The first of Manchester Central's Incubator events, The Northern Sustainability Summit (NSS), welcomed business leaders from across the North to discuss the importance of sustainability within business.
The one-day event consisted of an exhibition and a series of panel sessions and 'lightening talks' which all took place on the main stage throughout the day. Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, gave an address and there were speakers from organisations including National Trust, Chester Zoo and Auto Trader.
The panel discussions were designed to help businesses at all stages of their sustainability journeys, covering topics such as hospitality, transport and achieving Net Zero.
The event organisers wanted to not only cover the topic of sustainability, but also deliver the event in a sustainable way. One area the Manchester Central team were able to support on this was via the available catering options. An entirely vegan retail catering area was set up within Exchange Hall serving a range of sandwiches, salads and snacks.
Entering Manchester Central's Incubator Programme, which aims to support businesses in shaping new and unique events, gave the Elevate team the opportunity to hold an event on a much larger scale than they could have achieved alone, and the additional support meant they were able to test out new ideas. In addition, Elevate were able to pass on this support and offered ten small businesses and charities the chance to exhibit at the event for free, getting their products and services in front of a high-profile business audience.
This event was a big learning curve for us as a small team and the Manchester Central team were with us every step of the way to provide guidance and support our ambitions. The team on the day were all professional and attentive, putting our minds at rest as we had 100 things to think about!
Manchester Central was a dream venue for us as our values, particularly around sustainability and inclusion, are closely aligned and the venue’s professional reputation provided a level of credibility to our event that helped us secure speakers and sponsors.
Jess Pomfret
Operations Manager, Elevate
