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Virtual Events? – It’s here to stay

Virtual Events

Virtual Events? – It’s here to stay

As the world continues to acclimatise to connecting, socialising and working virtually, we can see through the success of our virtual events that corporate hospitality hosted through online platforms are here to stay indefinitely.

This isn’t just an exercise in entertaining clients, customers and staff during lockdown and keeping spirits high when times are tough, this is a part of the normalisation of technology in our everyday lives. We have expanded our virtual event offering and are extremely excited to continue to put new ideas into motion. Now you can even get competitive in the kitchen in a Bake-Off themed virtual contest!

Over the past few months we have hosted a variety of virtual events to our clients, with a strong emphasis on quality. Our online hosts and experts are charismatic and engaging, with years of experience in their respective fields. They can read the virtual room and will adapt to the needs of the group, making sure that everyone is participating and enjoying themselves. We also use professional lighting and sound equipment when required so that our events stand out from our competitors and give the attendees the most enthralling experience possible.

All of our virtual hospitality events can be customised to suit the needs of your business and we won’t be satisfied until you have the exact virtual event that you want. We can adapt our ‘Night at the Races’ to mirror Cheltenham during the festival in March, we can give you branded rooms in our ‘Escape Room’s’ event and we can even provide local ales, gins, wines, cheese and more in our tasting events. Once you determine the type of virtual hospitality you want and an estimate number of attendees (up to 500 in certain events!), we will help to guide you to the perfect virtual event with a quick turnaround time.

For more information, call us on 0207 048 4848 and we would be delighted to discuss all of the opportunities that we have. You can also register your interest on a specific event and we will call you to explain in more detail.

Our Clients Feedback

We pride ourselves on running these virtual events with a 100% satisfaction rate for our clients. With technical support guaranteed throughout the event, we have successfully met all of our clients needs and their virtual hospitality experience has often exceeded their expectations. Below is just some of the positive feedback we have had so far:

Cocktail Masterclass

“Just wanted to say thank you for arranging the mixology event on Tuesday. We all enjoyed it and had so much fun. The host was hilarious and the mixologist made it so easier for us to create amazing drinks. The only complaint…..a few sore heads on Wednesday morning”.

“Just wanted to say thank you! What a great event you, ran! It was amazing. Our journalists loved it!!!”

A Night at the Races

“The night was great fun thank you, everyone really enjoyed it”

Wine and Cheese Tasting

“Thank you both for the significant roles that you played in making our event yesterday a great success. We’ve already had messages from delegates confirming that they really enjoyed themselves and were impressed with the quality of the logistics, hosting, wine, cheese and aprons!”

“I’ve heard such great feedback from the event yesterday, the team had a fantastic time! Would it be possible to send me the names of all of the wines included? Quite a few team members have asked as they loved the wines!”

“Thank you again to you and team for a lovely wine tasting event yesterday. I really enjoyed it – thought Rich the host was spot on with his tone and content.”

“I had a lovely time and it was nice to connect with some old friends over a terrific selection of wine and accompaniments.”

“It was a very good event and also really nice to get to see some other faces and engage over some great wine.”

Escape Rooms

“Just wanted to say thanks for the escape room yesterday, it went down really well, everyone enjoyed it, and it was the perfect virtual event for us!”

“Everyone had a great time! It was really fun and I’ve received great feedback all round. I think it definitely could have gone on a bit longer, it seemed to go really quickly. Also, are we able to have a link to the photos from tonight by any chance? I’d love to circulate to everyone that participated tonight.”

“Thanks so much for the photos and for all of your help with this event. It went really well, and the group had a great time!”

“Thanks for all your help with yesterday’s event. It went really well and everyone seemed to have fun!”

Behind Closed Doors Series

“It’s brilliant, fantastic, the food looks amazing and the beer is really good, it’s good to see you all.”

“Interestingly this is better as an event in many ways being able to speak to you both (Alex Goode & Alex Payne) in private than the in person events”

“This is such a treat on a Saturday, even more so during lockdown. Thank you so much!”

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Behind Closed Doors with Dylan Hartley – Virtual Hospitality

Unfortunately the Guinness Six Nations 2021 will be played behind closed doors, however we are providing premium virtual hospitality for the final day fixture as Ireland take on England at the Aviva.

Check out the preview of our event below and register your interest today to be part of a unique and interactive experience.

England v Ireland was a huge match in the first ever Autumn Nations Cup and although we couldn’t entertain in the stadium, we were delighted to entertain some of our clients with our ‘Behind Closed Doors’ Virtual Hospitality Package.

 

Behind Closed Doors – Dylan Hartley and Alex Payne are joined by the fantastic Jimmy Garcia to create the perfect pre-match meal with all of the premium ingredients that our clients were sent. Guests watched the full video to learn how to cook the three courses to restaurant quality, whilst listening to the guys give some exclusive insights around the relationship between food and rugby.

Dylan pours the pints for the guys as Jimmy whips up a special crumpet based starter, an incredible steak main course accompanied by a beautiful red wine and a sticky toffee pudding to finish, all easily made on gameday.

This is just a part of the package, as guests also received a live pre-match chat virtually with Alex Goode and Alex Payne. This was accompanied by hand-crafted snacks, a bottle of bubbles and other gifts to have alongside the game.

We’re delighted with our first exciting venture into virtual events and we can’t wait to bring you more options. Our next confirmed ‘Behind Closed Doors’ event will be Ireland v England in the Six Nations on 20th March.

Our range of events is expanding to Cocktail Masterclass, Tequila and Taco Night, Virtual Pub Quiz, Wine and Cheese Tasting Night and many more to come.

We are also getting ready for an extremely busy year of live sport as major competitions across the world of sport are being prepared in 2021. When it’s safe, we will be on hand to host you with our world-class hospitality packages.

Register Your Interest Now for any of our events and we will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss availability. Alternatively give us a call on 0207 048 4848.

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Are the Guinness Six Nations 2020/21 going ahead?

Guinness Six Nations

Introduction

The Six Nations will be going ahead but as it stands behind closed doors. Check out our virtual package offering where you can cook-along with Dylan Hartley, meet a rugby star such as Alex Goode pre-match and enjoy all the normal luxuries of our hospitality package.

The current situation of International Rugby and more specifically the Guinness Six Nations 2020/21 and Autumn Internationals here in the UK are rather unclear. Some of the biggest questions on the lips of rugby fans are “Will the 2020 Six Nations be completed?” and “Are the 2021 Six Nations going ahead?” In any ‘normal’ year this would be met with a resounding “Yes” however it’s clear that this is unlikely to be the case.  Let’s explore the impact of Covid-19 to the rugby calendar and how you can still watch the major upcoming events.

Will the 2020 Guinness Six Nations be completed?

The 2020 Guinness Six Nations will have its final round of fixtures completed in October. There are currently 4 men’s games to be finished. One Round-4 fixture: Ireland v Italy 24/20/2020 at the Aviva Stadium. Followed by three Round-5 fixtures all to be played on the 31/10/2020: Wales v Scotland, Italy v England, and France v Ireland. All matches are set to be played at their regular locations apart from Wales v Scotland where a venue has yet to be announced as the Principality is still in operation as a field hospitality.

What are the remaining 2020 Six Nations permutations?

England

The current standings after 4 almost complete rounds sees England top the group. Beating Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, a first Triple Crown for England in 4 years. England’s final game is against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico where they would expect to win and by a considerable margin. Tries will be the name of the game as the Championships could come down to points difference.

France

Second place France have an outside chance but have a tough match against Ireland at home at the Stade de France. A difficult task as the French are infamous for being slow starters, however, the French have recently had a resurgence under Jacques Brunel and defence coach Shaun Edwards (what a difference he has made) adding the required steel to complement French flair. To win, France would require England away in Italy to win by a smaller margin. Tough ask!

Ireland

The final team in contention is Ireland. Currently sitting in fourth they have 2 games remaining. Similarly, to England one of those games is away to Italy and if recent history is anything to go by this should be an Irish win and by a decent margin. Andy Farrell’s men then head to the Stade de France needing a second win to be crowned Champions. It’s worth noting a BP win against Italy and a win against the French would crown the Irish Champions irrespective of other results.

Will fans be able to attend the 2020 Guinness Six Nations?

Unfortunately due to the recent change in government regulation, the pilot scheme, which was intended to be rolled out in October and would have allowed fans back into stadiums for sporting events, has been pushed back.
The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) met with officials from the respective governing bodies to announce the continuation to the ban of fans from sporting venues. The 2020 Six Nations is therefore likely to be completed behind closed doors.

Are the 2020 Autumn Internationals going ahead?

Typically, the Autumn Internationals would be played throughout November. This offers players and coaching staff alike the opportunity to pit their wits against the best of the Southern Hemisphere rugby powers. In recent years these Test matched have been seen as a barometer, the litmus test, to where teams are positioned in the World Rankings and ultimately who would likely go on to raise the most coveted of all trophy’s; the William Web Ellis Cup at the IRB World Cup.
This year however, has been affected by the Covid-19 virus which has put restrictions on the ease of travel often afforded to International Sporting teams. A period of quarantine of around 2 weeks and the risk afforded to players physically and mentally has been rightly deemed too high.

What is the Autumn Nations Cup 2020?

This is the new competition proposed by the IRB to run in place of the Autumn Internationals. The teams include those of the Guinness Six Nations plus Georgia and Fiji. Fixtures from November 13 (unfortunately it is a Friday, I’ve checked!) to December 6.
The teams are split into two groups and will play each other once. After the final round of group fixtures, winners of group A will play the winners of Group B. The second-place team in Group A will play the second-place team in Group B… you get the picture.
Twickenham, The Aviva Stadium, Murrayfield and the Stade de France have so far been confirmed as host Stadia.

England v Ireland – Premium Virtual Hospitality Package – 21/11/2020

England v Ireland is the stand out fixture of the new Autumn Nations Cup Tournament at Twickenham and we’re ready to give you the best possible experience outside of the home of rugby.

Behind Closed Doors is the perfect way to re-engage and entertain your clients where you can enjoy the full Twickenham matchday experience from in the comfort of your home.

On the 21st November, Engage takes you and your guest to an exclusive pre match cook along at home with former England Captain Dylan Hartley.

Everything you need for the perfect day of International Rugby will be delivered to your door, then along with our professional chef, Dylan will take you and your guests through how to cook the perfect rugby meal.

In the build up to the match you will be joined live for pre-match interactive chats with international rugby stars before tuning in to England v Ireland live on Amazon Prime.

Register your interest here or give us a call on 0207 048 4848 for further details.

Are the 2021 Guinness Six Nations going ahead?

The good news is the 2021 Guinness Six Nations are going ahead as planned. A full 5 rounds of fixtures and will compete as usual for the available silverware. An added incentive for the players and potentially coaching staff, is the opportunity to join the Lions Tour. To be on tour with the Lions is a special occasion, however to play against the World Champions certainly adds a level.

Register your interest here or give us a call on 0207 048 4848 for further details.

Will fans be able to attend The 2021 Guinness Six Nations?

Chiefs from the Guinness Six Nations have met with representatives from governing bodies to discuss ways to allow fans to attend the Championship. This could involve hosting the event later. Currently, discussions are in their very earliest stages and all options are on the table. It’s in the interest of World Rugby that fans are back watching matches as safely and as swiftly as possible.

Register your interest here or give us a call on 0207 048 4848 for further details.