Wow! Here we are again, another 12 months has passed since our last annual highlights blog, and every year, the time just seems to pass more quickly! December whizzed by in a whirlwind of mince pies, Christmas carols and a wonderful long festive break which was much needed by all, so what better way to start 2025 than reflecting on our highlights from 2024 and looking ahead to what 2025 will bring!

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

2024 was an incredibly exciting year for the University, which saw our team support a number of events to mark the University’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations including our Town & Gown lecture series featuring Professor Dame Anne Glover, Professor Sir John Curtice,  Sir Tom Hunter, Professor Sir Harry Burns and Professor Sir Jim McDonald. The Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) also played host to CESAER’s Annual Meetings (CAM2024) across three days in mid-October, with the overall theme of Innovation Districts. Check out the full event recap to find out more.

Diverse Events

As always, we welcomed a diverse range of events to TIC including I2MTC, the flagship conference of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, Glasgow Tech Week, which brought together founders, tech leaders, ecosystem builders, and the community, to celebrate the innovative work taking place within Glasgow’s tech, digital and creative ecosystem and the inaugural IAmBlack Conference, which we’re looking forward to welcoming again in April 2025. We were also delighted to have the team from the Advanced Nuclear Research Centre join us again for their annual showcase, who benefited from the support of our Conference Management Service. It was also a real treat to welcome the British Criminology Conference to the campus, the first time in almost 20 years that the conference has visited Scotland. Delegates enjoyed the use of our conference app throughout the three days they were onsite, a great way to share information and keep delegates engaged.

Venue Upgrades

Our super-duper AV technicians worked away behind the scenes to upgrade the technology in our Auditoria to provide easy-to-use, state-of-the-art and budget friendly hybrid technology. This enhanced connectivity allows online participants to see and hear guest speakers and any panel sessions via a tripod mounted Huddly camera (it sounds painful but it’s just a wee camera!) and audio capture, allowing for a more engaging experience for online delegates. Most of our conference rooms also offer the same hybrid connectivity so if you have a remote speaker or delegate who can’t make it along face to face, then you’ll still be able to benefit from two-way interaction and hopefully a productive meeting, even at a distance!

Barony Hall Events

2024 saw more events in our magnificent Barony Hall which provides a completely different experience to the modern facilities in TIC. We kickstarted 2024 by welcoming our friends from Celtic Connections for 10 diverse performances as part of our Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. Between 19^th January and 3^rd February, we welcomed almost 3,000 audience members to enjoy artists including the Scottish Ensemble with Edgar Meyer & Special Guests, Martin Hayes & The Common Ground Ensemble and Tern, Damien O’Kane & Ron Block Band with The Madeleine Stewart Band and Colin Steele: Stramash and Gloriosa. It was great to be part of such an iconic music festival in Glasgow which really brought the city to life in the dark and gloomy month of January and we’re very much looking forward to its return brightening up this month too from Friday 17^th January. We also welcomed the team from the Scottish Refugee Council for their Spring Ceilidh and we’re delighted that they are returning this year too. In addition to delivering our own graduation ceremonies in March, June and November, we were also thrilled to welcome the team from Glasgow Kelvin College for their graduations in the Barony Hall; a stunning backdrop to celebrate such achievements!

Sustainability

Our focus on sustainability continued with recent initiatives including the introduction of the TIC Carbon Calculator to measure emissions of the conferencing spaces and catering, top tips for planning event catering to reduce food waste and working with Next Bike to promote sustainable travel. We were fortunate enough to secure a batch of OVO Bike vouchers for several lucky delegates from the International Pediatric Sleep Association 2024 who enjoyed seeing the sites of the cite on two-wheels!

Getting out and about

Lesley Turan, one of our Business Development Executives, enjoyed a visit to the big smoke and was delighted to join the Academic Venue Solutions team and our colleagues from other academic venues across the country at the 2024 Meeting Show  in June to talk all things events.  In December, Lesley and Gordon Hodge, our Head of Conferencing and Events, attended this year’s Academic Venue Solutions annual conference in Leeds, sharing best practice and making the Scotland contingent proud by winning the quiz at the annual awards ceremony! Well done Gordon and Lesley, it was never in doubt!

Team Update

Back in March, we said a very fond farewell to our Conference and Events Officer, Liam Bedwell, who had been with us since TIC opened. Fortunately, we’re still working closely with Liam as he’s supporting conferences alongside the team at Glasgow Convention Bureau and we’ve welcomed the lovely Mhairi MacNeill into his role. We’re excited to welcome our Conference Operations Co-ordinator, Fiona Dunn, back to the fold this month following her maternity leave and are delighted that Alison Connell, who has taken on Fiona’s role whilst she was off, will be making a permanent move to Conference Operations Co-Ordinator going forward, congratulations Alison!

We said hello and goodbye to the lovely Emma Brady, who stepped into Alison’s Conference Host role temporarily and we were delighted to have Kelsey Steele join our merry band in 2024 as a permanent Conference Host, moving into a Conference Operations Co-Ordinator role this month. Well done Kelsey! We’ve also bolstered our AV team with the addition of a new AV technician Katy Walsh after saying a sad goodbye to Declan Mooney, our Conference Porter, and our Conference Operations Co-ordinator, Michael Sharp earlier in the year.

A bit of fun!

Of course, it isn’t just all work and no play (you know we love a wee shindig in the team!). To welcome our new team members, we donned some very fashionable green ponchos and enjoyed a fun-filled evening at the Splatter Art Studios in Glasgow, where our artistic flair certainly shone through (for some of us!!). We put our balance to the test at the local roller disco which made some of us very nostalgic for our childhood! We also took part in in the Spring and Autumn Paths for All Step Count Challenge again which encouraged us to get active.

Phew, what a year! We can’t wait to see what 2025 brings and we’re very much looking forward to catching up with our regular clients and friends as well as welcoming new delegates to TIC and the campus. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2025 and we can’t wait to help support you with your event plans this year. We’re always happy to chat so please do get in touch or pop in for a New Year cuppa, we’d love to see you!