You’ve booked BIBA. You’ve booked the hotel. Your clients are coming to Manchester.
If you’re starting to think about BIBA Manchester events for clients, colleagues or partners, don’t treat the time outside the conference as an afterthought.
Please don’t just book a table for twelve.
BIBA brings thousands of people from across the insurance industry together in one city. And while the conference itself is naturally the focus, some of the most valuable conversations will happen away from the exhibition floor.
Over dinner. Over drinks. Between smaller groups of clients and colleagues who finally have time to talk properly.
So if you’re planning to entertain around BIBA, don’t treat the evening as an afterthought. Make Manchester part of the experience.
What makes the best BIBA Manchester events stand out? For us, it starts with giving people something they couldn’t experience on the exhibition floor.
1. Turn the client dinner into an experience
We love a fabulous restaurant. But if your most important clients are receiving five dinner invitations during BIBA week, how will yours stand out?
Think private dining with an unexpected element. A chef-led experience. An unusual setting. Live entertainment that complements rather than dominates the evening. You don’t need to make dinner complicated.
You need to make it yours.
2. Create the drinks reception people don’t leave after one drink
The traditional corporate drinks reception has a rather predictable rhythm. Arrive. Drink. Network. Leave.
It doesn’t have to.
Give the evening a reason to develop. Think fantastic food, an interesting bar concept, entertainment that changes throughout the night or a space people genuinely want to spend time in.
You want guests thinking: “We’ll stay for one more.” Not looking for the earliest polite opportunity to disappear.
3. Go smaller
Bigger isn’t always better during a huge industry gathering. Sometimes the most valuable event you can create is a beautifully hosted dinner for eight, twelve or twenty people.
Senior clients. Leadership teams. Key partners. People you rarely get around the same table.
No presentations. No sales pitch. Just excellent hospitality and enough time for proper conversation.
That can be incredibly powerful.
4. Give your team something too
BIBA doesn’t have to be entirely client-facing.
If you’re bringing colleagues from different parts of the country together in Manchester, use the opportunity.
A team dinner, celebration or private after-party can reward the people who’ve spent days on their feet representing your business — and build internal relationships while everyone is finally in the same place.
The conference might have brought them to Manchester. Give them another reason to remember being here.
5. Don’t forget the after-party
Sometimes the best event starts when the official programme ends.
A brilliant after-hours event can bring clients, colleagues and contacts together in a completely different atmosphere.
Music. Entertainment. Great drinks. Great food. No presentations.
And absolutely no need for another branded lanyard.
Why Manchester is made for BIBA Events?
Because if you’re coming to BIBA, you’re coming to a city that knows how to host. The opportunity with BIBA Manchester events is to use the city rather than simply host something in it.
Manchester has extraordinary hotels, restaurants, private spaces, cultural venues and nightlife and the personality to match.
TLC has spent almost four decades creating events in Manchester and around the UK, from intimate private dinners to major corporate productions.
We know the venues. We know the suppliers.
More importantly, we know how to take a room and make something happen in it.
Coming to BIBA?
You’ve already got a reason to bring your clients to Manchester.
Now give them a reason to remember it.
Whether it’s a private leadership dinner, client reception, team celebration or the party everybody wishes they’d been invited to, we’ll help you create something that feels anything but standard issue.
Planning an event around BIBA in Manchester? Let’s do something after 5pm that’s worth talking about at 9am.