The Brighton Centre has become the first purpose-built convention centre to support the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers' (ABPCO) Conference Cloud campaign, which calls for free Wi-Fi for conference delegates. The campaign - which launched in August last year - has so far secured 138 venue sites that will offer Wi-Fi free of charge.

This comes on the heels of the recent M&IT 2012 European Convention Centre Price Survey that showed only 50 per cent of European convention centres offer the service, despite event planners claiming it is an essential item.

In January this year, The Brighton Centre unveiled its improvements after a two-year renovation project that saw the replacement of more than 4,000 seats in auditorium 1, the refurbishment of auditorium 2, enhanced meeting facilities and the modernisation of existing interiors.

ABPCO chair Michael Foreman commented: “Despite debate agreeing that there was a need for basic free Wi-Fi, many larger venues are still hesitant in offering it.  The Brighton Centre has demonstrated a clear understanding of the way the industry is moving and the need to support delegates in leveraging new technologies to enhance events.”

Penny Parker, Brighton Centre’s business and communications manager, added: “Our new, free Wi-Fi does just that. Connected to a 100MB fibre feed, it gives business-class upload and download speeds throughout the venue.”