The Brighton Centre will be once again playing host to the Labour Party annual conference from this Sunday (24 September 2017). Over the last forty years the Brighton Centre has hosted all the major political party conferences, in fact in its first year it hosted the Labour Party and the then Prime Minister, James Callaghan.
The Brighton Centre is one of the largest purpose-built events venues on the South Coast providing top class conference facilities to organisers and delegates alike. A typical year in the Brighton Centre calendar will include a political party conference, multiple trade union conferences, sporting championships, medical conventions, trade fairs, exhibitions, graduation ceremonies, concerts and live entertainment.
In 2011, the Brighton Centre led the way in its technology offering for events. It was the first UK conference venue to offer free delegate WiFi to all events knowing that improving the ease of communication for delegates would further enhance any visitor’s experience of the venue.
Curve IT has been providing the WiFi connectivity at the Brighton Centre since 2011. We played an integral role in the initial upgrade installation of the fibre optic networks and the Ruckus Wireless Access Points to facilitate the free WiFi throughout the building. Curve IT’s Managing Director, Simon O’Hare, worked closely with the team at the Brighton Centre to achieve fast and reliable connectivity and a future-proofed, fully flexible system. Future-proofing the system has allowed us to conduct continual internal upgrades with minimal disruption to business operations over the last six years. The flexibility built into the system has ensured that the Brighton Centre can accommodate the technology objectives that the clients have for their conferences and events.
Of course, now in 2017 free WiFi is the norm at events venues. As the content delivery requirements of events have evolved with technology advancements, the connectivity also needs to be fit for purpose. There is nothing more frustrating for an event organiser, or the delegates, than a poor WiFi service disrupting the flow of an event.
Curve IT assist the Brighton Centre and their clients with scoping the IT required to deliver the objectives of a particular event. The scale of the conferences and conventions at the Brighton Centre can result in thousands of delegates all trying to connect multiple devices at the same time. The regular WiFi connectivity at The Brighton Centre provides business class upload and download speeds throughout the venue which is suitable for most of its events. However, some events require advanced connectivity, for which we’ll implement various options including hardwiring and increased up/download speeds. For example, the ESPID conference held at the Brighton Centre in 2016 required uplifted connectivity to facilitate high-speed download of the ESPID conference app, live voting and live engagement with speakers.
To discuss WiFi and networks at your venue or event, call our consultants on 01273 806220 or email us.
