Adrian La Trobe

Head of Events

Venue Cymru & Conwy County Borough Council

WCNW: To begin, tell us a little about yourself and your background

I grew up in the hills above Conwy having relocated from the West Midlands in my early teens. Like most youngsters in holiday areas, my first part time jobs were in hospitality, where I quickly discovered a love for the service industries. A tourism management degree later, I started my career back in North Wales in hotel management before moving into the more niche area of events management.

As a hobby, I have always been involved in amateur theatre (mostly backstage) and I see a real link between this and events management. If done properly, both enhance the experience of the event whilst being invisible to the attendee/audience member. I find something very satisfying about knowing your advice and knowledge has contributed to a client’s event achieving its goals more effectively.

WCNW: Where is Venue Cymru located and what facilities do you provide?

Venue Cymru is located in Llandudno on the North Wales coast. It is the largest purpose-built Conference Centre in North Wales and hosts more than 600 events every year ranging from business meetings and awards dinners to National Association Conferences and televised sporting competitions. Our clients span a broad range of sectors.

We also have a 1500 seat auditorium which hosts West End Productions, World renowned singers Comedians, Explorers, Welsh National Opera and Royal Ballet to name but a few.

WCNW: What are your main responsibilities?

The department covers the operation of the county’s two theatres, our conference centre, and a business centre. Additionally, I look after the council’s Major Events team who liaise with event organisers planning anything happening in the public realm across the county as well as delivering the council’s own programme of events.

Every show or event (and across the department this can be over 1000 per year) is its own project needing input from multiple teams all with different deadlines. We are lucky to have a strong team of experienced and highly skilled staff, so for me, the main responsibilities are providing a steer on our priorities, the ongoing development of our offer, and supporting the teams to maximise their productivity.

WCNW: What does a typical day involve?

One of the best parts of my job is there is no ‘typical day’. Obviously, there is the usual finance, HR and operational issues that are part of any managers job, but much of my time is spent discussing events that are (or might be) coming to our area.

In just this last week I have met with a think tank looking at holding an international business summit, done a site visit with a UK Association about their Annual Convention, and spent a day supporting my team as they ran a beach and promenade fun day attracting nearly 10,000 local residents.

With a theatre as part of our complex, it’s nice to end the day with the chance to chat with patrons and members of our staff as the audiences arrive for an evening performance.

WCNW: Who are your target audience?

As an organisation, our target audience is just that – Audiences! Live Theatre is an unavoidable expensive evening out, and to sell the 200,000 tickets per year needed takes huge effort by our marketing and box office teams. Despite the apparently high ticket prices (although much better value in regional theatres like Venue Cymru), very little of this money is retained by the venue, so getting the Food and Beverage offer right is really important.

By contrast our Conference business is a B2B offer, targeting event organisers and key influencers in business sectors or special interest groups who will champion North Wales as a destination for their industry’s (or hobby’s) conventions. Making contact with event organisers from such a diverse range of backgrounds is a challenge and we use a mixture of networking activities and attendance at specialist event industry exhibitions in the UK and Europe.

WCNW: What is the main aim of the organisation?

As a local authority owned facility, we get the privilege of running a business for the benefit of the wider community. Our organisation aims are about delivering economic benefit and improved wellbeing/ quality of life in our region, and I’d like to think we are pretty good at it!

In an average year, Venue Cymru alone contributes an additional £33m in economic benefit to the North Wales economy, helping to support over 500 jobs in hotels, restaurants and the retail and travel industries.

We work closely with local businesses and our events clients, partnering them with community or arts and wellbeing projects to help them achieve CSR or event legacy benefits in the area, and in turn helping them realise the associated PR opportunities.

WCNW: How can businesses get involved?

Venue Cymru works alongside art organisations such as Arts & Business Cymru and the Conwy Arts Trust to promote, enable, develop and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships. We believe that by working collaboratively we can achieve great opportunities for our community.

Together, we run workshops and outreach projects for young people and adults with mental health difficulties, as well as a programme of events for adults and the older generation who suffer with loneliness.

We are very proud to have won numerous awards for our arts projects over the years.

Venue Cymru also has a strong track record of developing successful, progressive and innovative sponsorship partnerships with companies, which achieve great benefits for both parties.

We value each and every one of our sponsors, they are as committed as we are to encourage participation in the arts across the generations.

WCNW: What projects are you currently working on?

Venue Cymru is committed to achieving the corporate goal of becoming a net zero carbon user by 2030.

We believe that we should lead by example to reduce our negative environmental impact and continuously improve our environmental performance. To help us achieve this, we have implemented the Green Dragon Environmental Standards, ensuring our environmental impacts are monitored and managed and our overall environmental performance continues to improve.

WCNW: What are your career aims and aspirations? Is there anything else in particular you’d like to achieve in your lifetime?

I actually see myself as really lucky. To have worked for over 25 years with the same organisation and have seen my area of work evolve and grow throughout that time has allowed for career development and new opportunities. I tell students and those starting their working life you’ll spend a quarter of every week in work – so always do a job you enjoy getting up for, and I still do.

Obviously, there are always opportunities you aspire to, and I have a handful of European conferences and international sporting tournaments I would still love to hook for Conwy. But perhaps the greatest aspiration I have, as someone who has spent their whole career in the events industry, is to see North Wales properly recognised for the range and breadth of its events product. With great natural and outdoor arenas, major purpose-built conference centres and world class incentive activities, we deserve to be better known.

And hopefully now (within the WCNWCC at least) we now are!