• £50 million new state-of-the- art facility
• Home of the Leeds Business School
• High profile events already taken place
• Future bookings secured

The Rose Bowl, Leeds Metropolitan University’s state of the art new conferencing facility, is now open for business. The dramatic signature glass building offers dedicated space to conferences and events with capacities that make Well Met one of the largest conference venues in the city. Its unique structure is the new home for Leeds Business School and provides organisers with a choice of 7 lecture theatres which can accommodate for up to 256 delegates as well as breakout facilities for larger conferences. The spaces also have the latest in audio visual technology with free wifi broadband, data projection, portable and permanent screens, DVD and video monitors, which is all included in the day delegate rate package.

The first event to take place at the iconic Rose Bowl was a classic James Bond themed gala dinner as part of a three day conference for The British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG). The dinner, which was attended by 240 delegates representing finance in higher education, saw performances from the Northern Ballet Theatre and the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra. Delegates had the opportunity to be the first to view and appreciate The Rose Bowl’s conference facilities before enjoying the dinner attended by inspirational speaker, Frank Dick.

The BUFDG conference combined excellent educational, networking and social events centred on the theme “Differentiation – we are all the same, but different”.

Kate Pitcher, Business Development Manager for Well Met Conferencing, commented:

“We are thrilled that the opening of the Rose Bowl has been so successful and that the numbers of event bookings for the future are flowing in. The high-profile British University Finance Directors Group conference was our first real test and it proved to be a huge success with lots of positive feedback received following the event. The combination of the Rose Bowl’s location along with its innovative, modern and state-of-the-art facilities will enable us to attract a wide range of events and we are looking forward to welcoming many more in the near future.”

Andrew McConnell, Organiser of the BUFDG conference, commented:

“Congratulations must go to the Well Met team and thank you for what was a very successful conference. I believe it was the best ever and I have had only positive comments from delegates who said how valuable they found the whole experience.”

Well Met Conferencing provided a complete one-stop-shop event management package for the BUFDG conference for everything from sponsorship and marketing, exhibition planning, hotels, and transportation to providing the space and logistics for the workshops and seminars.

The British University of Finance Directors Conference was immediately followed by Leeds Architecture Awards dinner on the 7th April. Well Met Conferencing has already secured some other high profile events for the Centre, including the Academy of Marketing, Leeds Business Week and the Royal Anthropological Institute. 2009 will also see the opening of the Carnegie Village in Headingley which, as well as providing accommodation for 479 students during term time, will also enable the University to offer all year round residential conferences as well as attract large residential conferences and summer schools.

The official opening of the Rose Bowl for event buyers, conference organisers and the media will take place on the 8th May 2009.

For further media information please contact Gini Wilde, Bonner & Hindley Communications on 0113 279 9909 or email gini@bandhcommunications.co.uk

For further information about Well Met Conferencing and their facilities please contact 0113 812 8555 or visit www.wellmetconferencing.com