welcome to events

Jane Irwin - Events ManagerKaren Hoey - Events Co-ordinatorPeter Morrow - Managing DirectorAnne Jamison - Events Director

Award Ceremonies and Gala Dinners

Northern Ireland Tourist Board Meet the Buyer Workshop

Annual, Northern Ireland

The Brief

This prestigious landmark event in the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s inbound tourism agenda has been running for the past 18 years. Large numbers of international tour operators descend upon the province each year to experience what Northern Ireland has to offer! Morrow Communications have successfully delivered a world class, showcase event for more than seven years. 

The format of the programme is to incorporate two social evenings in keeping with the local area or one of NITB’s ‘Winning Themes’ alongside the underlying objective – the buyer/supplier workshop appointments. Year on year we are presented with the challenge of delivering something unique and innovative – a difficult task given how high we continually set the bar for ourselves!

The Event

Here is a selection of highlights from the workshops over the years:

2003 - Gala Dinner, St George’s Market, Belfast was transformed into an interactive ‘local’ craft and food village and marquee for dinner and entertainment.

2004 - Gala Dinner, Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh – A guided walk through an old Ulster street, before setting sail to America and finishing with a Guinness and a Ceildh in the traditional ‘farmhouse’ style marquee.

 2005 - Gala Dinner, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum – Arriving in style on the old steam train the guests were wowed by the Irish Rail Collection Gallery which transformed into a fabulous location for an evening of fine food and wine with entertainment from impressive silk trapeze artistes, the Ulster Orchestra and traditional Irish dancers.

2006 - Social Evening, Titanic Drawing Rooms – This year truly was a welcome reception with a difference! In keeping with maritime heritage of NITB’s key themes guests were treated to a reception in the Drawing rooms of Titanic Quarter, which were completely transformed to reflect the Great hall of the HMS Titanic herself.  Entertainment proved to be a highlight with Belfast’s Operatic Society who performed excerpts from ‘Titanic The Musical’.

2007 - Gala Dinner, National Trust Castle Ward – In the heart of St Patrick’s country, our guests enjoyed a private tour of Castle Ward House and the many period styles it displayed. The lawn in front of the house was adorned with a Victorian style marquee to host our guests for an evening of elaborate dining and entertainment. 

2008 - Gala Dinner, The Old Beech Hill Distillery – Raising a toast to Bushmills Distillery’s 400 year anniversary, we transformed our marquee in the grounds of the historic Beech Hill Country House Hotel into The Old Beech Hill Distillery – bedecked with wooden barrels, lanterns, peat burning stoves and lace table runners. In Cognito entertainment of US Marines and The Quiet Men mingled and wowed guests with their unique rendition of Danny Boy. The Cottage Ceildh Band had the crowd on their feet dancing well into the night.

2008 - Farewell Dinner, The Guildhall, Derry – What better venue than the jewel of the City – The Guildhall.  After visiting the Derry City and Spanish Armada exhibitions at the Tower Museum our guests were greeted by Monks of the Dark order, Flamethrowers and a lone piper to welcome them into the Guildhall. The transformation of this regal setting into a warm, cosy and fabulous gala venue using subtle lighting techniques and table dressing was a real coup – even the Mayor of Derry had never seen it look so good!  The entertainment programme totally blew the guests away with a one off performance of Londonderry Air from the Codetta Choir accompanied by Europe’s oldest working organ! The evening drew to a suitably spectacular close with a performance by internationally renowned local legend Gay MacIntyre and his jazz quartet.

 

The Results

Our client testimonials speak for themselves:

“You did it! Thank you so much for pulling out all the stops. You worked like true professionals to pull off a world class event.  The applause was rapturous and well deserved.  Take credit that you helped Northern Ireland tourism reach this milestone. Thank you.”

(Gillian Magee, NITB, 2004)

“Just a quick note to thank you and the team at Morrows for the hard work and attention to detail that went into ensuring that the NI Tourism Workshop was such a success. The whole event was a resounding success from start to finish, although I think the Gala evening in the Folk Park really closed the event in style.. It will be difficult to top this next year! Thanks again for all your help...”

(Dawn Hewitt, NITB, 2005)

"My sincere thanks to the Morrows team for your commitment and tireless efforts which were fundamental in ensuring the success of the Meet the Buyer Workshop in Derry. For the past number of years we have worked closely with Morrow Communications on the workshop and coming up with a new concept and feel for the event each year has been a challenge which has been met by your team enthusiastically and successfully. I look forward to the 2009 event and hope that we can continue to work together to produce events which showcase the best of Northern Ireland in an innovative and creative way.”

(Dawn Hewitt, NITB, 2008)

“I just wanted to congratulate your team on a professionally executed and well organised event.  Both evening events were superb, as was the workshop itself. I worry every year that we’re not going to be able to think about how we ‘reinvent’ ourselves but somehow your team manage to pull it off effortlessly. The Morrows team are an absolute pleasure to work with, and nothing is ever too much trouble – they also have a great knack of being able to come up with solutions to any problem, however large or small.  They worked tirelessly to ensure everything was perfect and it was, so a big thank you to Morrows for a job well done.”

(Ruth Burns, NITB, 2008)

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