Families in Birmingham can meet Santa for free as part of the first-ever Christmas celebrations at Millennium Point.
Three Santa Family Day events will be held in our atrium across the festive season under a 39-foot artificial tree, which is one of the biggest in the city and will be brought to life by more than 23,000 LED lights.
Each child will get to meet Santa, receive a gift and the opportunity to have their photo taken, as well as enjoying children’s entertainment provided for each of the days.
The family days form part of a series of events and activities to mark Christmas at Millennium Point, which will be more visible than usual for visitors approaching Grand Central station thanks to a major lighting project set to illuminate the side of the building.
Rebecca Delmore, Commercial Director at Millennium Point, said: “As this is the first time we have used our fantastic building to properly celebrate Christmas, we want families in Birmingham to come and see what we are all about.
“Aside from being a major venue in the city, we are also a charitable trust and are constantly working with our community to give back.
“Christmas is the perfect time to reach out to more people than ever before, we are inviting families to come along and meet Santa for free, have a photo taken and receive a gift.
“We have brought in one of the biggest trees in the city and will be lighting up the side of our building, we want to make this first Christmas celebration special and use it as a building block for future years.”
The Family Day events will take place on December 8th, 13th and 19th, with various musical, craft and festive events to be announced over the coming weeks.
To book a meet and greet with Santa, and see what else is happening, at Millennium Point, visit: www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/christmas but be quick as there are limited spaces available for each day. Tickets are timed and there will be a small queue during your slot allocation.
As a STEM charity, we love anything science, tech, engineering and maths – so you can imagine our faces lit up with child-like glee when we heard it was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission this week!
In true Millennium Point style, we knew we had to celebrate one of the biggest achievements of the 20th century. We recruited our very own MP astronaut; you may know him, it was the wonderful Mat from the Marketing team; suiting up in the name of STEM.
From Millennium point we took one small step rather than a giant leap into Birmingham City centre to talk to the public about our fantastic events spaces and the Millennium Point Trust (we’re a charity, just in case you didn’t know) and last year alone donated £4.8 million back into STEM Projects in the West Midlands region. (Read about our small grants programme here).
Our astronaut’s day began by landing in our own auditorium, a whopping 350 seater space with a giant screen (many Brummies’ fondly remember it as the old IMAX theatre) – a space that’s perfect for film screenings, award ceremonies, conferences, lectures and AGM’s . We’ll be hosting the Birmingham Film Festival here in November. We then boldly went where many have gone before and headed down to platform. Connected directly to the auditorium with its own private bar, Platform is the perfect place for a party – time to bust some moves, moon walk anyone?
After a quick stop to see our friends over at Thinktank to check out their newly refurbished 4k planetarium and find out about their Moon Landing Party on Saturday 20th July, we caught the closest capsule into the city centre for a tour of Birmingham’s landmarks; stopping for selfies along the way.
It was great to get out, meet everyone and put the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission on the radar of Birmingham.
We even got to hear a few stories from people who’d witnessed the launch first hand – one lovely lady out with her grandchild told us how she’d watched it at home with her mother and another lady recalling watching the launch and moon landing at school – the teachers wheeled in a TV and the class shared the momentous moment together!
If you grabbed a selfie with our astronaut we’d love to see it, tag us on social or share a story of your Apollo mission memory.
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We’re excited to announce we’ve been awarded AIM accreditation by the Meetings Industry Association (mia).
Aim accreditation is the UK’s only recognised quality standard for the meetings industry. To achieve this our facilities and services had to pass a stringent quality assurance assessment, which means that when you book our spaces you can be confident that we will do everything possible to reach and exceed your high standards.
Rebecca Delmore, Commercial Director, Millennium Point, said: “It’s fantastic testament to the highly experienced and dedicated team at Millennium Point that we have secured national AIM accreditation as it provides buyers a benchmark of the highest standard. We appreciate that it can sometimes be overwhelming as there are so many things to consider when planning an event from location to catering, photography, speakers, delegates and marketing. However, with our AIM accreditation, buyers can immediately feel confident they are working with dedicated and experienced professionals.”
Jane Longhurst, chief executive, the mia said: “We’re delighted that Millennium Point is the latest venue to secure AIM accreditation. The iconic status acts as a guarantee to buyers that they’re choosing a service provider that cares about best practice and actively strives to meet and exceed your expectations. With so many dedicated conference centres and hotels, sporting and academic venues to choose from nationwide, it offers a smart method to quality control your selections that could ultimately save you time, anxiety and reputational risk later down the line.”
If you’d like to talk to a member of our events team about holding your next event at Millennium Point, give them a call on 0121 202 2200 or email [email protected].
The list of speakers for DIDFest 2019 Finale Party have been announced and they’re a great mix of professional from across the digital/tech industry!
Following four weeks of 50 outstanding events across Birmingham with over 1,000 attendees #DIDFest2019 wraps up with a celebratory closing party at Millennium Point in Birmingham City Centre. Whether you attended any events or not as part of the festival this event will give you valuable insight, skills and tools to help you grow in digital and tech.
Meet the speakers
Dr. Charlotte Webb, co-founder of the Feminist Internet & Founding Director of Even
Nominated by the Evening Standard as one of the most influential people in Technology and Science in London in 2018 Dr. Webb has been featured by a wide range of media platforms and presented at TedX, Internet Age Media and Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity among many others.
Co-founder of the Feminist Internet, an ambitious non-profit advancing internet equalities for women and other marginalised groups through creative, critical practice and Founding Director of Even, an ethical tech consultancy that brings Feminist Internet intelligence to brands and businesses; Dr Webb brings a wealth of knowledge of the industry to DIDFest 2019.
https://twitter.com/otheragent?lang=en-gb | https://twitter.com/feministintrnet
Mac Alonge, CEO of The Equal Group
Over the last 10 years, Mac has worked with and for some of the world’s largest private and public sector organisations, including the likes of KPMG, National Grid, Capita and the Scottish and UK governments. Throughout his career, Mac has observed that there are numerous barriers within the workplace that prevent organisations from truly reaping the benefits that come from embracing greater levels of equality, diversity and inclusion. Mac’s mission is to ensure that the current generation leaves a legacy whereby equality and inclusion are the new ‘norm’ and differences are respected and valued.
“As we move towards being a digital economy, the digital sector will be responsible for shaping how we live our lives in the medium to long term – diversity in digital is imperative to ensuring that our future is more inclusive and representative than our past and indeed our current. Diversity and inclusion is a job for all of us!”
https://twitter.com/theequalgroup | https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-equal-group
Ria Blagburn, Team Integrator at Vanti and MD of GrowBeyond
Ria Blagburn spent the first decade of her career in marketing, during which she founded her own company and won the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year award for Marketing and Communications. Ria changed focus in 2019 to apply her skills in a new way at technology company Vanti. As Team Integrator, Ria supports and coordinates activities and resources on a day-to-day basis, whilst also designing and implementing processes that will help Vanti’s Service team to scale in line with the wider company strategy. A passionate champion of causes she believes in, Ria has chaired committees for Silicon Canal and BPS Birmingham Future, and has recently launched Birmingham Future’s newest committee to promote diversity and inclusion within the city’s professional services sector.
https://twitter.com/riaface?lang=en-gb | https://www.linkedin.com/in/riablagburn/
Genea Lynch, Digital Director at Exhibit Interactive
Genea Lynch is a stand designer turned App Developer. She specialises in creating applications in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
https://twitter.com/GeneaLynch?lang=en-gb | https://www.linkedin.com/in/genea-lynch-b501464a/
More information to follow, so keep checking this blog for updates!
To book your tickets, click here.
In a galaxy not so far away – in fact, just a 15 minute walk from New Street station and 5 minutes from the new Primark – Millennium Point was taken over by the good, the bad and the bantha fodder of the Star Wars universe.
On Saturday 4th May, to celebrate Star Wars Day, Millennium Point became the Galactic Senate, as characters from the movies took over all of our event spaces for their Galactic Summit.
CONNECT
After a brief welcome, Lord Vader was making full use of the wireless presentation facilities in Connect with his ‘How to aim’ workshop – with a practical demonstration next door in the Connect Conference suite. There’s enough space for 120 delegates, then there’s definitely enough space for a little target practice. Rey was brought in as a consultant on the workshop following plummeting numbers in the Empire’s monthly happiness survey, which mostly sited Lord Vader and Kylo Ren as horrible bosses.
ATRIUM
Things got a little tense when Rey ran into Kylo, it’s a good job there’s plenty of space in our Atrium – so much that you can even park a Millennium Falcon (or other space ship) here, great if you’re looking to show off the latest model in a public space!
AUDITORIUM
Heroes & villains alike set aside their differences over popcorn to test out the giant screen. Those Stormtroopers, they’re so vain! Any excuse to watch themselves. I’m sure they would have preferred it to be filled out to its 350 capacity, but oh well boys – maybe for The Rise of Skywalker?
*Spoiler alert* Darth Vader is Luke’s farther!
PLATFORM
After the workshop in Connect and film in the Auditorium everyone was ready for a drink at the Cantina. Platform is just a few steps from our giant screen and presentation space, with a built-in-bar that overlooks the vibrant bustle of our central ATRIUM. If you held a party, workshop or performance here, you can be sure the space is exclusively for you, as this space isn’t open to members of the public.
Word gets around fast of the visit, as fans couldn’t resist getting a selfie or two outside ThinkTank.
After a jam-packed day of events around Millennium Point, it was time for the Galactic Summit to finish.
If you’re looking for a venue to hold your next event and would like to take a tour of our spaces, give our lovely events team a call on 0121 202 2200 or email [email protected].
Laura Avis, 17, from Redditch, was last night (March 27th) named as the winner of this year’s Millennium Point Trust Scholarship programme.
Laura, who is set to begin studying Film Production Technology at the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment at Birmingham City University (BCU), secured a fully paid-for degree, after presenting to a panel of top industry judges and a captive audience during a live final event at Millennium Point.
Laura said: “Winning the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship programme is a dream come true and I’m so grateful to be given this incredible opportunity to kickstart my career.
“It’s important that young people are aware of the wide range of exciting STEM-related careers that are available to them and I am keen to tackle the misconceptions surrounding the subject. My chosen degree course is a proven example of this as it combines the art of film with the intricate technical detail that is also required in this line of work, and I can’t wait to get started.
“I’m very proud of all the other finalists. They are all so passionate about their chosen subjects and I wish them the very best of luck in their careers in the future.”
We’d like to say a huge congratulations to all of the finalists on this year’s Scholarship programme. The level of passion for their chosen topic, as well as the knowledge and enthusiasm that was shown on the night, was phenomenal – not to mention the courage that is needed to stand on stage and present to a panel of five industry leaders. There is no doubt that all five of these talented individuals have very bright futures ahead of them.
It’s an amazing thing to witness first-hand the growing interest in STEM among young people. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest back into the West Midlands and support STEM-related projects so we can raise awareness of the vast array of exciting and innovative careers available to the next generation of leaders. We’ll be working with all of the finalists to secure them opportunities to start their career as well as Laura’s degree funded through the Millennium Point Trust.
The scholarship programme, now in its fifth year, saw a record number of applicants, with almost 100 young people applying for 2019 –the highest entry level in the scholarship’s history.
The flagship initiative from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust is fully funded by the charity, which in 2018 invested more than £4.8m in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives, based in the West Midlands.
The finalists also included Jerome Adrien, 19, from Birmingham, who has applied for Automotive Engineering; Moses Mbikayi Mukendi, 17, from Coventry, who has chosen Computer Games Technology; Caitlin Cooper, 17, from Wolverhampton, who wants to study Computer Forensics; and Feargus Flanagan, 17, from Wolverhampton, who is looking to pursue Music Technology. All finalists will continue to receive support as part of the wider Scholarship programme.
The judges were:
- Liz Mercuri – a computer games programmer, Liz is Technical Evangelist at Unity Technologies and former BAFTA Young Games Designers Mentor.
- Hala Lloyd – lead architect at HS2 in Birmingham, Hala studied for her postgraduate diploma in Architecture at BCU.
- Simon Cox – Head of investigations at BBC Arabic and global journalism consultant.
- Gavin Wade – director of Eastside Projects in Digbeth, Gavin is an award-winning artist-curator, and a producer and curator of world-class public art, exhibition making, writing, and publishing.
- Professor Hanifa Shah – Executive Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment at Birmingham City University (BCU). She has held positions in Computing and Engineering departments at Aston, Staffordshire and Birmingham City University, and a Visiting Professorship at Manchester University. She also has several years’ industry experience, including at BT, Cadbury Schweppes and Britvic.
Applications for the 2020 Millennium Point Charitable Trust Scholarship open in September this year.
For more information on the Millennium Point Scholarship Project, please get in touch with our scholarship team.
Industry experts from the worlds of journalism, gaming, architecture and art are among the impressive panel of judges for this year’s Millennium Point Trust Scholarship.
A shortlist of five young people will present to the judges at a live final on March 27th, hoping to secure the funding for a fully paid-for degree, from a choice of courses at the faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment at Birmingham City University (BCU).
The judges are:
- Liz Mercuri, a computer games programmer, Liz is Technical Evangelist at Unity Technologies and former BAFTA Young Games Designers Mentor.
- Hala Lloyd who is the lead architect at HS2 in Birmingham, Hala studied for her postgraduate diploma in Architecture at BCU.
- Professor Hanifa Shah, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment at Birmingham City University (BCU). She has held positions in Computing and Engineering departments at Aston, Staffordshire and BCU, and a Visiting Professorship at Manchester University. She also has several years’ industry experience, including BT, Cadbury Schweppes and Britvic.
- Simon Cox, Head of investigations at BBC Arabic and global journalism consultant.
- Gavin Wade, director of Eastside Projects in Digbeth, Gavin is an award-winning artist-curator, and a producer and curator of world-class public art, exhibition making, writing, and publishing.
The quality of judges rightly reflects the scholarship’s growing standing in the West Midlands and the wider community in science, tech, engineering and maths. This month’s final promises to be a fantastic showcase of the region’s emerging talent, and we are delighted to have Liz, Hala, Simon and Gavin on our panel.
The scholarship programme, now in its fifth year, is the flagship initiative from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, and is fully funded by the charity, which in 2018 invested more than £4.8m in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives, based in the West Midlands.
Almost 100 people applied for 2019 – a year-on-year increase and the highest entry level in the scholarship’s history. The first scholarship winner, Malik Sheryar Karamt, graduated in July 2018 with first-class honours in Mechanical Engineering.
If your business is interested in attending the live final then please visit our Eventbrite page.
Exactly twelve months ago today, I was standing on the Promenade of Millennium Point’s Southside entrance with my fellow executive team members, looking out at a crowd of people gathered waiting expectantly for HRH Prince Harry and his then soon-to-be-wife Meghan Markle to arrive. Whilst this was a once in a life time moment for us, the real pride came from hosting an event that would truly inspire the young women of the West Midlands; my inner hope was that it would become a catalyst for change.
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust approached Stemettes, a social enterprise encouraging girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), to host an inspirational women’s panel at Millennium Point to mark International Women’s Day and our guests would be young girls from a number of schools across the West Midlands.
However, what struck me most on the day, was that whilst the whole world was focused on the Royals, the girls were clearly focussed on learning about the opportunities available to them in the world of STEM. Having had the opportunity to speak directly to some of these young women I can truly say I was inspired by their passion and how they embraced every opportunity presented. At a point in their lives where they are making decisions which will impact both their route in to work and adult life, I was in awe of the maturity and sheer grit and determination to succeed.
In the twelve months since that remarkable day, our charitable trust has facilitated a number of projects and events which continue to encourage young girls to pursue STEM careers, and through these I have had the opportunity, and pleasure, to attend and learn more about the challenges and drivers for girls wanting to pursue STEM.
When we funded and hosted Monster Confidence in November, we found that the most common challenges amongst girls aged 15 were the lack of female role models in STEM industries, male dominated environments, lack of support and knowledge from parents and the inner voice that simply says, “I didn’t know girls could do that”. Overall, there was a common thread of anxiety amongst girls when it came to the thought of pursuing a career within STEM industries like computing and engineering. However, what I witnessed that day were girls finally realising that a STEM career was not only within their grasp but also incredibly creative. At that point, I found myself reminiscing about my school days and wishing I had been inspired in this way.
There is a reason why events like this are important; there is currently a shortfall of some 173,000 skilled STEM workers in the UK, with women occupying a mere 23% of roles in STEM industries. It’s no wonder that girls aren’t connecting with the industry; they are simply not seeing the great work being done by women in STEM every day. At Millennium Point we are trying to reverse this perception.
I have met some truly inspiring women this year and one of those is Faye Pressly, Chief Operating Officer of tech company Vanti. Faye presented to over 130 school girls at another event we hosted back in December called #GirlTechBrum, the brain child of a fantastic organisation called the Ahead Partnership. Faye not only opened my eyes to the vast amount opportunities available in STEM but also the high level of creativity needed in these careers; challenging a common misconception held by many. Faye is a perfect role model for young women and her enthusiasm for the industry is infectious. Hopefully, women like Faye will help reverse the increasing trend of female students leaving STEM because they feel the industries are still geared towards the male stereotype.
“Social belongingness”, essentially a tribe culture and seeing people which you can relate to in roles, classes and subjects becomes increasingly important during teenage years, and there is a clear link to mental health issues, for girls and boys, when this isn’t present. Anxiety is a real problem amongst our young people and figures show that it’s on the rise in Birmingham, affecting 58% of young people according to Brum Youth Trends. Figures also showed that 70% of those respondents who reported feeling “anxious all the time” were female. With job prospects, studying and aspirations shown as having the biggest impact on mental health, I hope that these events at Millennium Point are going some way to target and eradicate these anxieties.
As a female CEO, in an organisation with a high percentage of women in senior positions, it is my duty to ensure that we continue to champion women in STEM and continue to support organisations and initiatives which develop skills and confidence in girls. After all, these young women are the next generation of leaders in the West Midlands and I cannot wait to see their achievements. In the words of Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, “I feel really grateful to the people who encouraged me and helped me develop. Nobody can succeed on their own.”
Abbie Vlahakis, Interim CEO Millennium Point and Millennium Point Trust.
If you’d like to talk more to us about our work championing STEM education and careers for young people drop us a line.
Millennium Point Trust is a charity supporting science, tech, engineering and maths projects and initiatives across the West Midlands. Funded by the commercial activity and events held in our building we’re proud to be supporting #internationalwomensday2019.
After a record number of applications, Five West Midlands-based students have been shortlisted as finalists in this year’s Millennium Point Trust Scholarship programme.
Hoping to secure our fully paid-for degree in partnership Birmingham City University (BCU) faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, the shortlisted candidates will present on issues hindering the growth of the West Midlands in relation to their chosen subjects, to a panel of top industry judges and a captive audience during a live event at Millennium Point on March 27th.
The shortlisted candidates include Jerome Adrien, 19, from Birmingham, who has applied for Automotive Engineering; Laura Jane Avis, 17, from Redditch, who hopes to study Film Production Technology; Moses Mbikayi Mukendi, 17 from Coventry, who has chosen Computer Games Technology; Caitlin Cooper, 17, from Wolverhampton, who wants to study Computer Forensics; and Feargus Flanagan, 17, from Wolverhampton, who is looking to pursue Music Technology.
This year we’ve seen the highest number of applications for the scholarship to date, so shortlisting Jerome, Laura, Moses, Caitlin and Feargus was a really tough job. The sheer quality of applications, number of entrants and the variety of courses chosen really highlights the growing interest in STEM (science, engineering, engineering and mathematics) subjects and the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship itself.
The scholarship programme, now in its fifth year, is the flagship initiative from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust and is fully funded by the charity in partnership with Birmingham City University. In 2018 our charitable trust invested more than £4.8m in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives, based in the West Midlands.
As event planners look ahead to 2019, what are the key considerations they should have at the front of their mind when researching suitable venues?
We asked our Commercial Director, Rebecca Delmore, to list five things which every event organiser should bear in mind.
ONE – LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY
The adage ‘location, location, location’ still holds true…a central location with good transport links goes a long way to helping your event to run smoothly. It means delegates and speakers can find the venue with minimum stress and are more likely to arrive on time. Millennium Point is close to the City Centre, with on-site parking and excellent transport links to trains, tram and busses so it makes us quite popular for conferences and big events. Try to find somewhere that’s straightforward for the majority of your guests to reach.
TWO – COST
Whatever the size of the organisation booking the events space, cost will be a deciding factor. As well as the headline cost, it’s worth being aware of any little extras which might pop up from the small print, such as car parking fees, Wi-Fi, refreshments etc. Choose a venue that has a clear, simple pricing policy, and if you’re not sure – ask!
THRE – CAPACITY
Whether you’re expecting 10 people or 500 at your event, finding somewhere that’s the right size is a must – as well as a venue that’s able to flex into various configurations. For example, Millennium Point has a variety of spaces, from small 5 person meeting rooms in CONNECT to our 350-seat AUDITORIUM which makes us more appealing for clients.
FOUR – ACCOMMODATION
If delegates are travelling a fair distance to your event, or it’s running over a number of days, accommodation is essential – whether it’s on-site or close at hand. It will mean that not only will your event run more smoothly – visitors are less likely to arrive late – but attendees will have more opportunity to rest and relax after a busy day. It also doesn’t hurt to ask the host venue if they can recommend accommodation, as they might have preferential rates or packages with certain hotels.
FIVE – TECHNICAL AND DESIGN
How good is the AV? Check whether or not the venue you’re considering has built-in audio-visual equipment and technical crew for set-up, or whether you need to take your own. In terms of aesthetics, you want your chosen venue to look contemporary, but it may need to suit the tastes of a wide age range of delegates; the look and feel need to not only project the right brand image but also be appropriate for your target audience.
So there you have it – 5 top tips to consider when booking your next event.
Ready to book an event?
With a range of versatile and flexible public and private events space, Millennium Point’s experienced team are on hand to help deliver your event. Whether you’re hosting a banquet, showcasing your new product, holding a conference, having a party or delivering a high-profile presentation, here you can do it all. Plus, a percentage of your booking will fund its charitable work supporting science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects and initiatives across the region. Get in touch with our event team today by email or by calling 0121 202 2200
