<p>A conference venues consortium in the UK has joined forces with a similar organisation in America in a move which is designed to benefit both parties, reports the Star.</p><p>Venuemasters, based in Sheffield, hopes that working with the US-based Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International (ACCED-I) will help the organisations benefit from experiences and professional development gained on both sides of the Atlantic.</p><p>The Sheffield consortium represents more than 80 different academic venues scattered across the UK and helps them do business by advertising them as event venues and meeting rooms. Collectively, the meeting venues offer accommodation for 120,000 people and can take 1,600 delegates, all of which accounts for yearly revenue of around £2.5 million.</p><p>Similarly, the ACCED-I has a membership of 1,600 individuals scattered across the UK as well as the United States and Canada. Members act as venue finders and arrange to hire conference facilities in academic institutions. </p><p>In other news, the BBC reports figures from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research estimating that the UK economy has declined by one per cent in the three months between September and November.<br/><img alt="ADNFCR-1753-ID-18922683-ADNFCR" src="http://feeds.directnews.co.uk/feedtrack/justcopyright.gif?feedid=1753&it..." /></p>

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