MxD Digital

This review is specific to renting these facilities for a conference.First and foremost, it should be made known in advance to all considering this facility, that this venue is located directly next to a waste dump and it smells terribly at certain points through out the day. This was never mentioned until we set up and asked why it smelled so awful.Communication with this team is extremely challenging. Lovely people but professionally not what you would expect in relation to communication in sourcing and the build up to the event. Slow responses and decision making time consuming.Senior individuals that make final decisions seem to lack any vision in relation to strategic collaboration. They prefer to seperate conference rental space and finances to one division, and then you are approached by their marketing division who ask to be part of your event for free to promote their Lab. In theory, they should work together to come up with a proposal that benefits their business development interests and the conference organiser (reduced venue costs and free Lab tours in exchange for visibility on the event) or MXD should sponsor.The MXD marketing team wanted to charge us more for the opportunity of a tour, which would have ultimately benefitted MXD from a business development perspective. Odd. On top we were also asked if they could take photos of our conference for their own use and they also wanted a speaking slot on our conference to discuss the lab-- All for free.We informed them all was possible for a reduced venue price, free lab tours and or simple sponsorship. All was declined.We spoke with their one of their industry sector directors to ask about partnerships hoping someone with such authority in the organsation would have more influence. Sadly this person informed us they had no influence on marketing and financial decision making. I would state this individual did enter our event during networking times to greet a government official they knew, without permission or the respect of asking us in advance. This appears to be the way they work. Pay us, and also let us take advantage of your hard work while your here. (?!)Considering they charge almost as much as a business venue like the Hyatt or Marriott, failing to inform you in advance they are located directly next to a waste dump and then attempt to utilise your hard work to promote their services, is completely unacceptable and we would not recommend this venue.On a positive note: They have a quiet room which is fantastic, and their auditorium styled breakout room was very nice.They were kind enough to let us set up the day before free. This is not an unusual practice, but considering how over priced Chicago is on top of the above, it was a blessing.Associated vendors: You have to use their preferred catering company. We ran out of food on one of the days. We expected there to be more than enough food as normally in the US the portions are very large and food goes to waste. The catering company was extremely expensive, amounts of food not what we expected and overall financially make the investment in this venue untenable.We hope this review helps others considering this as a conference facility as we would have greatly benefitted had others that have used it expressed their experience. Unforatunately many event organisers don't share their experiences as they prefer their competitors to struggle.We believe 3rd party vendors/suppliers should be reviewed and held accountable where appropriate. "

Great "