Worldwide Events

Placement organization

Name of organization: Worldwide Events
Town/city: London
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: http://www.wwideevents.com/

Student

Name of student: Marina van den Bercken

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Global Events
Organization’s activities: They organise global business events where they bring together the best buyers (MICE organisations) and Suppliers (3-5* hotels) of the industry.
Target group of the organization: MICE planners
Company culture: Worldwide Events is a part of the Big Worldwide (http://www.big-worldwide.com/). Big Worldwide is owned by Peter Gould.

Big Worldwide is the parents organisation of:
– Creative Media Finance – Alex Tate
– Big Agency – Elsa Habourne
– Big Film & TV – Peter Gould
– Worldwide Events – Richard Barnes
– White Label Travel – Victory & Tatyana
– Great Hotels of the World – Managed by multiple department managers
– Evolution – Managed by multiple department managers

Number of employees: 55
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? M&I Forums, which is a party of Worldwide Events which is a part of the Big Worldwide.
Brief description of your daily activities: As a Hosted Buyer Assistant the main tasks include:
• doing research into MICE markets and
• providing and assisting with administrative support and logistics
• calling appropriate hosted buyers from all over the world to attend the forums
• maintaining the database
• creating reports
• assist with marketing functions
• being involved in various clients facing aspects of all departmental functions
• calling forum attendees
• validating details and listings with colleagues in sales, operations and marketing
• to maintain and update our database e.g. with new client details

Brief description of your company assignment: The formulated company assignment consists of two parts. The first part is an analysis in a foreign market the second part is an action plan drawn up with regards to social media to striving to reach the market discussed in the first chapter.

The purpose of the analysis into the foreign market was to build up the USA database and to set up a targeted list of top target companies. The target companies consisted of the best events & incentive companies and agents in the U.S./Canada.

Based on a general analysis into social media behavior of the American market a marketing plan was set up.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Currently there is more departments working on 2 floors. This means that you can hear what everyone is doing and your colleagues can provide you with feedback at any time during the day. At first I found it weird to work with so many people in one ‘room’ (floor) but you can actually hear others do their job and learn a lot from them.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? team player, sociable, flexible, stress-proof, performable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, HTML, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: They are happy if you speak more languages but it is not a demand

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: I used airplane and bus as this was the cheapest

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? http://www.spareroom.co.uk/
How did you go to work every day? foot and/or public transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Not yet, keep updated on Brexit I don’t know if this is going to change in the future
Do you need a work permit? Not yet, keep updated on Brexit I don’t know if this is going to change in the future
How did you arrange the necessary documents: If you want to work next to your internship you need an insurance number and bank card which is easy to get
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? it would take you 1-2 weeks to get these documents
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? /

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? /

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 100
Accommodation (monthly): € 500+
Local transport (monthly): € 150 (I got this refunded by the company)
General costs of living (monthly): € 100 (you can make it as cheap/expensive as you want)
Costs of visa: € /
Costs of work permit: € /
What did the company pay for/to you? I bought a 7 day zone -2 card every week which is 32.40 per week but the company refunded this. They also provided 5 pound lunch money per workday.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I just checked do’s and don’ts in England but, if it would happen that you cross some kind of invisible cultural boundaries and you talk about it with the person they are usually quite understanding.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not the country but London itself, I always felt tired as London is a fast/busy region. But then again I was always out an running with the rhythm of the city.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 131320@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: You might think a big city is boring compared to a place in Thailand for example but know that there are people living in London that have not even seen 25% of the whole city. There is never a dull moment in London and the city will keep surprising you. Yes it is expensive, but it’s worth it!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Drinking is the main activity in London, but I think that is something globally. There is a lot of things to see and do in London, again it is expensive but there are also lists on things to do for free. You don’t have the possibility to be bored.

My advice is, just get lost in London. It’s amazing!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link