Thousands of people have witnessed the historic talks and teaching of His Holiness The Dalai Lama at Nottingham Arena.
Over 37,000 tickets were sold for the five day event between Saturday 24th and Wednesday 28th May 2008.
The huge Arena itself was used for the fascinating talks which covered issues ranging from ‘Bringing Meaning to our Lives’ and ‘Caring for Our World’.
The rest of the building was utilised for bookstores and exhibitions and speciality food outlets were created by our in-house caterers.
Jane Rasch from the Dharma Network said:“The five days of teachings in the Nottingham Arena comprised the most extensive series of teachings ever given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the United Kingdom.
“Dharma Network was delighted with the response of the audience – and how readily the Arena and its staff coped with such an extraordinary event.
“Over 12,200 people were able to hear the Dalai Lama as he shared his thoughts on the way we live our lives, and gave an in-depth analysis of the Buddhist texts.
Jane added: “The Sunday afternoon dance performance by children from local schools was a moving and dramatic presentation, bringing the Nottingham community into touch with His Holiness in a truly unique way.
“We felt that Nottingham had taken the Dalai Lama to their hearts, and hope that His wisdom lives on in the city in the future.”
The event was a huge success for the city as well with thousands of people from the UK and all over the world visiting Nottingham for the first time.
Julie Warren, Sales and Marketing Director at Nottingham Arena said: “We’re delighted the event was such a success for everyone involved.
“From our point of view it was fantastic to be organising such a prestigious event – pulling everything together from the speciality catering to the bespoke website we created for the programme. We went that extra mile to ensure that everyone could relax and enjoy the teachings.
“Many of the city’s hotels were fully booked, the car parks, buses and trams were all well used and business appeared to be booming in many restaurants and cafes. This event will have had a very positive impact on Nottingham’s economy.”
