In the late Eighties I managed a group called Shelleyan Orphan who were on Rough Trade in the UK and Columbia in the States. They were often labelled as ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ due to their use of classical strings and harmonies but pigeonholes aside, their music is timeless and still remains unrivalled in its’ beauty and ambition. Check out these videos to see what I mean.

On one trip to America to promote their second album they were met at the airport by the driver of a stretch limo. On a matter of principle they refused to get in, preferring to make the trip into New York in a taxi and I’ve got to admit, that really impressed me.

Occasionally though, there are times when it’s good to do things in style and Don’t Panic are always keen to support local businesses who are passionate about what they do.

Lea Cars are based in Preston and provide chauffer driven classics for weddings, corporate events and special occasions. They have a great range of vehicles including a Bentley, Daimler, Mercedes stretch limo and a very cool white Rolls Royce Corniche convertible.There’s also a cute Morris Minor which even Shelleyan Orphan would have found hard not to fall in love with!

Their website has lots more information including some great testimonials so if you’re ever in need of some special wheels do check them out.

Last Wednesday we managed the Chartered Institute of Marketing's ‘Selling the Dream’ event at Manchester United Football Club. It was certainly the highlight of the CIM’s annual events calendar and attracted a record number of delegates keen to gain an insight into the fast-paced world of sports marketing.

The sign of any great public speaker is the ability to captivate an audience with just their voice and we were fortunate to have two in Neil Morris, Managing Director of Manchester Phoenix Ice Hockey Team and Peter Draper, Marketing Director of MUFC.

Both shared an obvious passion for their respective sports and provided a fascinating overview of the marketing challenges faced by a global sports brand and a team enjoying rapidly growing popularity.

There are a number of conference and corporate hospitality suites at the Old Trafford ground ranging from small meeting rooms to the 1,200 capacity Manchester Suite. The venue also provides free delegate parking and is easily accessible from Manchester city centre by bus, tram or taxi.

For our event we used the Warwick and Trafford suites both of which provide excellent views of the stadium and pitch. The Warwick Suite was used as a drinks reception area and our seminar took place in the Trafford Suite which easily accommodated our 140 delegates cabaret style. The buffet catering was also provided by the club and was highly rated on our delegates feedback forms.

Additionally, the CIM offered an optional tour of the ground prior to the event which needless to say went down extremely well with the two dozen or so delegates who could get out of work that little bit earlier.

More information on the club’s conference and events facilities can be found on the MUFC website's conference pages.

Speakers for the fifth annual CIPR Northern Conference have now been finalised with the addition of third keynote Julia Hobsbawm, Chief Executive of Editorial Intelligence.

Julia joins award winning journalist and Business Editor at the Financial Times, John Willman and financial PR expert Rob Skinner, Chief Press Officer at First Direct, to provide keynote speeches at the one-day event which is being held on Thursday 6 July 2006 at The Carriageworks in Leeds.

In the early 90’s Julia co-founded Hobsbawm Macauley Communications where she coined the phrase ‘integrity PR’ and became renowned for turning away clients her company didn’t believe in.

Two years ago she set up Editorial Intelligence, an information and networking club for the public and private sectors of PR and Journalism. Julia is also London's first Professor of Public Relations and has a strong commitment to making our media more transparent.

Everyone involved is extremely pleased to have Julia on board and believes her insight into the relationship between the media and those working in public relations will be fascinating.

Our company Don’t Panic is event managing the conference and a series of other events on behalf of the CIPR Yorkshire and Lincolnshire group over the coming months.

Additionally we offer all our clients optional in-house design and copy writing which in the case of the Northern Conference has included the electronic brochure for this year’s event. We thought you might like to see two versions of the front page from which the red option was chosen.

The full brochure is downloadable from our website’s news page and the CIPR site. If you'd like to support the conference by putting a banner or button on your blog/website please get in touch

Things are hectic at Don’t Panic as we’re currently in the middle of four events in the span of a week. Two of the events are on behalf of a client in London and despite the heavy schedule we found time last Thursday to have a look around the city and take a trip on the London Eye.

It’s a must do if you’re ever in the capital and well worth the £13 a head price tag.The fact that we had glorious weather was an added bonus and the views across Greater London are simply stunning.

Private capsules can also be hired and there’s a range of hospitality packages to choose from which would be an impressive addition to any corporate events programme. Full details are available on the London Eye website.

If Einstein were alive today he’d probably be a computer programmer and a member of Manchester Digital, the trade association for New Media & IT Companies in our region.

On Wednesday the 7th of June we event managed their ‘Optimising Your Online Presence’ evening seminar at Manchester’s art, architecture and design centre CUBE.

The event attracted a record number of delegates for a Manchester Digital seminar including representatives from many non-member companies keen to receive an insight into search engine optimisation and internet marketing.

The speaker line up was particularly strong with presentations from Clare Johnson, MD of digital marketing company Adoofa, Lawrence Jones, MD of internet service provider UKFast, Heather Hopkins of search data analysis providers Hitwise, and Peter Cobley of Yahoo Search Marketing.

CUBE’s elegant, contemporary style makes it a perfect setting for a Manchester Digital event and Mancunians should be proud that the city is home to such an innovative and varied new media industry. It was good to meet Louis Georgiou of the wonderful Code Computer Love again and fascinating to hear from Carolyn Broomhead of NW Jazzworks that this July’s Manchester Jazz Festival will be using podcasting for the first time.

It was interesting to hear too that self confessed statistics junky Heather Hopkins also contributes to her company’s blog which provides a fascinating insight into internet usage behaviour and also finds time to analyse searches for Wayne Rooney's injury, David Beckham's hairstyle and Peter Crouch's robot dance. As the flag waving hysteria continues to mount it’s worth noting that apparently Big Brother related searches by far eclipse those for our World Cup hopefuls!

We’d highly recommend CUBE’s Seminar Suite for any event you might wish to hold in Manchester city centre. There’s a purpose built reception area at ground floor level and stairs lead down to the suite which is ideal for lectures, launches and presentations for a maximum of 100 delegates seated theatre style.

If you’re looking for a small to medium sized Manchester venue with excellent public transport links and plenty of nearby car parking, CUBE is probably hard to beat.

Finally, a quick thank you to Carl at By Request who provided the catering for the event and made our lives so much easier.