Conference celebrates 20 years of Quest
The sport and leisure industry’s leading quality scheme will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at the fifth annual Quest & NBS Conference next February.
The one-day event will take place on Thursday 26th February 2015 at Holywell Park, Loughborough, and is open to anyone interested in Quest and NBS, whether you are already in the scheme, just signed up or are simply considering it.
As well as celebrating Quest’s achievements over the last two decades, the conference will look to the future, with a focus on the continued rollout of Quest 2014 and the launch of a new online platform for NBS, which will see both its data collection and reporting systems become fully web-based.
There will updates from Sport England, Quest and NBS, while high-profile industry speakers will include Tara Dillon, interim chief operating officer of CIMPSA, and Martyn Allison, chair of the Quest Board and national advisor for culture and sport with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).
Caroline Constantine, Quest operations director, said: “Having been involved with Quest for the last 18 years, I am over the moon that the scheme has survived the ups and downs of economic recession and huge change across the leisure industry. But although sports and leisure facilities today look and feel very different from when Quest started, the nerves of going through a Quest assessment have not changed.
“Our conferences, benchmarking days and wider support network are there to reduce this stress and help centres and teams achieve the very best results – and this year, we are especially looking forward to celebrating Quest’s contribution to the massive improvements we have seen in the industry over the last 20 years.”
During the afternoon, delegates will have the opportunity to participate in three of six possible workshops, on topics ranging from accident trends to the changing landscape of public sector leisure in 2015; understanding the language of health; and digital marketing trends, content and conversions.
Mike Hill, NBS scheme director, will also run a workshop on how to create and keep Promoters (loyal customers). He said: “We’re very excited to tell people about our new online platform, which will allow sites – along with their head offices and clients – to see even more clearly how they perform against a range of industry benchmarks and family groups, and ultimately to make improvements that can have a real impact on the success of their business.”
Over the course of the day, both Quest and NBS will present awards to the centres and sports development teams that performed particularly well in their assessments during 2014. Quest awards will also go to any centre or team that has been participating in the scheme for 10 years, as well as to outstanding assessors and mystery visitors.
Tickets cost £60 plus VAT per person, including lunch, and all delegates will receive a copy of the new Quest 2014 handbook. Places are limited so early booking is advised. To book a place at the event, visit: questnbs.org/news-quest/196-conference-2015
Ahead of the February conference, Quest and NBS will also be holding their second annual Sport Development Benchmarking Seminar at Holywell Park, Loughborough, on Tuesday 13 January. Speakers will include Carl Bennett, senior health improvement specialist at Stoke on Trent City Council, and Adrian Hurst, community manager at Stoke City Football Club. To book a place at the event, please contact Jenny Hawtin on 01582 840078 or jenny.hawtin@questnbs.org
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For further information contact:
Rhianon Howells at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel: 01727 834629
Mob: 07967 551142
Email: rhianon@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk
Editor’s notes:
Quest is the UK Quality Scheme for Sport and Leisure. It is a tool for continuous improvement, designed primarily for the management of leisure facilities and leisure development. Quest defines industry standards and good practice and encourages their ongoing development and delivery within a customer focused management framework.
The National Benchmarking Service (NBS) provides critical data on the performance of your leisure facility. Leisure-net Solutions, in partnership with Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, work on behalf of Sport England to provide a seamless, rigorous and valuable collection and analysis of participation, financial and customer satisfaction data. For more information, visit questnbs.org.
