How can we give people more of the authentic Leeds experience? That's a question a Pudsey man is hoping to answer with an independent forum aimed at bringing city business and local groups together.
Bloggers, community organisations and city businesses are being invited to the first Experience Leeds event, to be held at the Queens Hotel on 8 September.
Organiser Nick Copland said:
"Essentially the idea is to bring together hotels, cultural organisations and venues to help build business. The idea is to pool our experience in marketing, hospitality and entertainment to help event promoters, business owners, general managers and intermediaries collaborate, co-operate and mobilise."It's about collaboration and cooperation to help find Leeds' identity, the real underbelly of the city. What really makes Leeds distinctive?
"We want to improve awareness, profitability, customer loyalty and deliver a better referral impact. Now is the time for Leeds to get in front and stay in front.
"Social networks, joined-up delivery, independence and agile tactics can all add up to a more distinctive, more profitable future for Leeds. The real Leeds brand must be confident in its identity and make the most of its character. This is a show not tell world, so we have make the best out of our offer - and that almost certainly means more joined-up thinking and smarter working."
Copland said that lifestyle leisure business in Leeds have a challenge – to give people a more distinctive experience of the city, so they can enjoy food, festivals, culture and events as well as venues and facilities.
Howard Raynor, managing director at World Class Service Ltd, will be providing an economic update and setting out how independents and the private sector lifestyle businesses in Manchester are dealing with the downturn.
Raynor runs a network called Manchester Made it Easy which gathers hoteliers, retailers and cultural organisations on a regular basis to establish a more joined up experience for the visitor.
Nick Copland will be setting out how Experience Leeds can make this city more distinctive, and how that can help lifestyle and leisure organisations work smart and work together.
World Class Service and Verbal ID have teamed up with the Queens Hotel to launch Experience Leeds.
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