11.2% growth in our MD's first year!

Matthew Hutchings has celebrated his first anniversary as Managing Director of The Derby Conference Centre. His first year in charge has marked some big changes here at The DCC, with his leadership taking us from strength to strength.

Matt started his career in hospitality at the age of 16. Since then, he’s opened two hotels and, after taking the reins from Mike Ebbitt in 2018, has changed the way the public see The DCC. Since his takeover, he has overseen a sleek new rebrand and orchestrated £270,000 worth of renovations. These efforts have seen our sales grow by 11.2% – giving us one of our most successful years to date.

The initial focus for Matt was our rebrand, which focused on the initials DCC. Diversifying the brand, the change in look-and-feel focused on the six core functions of The Derby Conference Centre. Where before we were known simply for conferences, the repositioning of The DCC brought the other five functions into focus – Hotels, Meetings, Events, Weddings and Offices. In addition, the rebrand brought a new restaurant and lounge to our venue.

Matt has seen in the launch of our DC Comedy club at the start of 2019. The Comedy Club sees comedians from all over the country converge on Derbyshire for outstanding comedy nights. It’s something entirely different to everything else on offer in Derbyshire – and well worth the trip.

We also partnered with OYO Hotels earlier in the year, providing our venue with top-notch accommodation that guests can book through the OYO app. Earlier in the year, we made it as a finalist for Business Venue of the Year at the East Midlands Chamber Awards. Matt has commented that this was his proudest moment as MD – a culmination of the hard work of his whole team:

“Without an amazing team, you can’t deliver exceptional standards and service, and the team here at The Derby Conference Centre is nothing short of amazing. It’s been a fantastic year, and everyone who works here should be incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. Here’s to many more years to come!”

In addition to his work at The DCC, Matt has recently announced his role as a mentor for Springboard GEMS, supporting the University of Derby. As a mentor, he will be coaching a final year student through their last terms at University and into the start of their career.

What a year 2019 has been for our M.D Matt and the entire team at The Derby Conference Centre – and 2020 looks like it’ll be even better. Our main goals for next year include continuing to be a destination of choice for small and medium conferences in the East Midlands, to be a primary weekend conference and leisure destination and to be as competitive as possible in the mid-range hotel market.

Keep an eye on our social media pages in 2020 to see how we get on!