Laois County Council require the Provision of Services for Conference and Event Management for Midlands Ireland

Tender description

The Midland Region (comprising of Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath, with Laois County Council nominated as lead authority) invites responses to this tender request from suppliers for event management services. The services will primarily be focused on a Midlands Regional Showcase event, set to take place in the TUS Sports Arena in Athlone on September 4th 2025. This one-day event will span the 7,000smq venue and highlight the region as a destination of choice to invest, work, live, visit and study. It is envisaged that the Midlands Showcase will be a mix of Exhibition, Conference and Demonstrations, making maximum use of what is a large event space. Set and Staging design should be developed in partnership with the Midlands Ireland team and reflect the key pillars of the Midlands Ireland project in themed ‘zones’ for activities linked to Investing, Living, Working, Studying and Visiting the Midlands region. Each zone should have a central space for demonstrations, as well as space for exhibitors. In addition to these zones, there should be dedicated central Conference area for talks and seminars as the central focal point to the space. The Venue, TUS Arena, has been booked for the event, with set-up day on the 3rd of September, followed by the event itself on the 4th of September. As the space is a considerable size, the staging will be vital in generating the required visual impact and creating an experiential event for attendees. It is very important that a sense of occasion is generated on entering the venue, and moving through the space, in line with the goal of the event which is to Showcase all which the Midlands has to offer. Introducing height in the staging to what is a very tall space will be important, as will clear indications/visual guides of the ‘zones’ for invest/work/live/visit/study, and key demonstration/exhibition spaces created in partnership with regional stakeholders. The event layout and staging plan should include central conference/speaker space, zoned spaces for each of the key pillars with demonstration spaces, and also and exhibition section for regional stakeholders to host stands.