research Is that. And if we think of schools, we never put school children in rooms, classrooms without windows. You know we always give them access to fresh air as well, and it always. Well, perhaps it doesn't surprise me. It irks me that we forget about that when it comes to business events, because most conferences are professional development and we want to create the most optimal environment for that learning. And if we can take away those friction points by using nature and, as you say, you know it relaxes us I mean there's a lot of science around our you know we're built visually to respond to biomorphic visuals, not the built environment, and it even changes the way our eyes curve and squint and strain when we're looking at the built environment or we're looking at screens, and so to have those breaks into nature is a huge part of that delegate experience and, as you say, the speaker experience as well.

Speaker 2 7:27

Yeah, absolutely. But you know we're really lucky in Cambridge that. You know, we the. You know, yes, there's lots of open green space. But you know, as well as the flora we've got the fauna side of it as well.

Speaker 2 7:40

So, king's College at the moment they're growing a wild meadow out the back of the chapel and in August they've got two shire horses coming in and they're going to plow that field and they did it last year and it was just a sight to behold going back to those like 200 year old practices of using shire horses. But we have cows in the city as well that will be grazing on some of the park lands and the open meadow lands. We're very lucky that our office kind of falls under the remit of Jesus College, so quite often we'll perhaps take a walk around their grounds. And it was only last week I came across a muntjac deer right um grazing on the grass. It was the weirdest thing and it I, I looked at it, it looked at me and it was a real look of its face, what you've never seen a deer eat before, and I felt the imposter and I did kind of like tiptoe, slowly move back.

Creating Memories Through Emotions

Speaker 1 8:41

But that's so important too, because not only do we respond to biomorphic visuals much stronger, we respond to the sounds of nature. So the sounds of nature have similar effects on us, so that you know, we have faster recovery from stressful situations, it reduces fatigue. It reduces fatigue, it reduces headaches. So there's all these things that we know, the benefits of nature, that just go out the window sometimes when business events and conferences and meetings and things like that are being planned.

Speaker 2 9:11

Yeah, absolutely, I totally agree with you on that. I mean, I think anybody who has anxiety quite often I can't remember the exact name of the process, but you know they're sort of told. You know what are five things that you can see, five things that you can hear, and if you can hear birdsong or hear the wind going through the trees, as I said, cambridge is really well connected. So, whilst it's a city and we've got all this flora and fauna, there is also fantastic public transport routes that will take you into some of the villages outside of it within sort of 10, 20 minutes yes, you know I'm quite lucky.

Speaker 2 9:52

I live on the edge of a nature reserve. Yeah, it takes me 20 minutes to get into the city, but I can then go into the nature reserve and I can hear the birds. I will often hear woodpeckers pecking into the trees. A couple of times seals have been seen up there, which is I haven't seen those. But it's seeing those things. You kind of read about them in books and then you're just thinking, nah, I'm sure that doesn't happen. It does, it does, it does and it happens in Cambridge.

Speaker 1 10:22

And something you mentioned before about the memories and it's more than just an experience, and I was looking at some research that had been conducted around top companies and organisations that are focusing on customer experience and what are sort of the five common things. The first one was they strive for more than customer satisfaction. They create memories, not just experiences. And another one was it's around the customer experience but also the employee experience, because if your employees are happy, that's going to roll. I mean, it's that whole Richard Branson, happy staff, happy customers kind of thing. So. And another one was that they tap into emotions and they actually understand the power of emotions, and it sounds like you're doing that in Cambridge.

Speaker 2 11:07

Yeah, I mean, we want everybody to have the best experience and at the moment we're actually having a real big drive on accessibility and inclusivity. You know, I mentioned about the cobbled streets and for those who perhaps have mobility issues, that's not going to be quite so easy but, there is friction point exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 11:27

But our venues and the city, you know, are recognizing this and the university and the students actually within the university are picking this up and they're driving that change. But it's not just about having the best experience for the able-bodied, it's got to be for everybody. Because if you have a good experience, you're more likely to remember that conference you're more likely to remember the content.

Speaker 1 11:55

It's association.

Speaker 2 11:57

It's kind of it's association with happy memories. Yes, like you mentioned earlier, Absolutely Exactly.

Speaker 1 12:02

And you know, research has found that customer experience ranks higher in people's choices to repurchase or to return than the price of the product or the quality of the service. So customer experience is really up there and I was looking at some stats that I think 89% of companies are now putting customer experience design, are really focusing on it, and we can sort of say, well, we're not a big corporate, but your delegates are going to things that are run by people who are focusing on the customer experience and that holistic, that every touch point of how we interact and so they're going to have really, you know they're discerning and they've got high standards. And customer experience is. You know, we have the power to enhance a customer experience or diminish it, and it's not about big budgets, it's not about the big wow moments, it's the tiniest things that can make the difference.

Speaker 2 12:57

Oh, my word Music to my ears. I'm going to have a like hallelujah moment.

Speaker 1 13:01

And if you saw us. Now we're sitting in a little pod on the trade show floor. These really innovative little pods Very cute, aren't they? Very sound, effective. But we've got to remember we do have other meetings, because we could chat all day, I think.

Speaker 2 13:12

Absolutely. But yeah, you're right, it's those. The smallest of changes can make the biggest difference. Yeah, so if we can do it for just one person, yes, Imagine what it could do for everybody else. Yes, it is those little things. You know, I've been lucky enough that I've worked with a group of people from the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers so ABPCO British Professional Conference Organisers so ABPCO and we've created a checklist for event planners to use about making their events more neuro-inclusive Fantastic, and some of the things that we've built into there, and it's based on feedback we've had and working with the neurodiverse community. Just little things are just making the difference and it's things like the lanyards know some people have a sensitivity to them the scratchy lanyards yeah, so if you just say well, bring your own lanyard if you like

Speaker 2 14:09

yes, and they're just like okay, fine, um. Another example was you know, for some people going to a city or a venue that they've never been before? Just use your mobile device. Take a picture of what your front door looks like, yes, and where reception is yes, that, just that is enough to break it down. In the uk, one in five people identify as neurodiverse. That's 20 percent of the population. Yep, are actually actively choosing not to attend an event because of their anxiety, and that's those who identify. So how many people are not identifying and are still avoiding events? Just making those teeny tiny changes.

Speaker 1 14:53

Absolutely. I was walking around the show floor yesterday and we're at London Excel. It's a huge expo centre, lots of expo booths and stands and activations and, not unlike a lot of trade shows, some of the stalls have DJs. Yes, and you know, we know the power of music, but it is noisy here. Everyone is exhausted. You're chatting, you know, every 20 minutes to a new person and talking about Cambridge.

Inclusivity and Accessibility in Events

Speaker 1 15:20

Every 20 minutes I'm going to a new venue and listening. It's information overload, it's tiring. As buyers we're walking back and forth and I was looking at one of the DJs yesterday or hearing one of the DJs, and it was loud and I could feel the bass beat going through me and I thought imagine if a stall just had classical music. Oh, my goodness. That you could just walk and it would just bring everything down. Wow, do you know?

Speaker 2 15:46

what.

Speaker 1 15:46

And so, actually thinking about those, it wouldn't cost any difference in money, and that's not to say there's not a place that some people might want to be revved up with a DJ. But not all of us do, and I know there is a great sensory room. I've been in here but actually just thinking about those small things, that can make a difference.

Speaker 2 16:04

That is, do you know what? I hadn't even thought about that and it's a really, really lovely idea. You know the power of music. Again there's research to prove it. And you know the faster the music that you play, or the faster the beat the play, or the faster the beat, the more your blood pressure gets going, your heart rate goes up. And I think, again there's research that proves those people that get caught speeding typically it's because they're listening to fast music.

Speaker 1 16:31

Is that right? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 16:33

Yeah, I went to naughty school because I did no judgment. Naughty school because I did no judgement and our teacher that talked to us. He said, yeah, listen to a talking radio or put a podcast on, because it brings your heart rate down and makes you not in a rush, you're not kind of like uncing up, you're at a rave.

Speaker 1 16:56

My gosh, in my talk I talk about the power of classical music in. You know, similar to natural light, it releases pleasure. You know those sort of pleasure spikes in our brains. It removes the friction. So, often, you know it's really good for productivity, it's really good for concentration. I know if I'm procrastinating, I put on classical music and before I know it you know I've churned through work. And it's not that classical music makes us smarter. It removes those friction points in our brain and frees us up to just concentrate on the task.

Speaker 2 17:29

Yeah, absolutely, and you know it's almost a little bit going full circle. They sort of say you know, if you're stuck on a task, come away from it, go for a walk, do something different.

Speaker 1 17:39

That's right.

Speaker 2 17:41

You know, and I'm just sort of thinking for a speaker if you're making fine tweaks to your presentation and you're getting stuck, everything this isn't sounding right. You know, obviously I'm here, it's Martin Cambridge, but it's you know, come away from it, go and wander around the city, that's right. Go down some of the cobble streets, like green streets, walk along king's parade or, if you want to go totally well, not totally off pace, but go on a punting tour, jump on a punt, yeah, and either go along the backs of the rivers, because that forces you to slow down, because it's so quiet and soft. Yes, it forces you to actually slow down and you can't rush it. There's somebody else who's punting, yes, um, so it forces you to calm down and actually look at your surroundings.

Speaker 2 18:29

But if you so the obviously the river goes in two parts. There's one that goes down river and takes in the backs of the colleges, which is stunning, no one's going to lie about that. But it does get quite busy, yes, if busy's not your scene, go the other way and head up towards the village of granchester, which is really beautiful, stunning, big open fields, lots of cows. Again, you might see some cows, ducks and the ducks, the ducks and the, the swans are so used to the punts and that they'll actually swim alongside you. Yes, yeah, but again it does.

Speaker 1 19:01

it just brings everything down again, and in fact there's research around. People will spend I think it's something like up to 25% more, so they're happy to spend 25% higher price when they're in a store with classical music.

Speaker 2 19:18

Oh really, Because it has actually reduced their anxiety.

Speaker 1 19:21

It's calmed them down. They're happy to stay longer, yeah, and they're more comfortable in the choices they make.

Speaker 2 19:26

So you know, all these things have tangible impacts yeah, absolutely, and it goes back to what you were saying before as well just little changes, little changes. Yeah, you know, we're not talking about and things that don't necessarily require a big budget.

Speaker 1 19:40

Absolutely and of course not everyone has the luxury to be in gorgeous Cambridge. And sometimes we have to run events in the built environment. That doesn't have that. But there's research that shows that even just putting images of nature on a screen and allowing people to view that can have the same effect. Or even playing the sounds, and and we run an event that's in a stadium, but people actually sleep over, oh wow and so they wake up in the sort of you know, in the concourse downstairs of the stadium. So it's all concrete and we wake them up.

Speaker 2 20:12

Playing bird sounds oh, my word, I bet that's awesome.

Success Stories and Client Examples

Speaker 1 20:16

Yes, yeah, so it's all those little things, um, are they, you know? I'd love to know. Is there a couple of examples that sort of stand out to you of, maybe, when someone has come to look at your site for venue and there was just something that that storytelling you did that got them over the line? Or feedback you've had from a client that said, my gosh, that was, you know, fantastic. And the feedback we've got from our delegates because of yeah, there's one that I can remember.

Speaker 2 20:41

It is pre-pandemic, yes, so it's a little bit old, but it was for a robotic society. Yes, and they were looking at multiple venues. The conference was quite large but, as I said, the city's so teeny, tiny and this is where we were kind of sort of pulling them in and we went to new college to have a look around that and they've got the most beautiful gardens and you know they're. I think their gardens are perhaps one of the envy. Yes, um of all in the others. But the the conversation that I had with the organizers I just said you know, this is an all-female college. Your, your field of research is actually quite male-dominated. There is a really nice story to be had here. Yes, by using this college, whether it's event, stays, accommodation or a drinks reception or a dinner, you're actually giving back to this all-female college. You could potentially be inspiring a next generation of female roboticists like that. Women in stem.

Speaker 2 21:42

Yes, absolutely and, yeah, you know, and they, they absolutely agreed with that and went yes, this is something that we absolutely want to tap into. Yes, you know, our membership is heavily, yes, male dominated and we want to encourage more women. Yes, and you know, the money that was spent in the college it goes back back into academia, to supporting the students, to giving them the the best accommodation, the best experience, yes, that they that they can have. So there, there was that one, there was another one recently around ai and biology, and we went and had a look around robinson college. So we've gone from like a really quite oldie woldie, yes, female college to quite a modern one. Okay, yes, and from the outside there's lots of red brick and it and you just say, oh, my goodness, I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 22:35

But again, you go beyond those doors and they've got the most beautiful gardens again out the back. But they've got a little brook that runs right through the middle of the college and it goes underneath it as well, and they have bridges at different points so you can wander around. So when, with that organizer, they came in and I'm going it's not old cambridge, we really wanted old cambridge, but they'd got the facilities that they needed. They've got a nice modern, large auditorium. They could, and they've got lots of breakout rooms and they'd got fantastic accommodation. So so you know, you've got the gardens, you can have a. When you've got your refreshment breaks, you can spill out into the gardens and you can encourage the delegates to wander around and walk on the grass and then have dinner in an old college.

Speaker 1 23:23

And that's what they've done, yes, so it's, it's amazing because you're yeah, you're selling that whole holistic experience and that memory creating, and I know as an event manager, when you go to a venue, that's actually what you want. It's not just, as we said, this is the capacity and you're just sort of showing the room.

Speaker 2 23:41

Yeah, absolutely. And, as I said, we tap into our alumni. So, going back to the robotics association, so when we went to showing them around, you know, said, you know this is where rosalind franklin studied. This was her college. She, yes, it was her work. Yes. That watson and crick declared they discovered the, the secret of life, you know, they discovered the dna helix. Yes, but it was her work. Yes, and she studied at Newlam College yes.

Speaker 1 24:11

So you've got this story that's bringing into your field of research, and even if you're a venue that doesn't have the access to that history, but there'll still be things and stories that you can pull through and understand. And what I love is you've understood each of your customers individually. You haven't done this one approach. You've actually looked at, you know your audience and then it sort of adapted your customer experience to that.

Speaker 2 24:38

Yeah, absolutely, and you know we've got a new head of Meet Cambridge that started in November and that's something that he's very big on. Is that actually let's talk to our clients, you know? What is it they're trying to achieve? Yes, you know, because if that was us trying to achieve it, what would we like to see? And I'm very much a you know, don't assume everyone knows what we know. Yes, because they don't. You know, I think as human beings, we all have this dependencies. To assume everybody knows what we know, yeah, but we don't know and you're putting yourself in the shoes of the customer absolutely excellent well, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 25:18

Before we wrap up, is there anything else? I mean, obviously, anyone coming to the UK. You must go and visit Cambridge, yes, but any sort of tips for you know, maybe some venue suppliers who are listening to this, or event managers on, you know a couple of little takeaways, on little things they can do to make sure they can. You know they're enhancing their customer experience.

Final Tips for Event Organisers

Speaker 2 25:39

I think, from an event organiser side, find out, you know, who is actually attending. Find out who is attending and I'm, you know, thinking about the inclusivity and the diversity and the equity side of it. So who's coming? Know your attendees, because just one little change could make a huge difference to one person. Or probably you'll think it's just for one person, but actually it could be for a larger group. It's just for one person, but actually it could be for a larger group. Yes, from a venue point of view, don't be afraid to have that conversation with event organisers and you know, ask them, you know. What are you trying to achieve? Yes, what does success look like to you? And you know. And if you can't meet everything, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 26:27

No, have the conversation and work with your organisers to find a workaround? Yes, and if not, you know and can you bring in event support from other sources? Yes, lean on your networks, exactly Because essentially, that's what events is.

Speaker 1 26:41

That's right, it's leaning on your networks, absolutely, and collaborating, yeah. And it's selling those benefits, not just saying, oh, we've got access to an outside space, but we've got access to an outside space. We know the benefits of natural light and fresh air. It'll reduce the stress of your delegates. It'll improve their concentration. They'll be better placed to enjoy the conference. So actually tease it fully out so they understand what the impact is.

Speaker 2 27:06

And the UK is not known for all-round sunshine and lots of our venues. They'll have umbrellas. Still, get outside.

Speaker 2 27:13

There is actually something, especially when the streets are quite empty if you can get up early in the morning or even late at night. The lights will just be coming on. You know, the colleges, certainly, when they've got that twilight and the lights are coming on, it is really beautiful, really magical, creating those memories, yeah, and there is something really quite serene and calming walking around, yeah, when the rain's coming down and feeling almost a little bit not like that you're the only person in the world, no, but actually the city is welcoming you, yes, as a guest, and only you.

Speaker 1 27:47

Yes, and it's playing on those emotions. Yeah, absolutely well, anita. Thank you so much. It's been so lovely to chat and meet you here and I look forward to following Meet Cambridge and seeing all the fantastic things that you're doing.

Speaker 2 27:59

Thank you.

Speaker 1 28:00

Thanks, Georgie.