Conference & Events Awards

Recognising and Rewarding Excellence

Awards Awards

Uncategorized

Best Charity Event

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Alzheimer’s Society, Trek26

The Trek26 series was launched in 2017 and consists of 26 or 13 mile trekking routes in locations around the UK. The routes are chosen specifically for their beauty and are designed to be challenging but achievable. From 2018 to 2019 the series increased income by over 100% to £1.6million and in 2022, over 5,000 trekkers took part in the series raising £2.9million.

 

Brandfuel, Bravery in Ukraine

When the Ukraine Embassy to the UK asked Brandfuel to help organise its Bravery in Ukraine fundraiser in April 2022, there was no way we could refuse. Seven million people had been forced to leave Ukraine since war broke out in February, with another eight million displaced or fighting for their homeland.

Our objectives were simple: to raise money and awareness of Ukraine’s plight. What started as a “small fundraising reception” rapidly became a two-floor takeover of Tate Modern for 400 guests with seven immersive installations, a live auction, two VIP speeches, and performances by world-renowned musicians.

Our collaboration with the Kyiv-based Banda agency ensured that the content and context of our installations had an authenticity that was essential if the fundraiser was going to hit its mark. There were many emotional touchpoints – listening to President Zelensky speak amid the disruption of a warzone, the poignancy of the seven installations, and the drama of the auction hosted by the only Ukrainian auctioneer in London.

The run-up to this fundraiser was challenging and frustrating, but its impact was clear. For Brandfuel, it was humbling to realise that our work could help make some difference in such a grave humanitarian crisis.

 

Business in the Community Northern Ireland, The Responsible Business Awards

 The Responsible Business Awards in Northern Ireland – organised by the responsible business network Business in the Community Northern Ireland – is the most prestigious and respected awards event championing responsible business. Now in its 18th year, the Awards celebrate and reward businesses that are going beyond profit to be a force for good. They offer the opportunity for organisations to be recognised for their outstanding contributions to their people, the planet and the places where they operate, and provide a platform for leaders in responsible business to inspire others to follow suit. Businesses are recognised across 12 responsible business categories covering a range of themes including, diversity, wellbeing, climate, technology, collaboration, and community impact, and a top prize is awarded to the NI Responsible Company of the Year. Winners are announced at a glitzy gala event at the ICC Belfast attended by 500 – 600 guests from business, media and local government. It’s not just one night of celebration, the Awards is an eight-month-long integrated campaign where BITC works closely with 15 sponsors and partners to further the responsible business agenda and to make NI a better place to work and live. Delivered in full by an in-house team.

 

London Landmarks Half Marathon

The fifth edition of London Landmarks Half Marathon (LLHM), organised by Tommy’s, took place on 3 April 2022 with over 12,000 runners. Returning to its traditional Spring date following a one-off Summer Special in 2021, the event raised a whopping £7.9m for charity bringing the grand total raised since the inaugural event to an outstanding £31m.

LLHM 2022 took place three days after legal covid restrictions were lifted. Despite this, Tommy’s took the decision to keep some covid measures in place to help runners to feel more safe.

Charity remains at the heart of LLHM, a 100% not for profit event with the number of charities benefiting increasing from 102 in 2018 to 300+ for LLHM 2022.

The event is unlike any other half marathon.  As well as an iconic, central London course, runners experienced ‘The Grand, The Quirky, The Hidden’ of the capital. In total, 363 activations lined the 2022 route, giving runners an experience like no other.

Following LLHM 2022 and five successful years of the LLHM, this gave Tommy’s the platform to launch its second Landmarks event, the London Landmarks Skyscraper Challenge. Like the LLHM, this event was created to benefit both Tommy’s and other charities too.

 

Raise Your Hands

Raise Your Hands support exceptional small charities in the UK through its imagination approach to fund raising. Their charity event Midnight Madness is like a cross between the Da Vinici Code and the Crystal maze, involving 40 actors and actresses and London as the stage. Teams compete with one another throughout the night, solving puzzles to win the Midnight Madness trophy. In the past the team have taken over the Piccadilly lights, had people speeding down the Thames on boats, interacting with aliens in a chapel, and battling in laser quest games in a disused warehouse just to name a few. The last event in May 2022 raised £625k in one night for the small charities on the Raise Your Hands platform.

 

Team Tactics, The Hand Project – Give a Helping Hand

A powerful combination of CSR team building and charity – The Hand Project, is an event like no other. In groups of three or four, groups will work together to build a prosthetic hand for people in developing countries.

This is an event that enables corporates to make a real difference to peoples lives, as well as the chance to build morale, improve communication and strengthen teamwork within the workplace. Designed for teams of 12 to 500 people, clients will see the hands that they build get delivered to various third world countries and be professionally fitted onto individuals. Team Tactics have a target to deliver 1000 hands from the UK to countries such as Uganda, Nepal, India, Ghana, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The impact on the attendees can be emotional and hugely positive but equally to those that benefit from this free prosthetic hand, a life changing moment.

 

Universities UK International, UK-Ukraine Twinning Conference

An event, turned around in ten days following a request from President Zelensky’s office, to celebrate tens of twinning partnerships between UK and Ukrainian universities – supporting Ukraine’s universities to continue their teaching and researching activities throughout war time – which drove 100 UK universities to twin, helped attract £5m of funding to supporting twinning, and was the catalyst to driving a 36% uplift in positive public perceptions towards UK universities

Best Association Event

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British Insurance Brokers’ Association, The BIBA Conference

The BIBA Conference is a two-day event held every May which is now in its 45th year. It has grown exponentially to become the largest insurance broking event in the UK and one of the biggest broking conferences and exhibitions in the world. We have held the event at Manchester Central Convention Centre since 2014. We have a full conference agenda of Keynotes, Seminars and Fringe sessions in the Auditorium and breakout rooms, Exhibition covering the full 10,000 square metres of Central Halls 1&2, and exhibitor hosted meeting rooms.

During the pandemic, we sadly had to cancel our 2020 Conference and pursued a digital event in 2021.Therefore the stakes were high last year to deliver our first in-person conference for 3 years and it was a record-breaking success with more exhibitors and sponsors than our 2019 Conference, and over 8000 registered attendees! Our theme for The BIBA Conference 2022 was Our Insurance Community, and we set out to reunite the industry after the pandemic. The buzz in the venue was electric. As a membership association, it’s important we support our members and give them unrivalled access to industry experts, knowledge, networking opportunities and member benefits they cannot get elsewhere.

 

British Society of Soil Science and the SEC, The World Congress of Soil Science 2022 – ‘Crossing Boundaries, Changing Society’

Between 31st July – 5th August 2022, the 22nd World Congress of Soil Science took place at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, signalling a historic move, and marking the first time it had returned to the UK since 1935.

It was the role of the British Society of Soil Science, as the local association, to organise the congress, ‘Soil Science – Crossing Boundaries, Changing Society’, which would bring together 1,700 soil enthusiasts from around the world and set the scene for vital knowledge sharing between industry-leading academics and practitioners.

One of the key objectives of the meeting was to push the boundaries of sustainable event design. Soil plays a significant role in ecological sustainability and the event took place shortly after the IPCC report issued a ‘code red’ for climate change, and just six months after the Conference of Parties (COP26) event.

 

CIPD, CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition 2022

The CIPD’s audience of human resources (HR), learning and development and organisational design and development professionals face constant challenges in the ever-changing world of work. Our Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) is an essential date in the diary for our community to debate, share and learn to help businesses grow and make positive societal impact through work.

We’ve been innovating since our first hybrid ACE and took 2022 to a new level for our audience; people perfectly positioned to influence work and working lives for good. The hybrid format supported our accessibility goal to make content available to all customers.

We improved the functionality of the platform for Q&A, polling / surveys and introduced new features to ensure that delegates everywhere could engage with all areas of the show. We increased the number of virtual speakers and panellists which meant we were able to have more international speakers – this had been difficult historically, due to geographical barriers.

We introduced new formats which increase audience participation and encouraged shared learning. Customers reported that our event was “inspiring”, “insightful”, “informative” and “interesting”. Sponsors gave us excellent satisfaction ratings and exhibitors rebooked at our highest rate ever.

MA Exhibitions, TCCA Critical Communications World

Critical Communications World is The Critical Communication Association’s (TCCA’s) flagship event, organised by MA Exhibitions. TCCA promotes the use of critical communications for public safety.

The annual event covers mission-critical communications, 5G, cybersecurity and public safety communications with over 100 exhibitors showcasing the latest in technology and innovation.

CCW moves annually, which creates opportunities as well as challenges in attracting regional attendees. CCW 2022 took place in Vienna 21-23 June, and not only had a 25% increase in visitors but the quality of those visitors was testament to a creative marketing campaign. An exciting area of growth for the event is the Government Authorities Global Village (GAGV), which provides a unique opportunity for national governments to collaborate on their respective public safety programmes. The number of countries taking part almost doubled in 2022 (only its second year), from 10 to 18, illustrating just how important this feature is regarded in terms of international, mutual co-operation. New areas for sponsors to connect with buyers resulted in a very successful onsite rebook with over 70% confirming attendance for 2023. This industry-defining show, coupled with cutting-edge content has established CCW as the FOMO event for the industry.

National Housing Federation, Housing Finance Conference and Exhibition

 Our ambition for the Housing Finance Conference and Exhibition is to bring together finance professionals from the housing sector, strengthen their connections and equip them with the knowledge they need to thrive.

We have always taken a collaborative approach to organising the conference and 2022 was no different. We worked closely with our advisory board of members across the country, past delegates, speakers, exhibitors, the venue, and Culture Liverpool.

Since the pandemic the event has evolved, making use of video technology and an event management app to widen participation, improve accessibility and make it easier for delegates to find the information they need.

The conference exceeded its measurements of success with a 98% audience satisfaction rate and onsite attendance of 1,300, matching pre-pandemic numbers. Delegates were thrilled to be reunited after a two year hiatus. The fantastic atmosphere and attendance made 2022 one of our best conferences yet.

As one of our delegates said:

“It was a fantastic conference this year. It was so good to be back, and it was great to catch up with people in my network face to face again. The venue is great, and Liverpool is a fab city!” – Chief Financial Officer, Octavia

 

National Residential Landlords Association, The Landlord Conference 2022

 The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) held its inaugural national conference on November 15th, 2022, welcoming more than 600 delegates, speakers, and exhibitors to Coventry Arena.

The Landlord Conference, unique in the sector, aimed to bring NRLA members and other property professionals together, with a programme of expert speakers and panel discussions covering hot topics including mortgages, legislation, energy efficiency, and compliance.

Speakers included newly appointed housing minister Felicity Buchan, who used the event to deliver her first speech in the role, as well as answering audience questions, in what was a huge coup for the association.

The conference was designed to support landlords at a particularly challenging time, with political and economic uncertainty, soaring interest rates and new legislative proposals all casting a shadow over the sector.

Tickets for the event sold out a week ahead of the conference, more than 50% above target, with the venue filled to capacity on the day and sponsorship packages and exhibition stands also selling out.

The conference had a fantastic atmosphere and exceeded targets in terms of both profits and satisfaction levels, with a new date and larger venue already secured for the 2023 event.

 

 Royal College of Physicians, Medicine 2022

Medicine 2022 was a fantastic opportunity for healthcare professionals across the globe to come together to learn and reconnect after the pandemic.

We are delighted to have achieved all three of our aims.

The programme provided the latest medical updates and featured key leaders and decision makers.

The conference showcased all that the RCP has to offer – high-quality education and a community of likeminded, friendly physicians.

We achieved record attendee numbers and income from sponsorship and delegates fees.

Most importantly, the feedback from delegates, speakers and sponsors echoed the success of the event.

“A fantastic and highly educational event, for any physician. Lots of food for thought. I enjoyed feeling part of the college!”

 

 

 

Best Corporate or Agency Event

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Brandfuel, Android Avenue

The fact that Android Avenue attracted 51% of all visitors to MWC 2022 – the biggest exhibition of mobile technology in the world – is testament to the power of its narrative.

Brandfuel’s challenge was to show visitors that no matter how much money you have, whatever your age or ability, your life is enhanced by Android – and that, put simply, everything works better together. Our aim was not only to make the technical accessible, but to make it aspirational and enriching.

Visitors could get hands-on with Android’s latest creative and playful products. Brand ambassadors helped attendees, whether they were setting up a Chromebook with a phone or using a watch to lock devices.

Our structures replicated real-world environments – the park, an exhibition, café, garden, home, driveway, plaza, metro and restaurant. By placing the latest innovations of Android and its partners in familiar settings, Brandfuel showed that no matter which device you use, Android’s products are entirely integrated.

With 85% of visitors saying that “Android powers effortless multi-device experiences for users that work better together”, Android Avenue fulfilled its brief. The message was clear – no matter where you are, Android’s latest products are empowering, personal and safe.

 

CTL Communications, An Iconic Launch

We were invited to deliver a launch event for the first treatment for an ultra-rare disease. Our mission was to deliver a 2-day live event to both in-person and virtual attendees, creating a truly memorable experience.

An iconic location goes hand-in-hand with an iconic event. Iceland, a country renowned for tectonic plates, energy and beauty, was selected as the host country. It served as the perfect representation of the brand – a force of nature providing hope for patients with a power beyond anything they had ever imagined.

But from cancelled site visit flights due to a sudden snowstorm, an earthquake forcing the team to halt the rigging of AV equipment within a lava tunnel, GPS magnetic fields wreaking havoc with kit, power surges shutting down multiple media servers, flooding and multiple electric shocks for the crew, there were numerous challenges to event delivery.

Trailblazers served as the creative thread, bringing to life this ground-breaking product as a celebration of new hope, and a unique tie-in for the brand teams leading the way to forging a flare-free future for patients. Emotive sessions, an immersive patient experience, a drone show and more, delivered an impactful launch event.

 

Eventify, Be School

The event is a 7 day firmwide training programme for new joiners within our client’s business. It is an event that has the utmost importance as it is their chance to showcase the brand to new employees with a seamless event, whilst instilling the brand’s core values. The main objectives of the event are to showcase the brand and to encourage delegates to make new connections and leave the event feeling valued, inspired, and motivated! The event took place 11th – 18th November with 200 delegates, 20 trainers, and 8 speakers arriving from across Europe.

Client feedback confirms the event aims were succeeded. A videographer captures highlights of the week from registration through to the final party and edits a final video featuring all delegates names as the ‘cast’, which is played in the closing session. The video truly shows the friendships that are made during that week, starting with nervous delegates not knowing each other and culminating in them all dancing to the MC, DJ and Saxophonist at the party. All delegates gave a standing ovation, showing how engaged and motivated they were even after 5 long days of training and networking, and a 2am party finish!

 

First Event UK, Cardano Summit 2022

First Event was tasked with delivering a three-day hybrid event in four months, combining a live event with community events and watch parties on six continents. The Cardano Foundation’s first-ever event needed to create connection and collaboration opportunities for its community of blockchain enthusiasts.

The summit beat every target to become their largest-ever in-person event, with 51 community-led watch parties (20% above target) and a virtual world where in-person and online attendees could interact. 1700 attended in person in Lausanne, 6,275 attended community events, and 44,103 visits to the virtual event (31,700 unique). People in 78 countries watched the live stream.

Engagement was built in from the start, with the Cardano community nominating speakers and content topics. The bespoke virtual world was a model of the real one, delivering a seamless hybrid experience. In-person networking opportunities were created by the opening night, awards ceremony, an after-party, and online adaptable virtual avatars were able to start video chats and conversations with others.

A treasure hunt for NFT’ss (highly-prized in this tech-savvy community) in person and online cemented the interactivity. And with content available on-demand to cater for time zones and subtitled in three different languages, everyone was included.

 

Identity, New Years Eve 2022

In 2022, Identity was awarded the four-year framework contract to deliver London’s prestigious NYE celebrations. On NYE 2022, working collaboratively in a complex, multi-agency, multiple-stakeholder environment, Identity successfully delivered the South Bank spectacle to a live audience of over 100,000. The event was broadcasted to tens of millions of people, worldwide.

The London NYE show attracts significant, global, public, and media attention. It is an integral part of the city’s cultural landscape and event calendar. Identity understood that it was crucial the celebrations reflected the best of London. We created a diverse show centred around the London Eye. We wanted to inspire an atmosphere of joy and nostalgia through reflecting on some of the key events of 2022, as well as celebrating new beginnings. Identity worked in close collaboration with GLA to develop the “with love from London” theme, sending a powerful message of love and unity to the world.

Identity’s remit included full infrastructure delivery, ticketing, security, health & safety, crowd management, digital, signage and wayfinding, soundtrack, pyrotechnics, lighting, programming, 400 drones and 12,000 fireworks, and this was all achieved with just 4.5 months of planning.

 

IFS, IFS Unleashed 2022

Unleashed is the IFS flagship event aimed at customers and select prospects. Following a company rebrand in 2021, we also re-branded the event from IFS World Conference to IFS Unleashed. Taking place in Miami in October 2022 this event took a unique approach… we broke away from the usual conference objectives of updating our customers, prospects and partners on the latest company/product updates and instead focused on demonstrating how the right technology and success plans can dramatically liberate and accelerate business outcomes.

 

simplybetter, Victory Village

The Victory Village was the first event of its kind in the industry, and was born out of a desire to bring Victory’s customers together post-pandemic to say thankyou for their support. Simplybetter and Victory Leisure Homes joined forces to create an experience for their customers unlike anything they had seen before…

Victory’s desire to innovate resonated with our ‘think differently’ mantra and we co-created a daytime event that immersed guests in Victory’s brand, showcased new products and innovations and fostered a sense of community as well as an evening experience that was all about reconnecting and having some fun together.

The village itself was created by building a number of canvas tepee structures, each housing a different part of the event. From ‘Knowledge Nooks’ where guests could explore Victory’s product innovations through the d, to a main tepee which housed the evening celebrations – featuring live band quiz and karaoke – every step of the delegate journey was considered.

The event was a resounding success. As our key contact and event stakeholder, Shirin Kemp, commented – “The event has sent shockwaves around our business, our customers and the wider industry. The comments and thankyous just keep rolling in.”

 

Wonder, Google Marketing Live

In the event of your submission being shortlisted we will publish a 200 word summary of your submission on our website and a photo of the event.

Google Marketing Live EMEA was the chance for Google to rethink and reframe hybrid events, encompassing a people-first philosophy – to engage, inform and entertain in a way that met and exceeded its audiences’ evolved expectations.

Wonder applied its philosophy of ‘whole-self design’, creating product experiences that encouraged exploration, networking moments that fostered togetherness and stimulating conversation that delivered longtail value.

A return to live through a refreshed outlook that helped build relationships, product understanding and future pipeline – all whilst hitting Google sustainability goals – GML EMEA 2022 represented the new benchmark for people-first business experiences.

 

Best Event Agency

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Audience

We are Audience. The designers of award-winning, record-breaking and human-centred brand event experiences. This year, we’ve seen incredible growth and affirmed ourselves in the ranking for the Top 50 UK Agencies (CI&T). We put our money where our mouth was and championed what we believe matters most – our people. By doing so, we’ve secured a 99.6% retention rate and headcount increase of 33% this year.

With a happy workforce, we’ve seen incredible adoption of our bespoke innovation model (designed in 2022), our new processes, applications and software that gave us space to scratch our creative itch. Our standout projects include showcasing Virgin Media (VM) as the industry leaders in broadband speed services by breaking a world-record, delivering a world-first OOH 4D billboard experience to launch Stream with VM and ensuring Deloitte are recognised as industry leaders for our fourth year running the SSC.

This has all contributed to a powerful focus on our people, on human-centred event design and our creative ability to keep human connection at the centre of every event.

 

Brands at Work

Hello, we’re Brands at Work. We’re one of the world’s leading creative communications agencies, made up of 40 full time creative challengers.

For 13 years, we’ve worked with global brands to turn their brilliant business ideas into bold and memorable content experiences. Experiences that shape beliefs, inspire action, build communities, and transform performance.

We’re the agency with the reputation for always challenging the status quo. It’s reflected in our agency ‘Herd’: big thinkers, detail tinkerers. Creativity at the heart of every thought and action. And all blessed with that ambitious question that rears its head at every idea: ‘does this shift the needle?’

2022 was a year of great success and significant evolution. We saw incredible performance, strategic investment, and the continuing realisation of our ambition to be the best place, to do the best work, with the best people.

 

Bray Leino Events

Bray Leino Events turns 50 in 2023, and the last year has been the busiest in our history. We travelled the world with public and private sector clients.

Events we delivered generated billions for the UK economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs. We’ve unpicked impossible logistical challenges and brought brands to life for new audiences.

We’ve doubled in size since pre-pandemic, and we’ve done it by focusing on what we can do as a force for good, in our industry, for our clients, and most importantly, for our people.

We protect their wellbeing, train them to do the same, and promote an inclusive culture where friendship and support is central. People stay at Bray Leino Events for longer and take half as many sick days as the industry average.

Sustainability took centre stage in 2022. We put ourselves on course to deliver massive carbon reductions in our business operations and implemented new measurement tools to target efforts in reducing our environmental impact across our entire event portfolio.

Sustainability will be the defining issue for our industry in the coming years, which is why we’re calling for less competition, greater collaboration on how we can all be better.

 

emc3

Life post-covid was a challenge for many in the events industry, and macroeconomic certainty didn’t alleviate those stressors. But two things have stood out as a result, that makes it easier: collaboration and the power of listening. Our mission at emc3 is “to produce game-changing experiences powered by strategy, content and creativity, underpinned by our commitment to a sustainable future for events”, and our submission talks about using that to implement sustainable growth—where it isn’t about a race to the top, but creating meaningful and impactful moments, with our clients and team, to achieve personal and professional growth.

 

EventsPlanIt

Events Plan It is a specialised partner in the area of events in the Algarve (Portugal), from theme parties, company parties, social events, product launches, collections, fashion shows, beach parties, New Years Eve, birthdays, shooting for companies, weddings…

Having been organising events in the Algarve for the past six years, we have an extensive knowledge of the region’s offer and partners and together we can make any occasion unique!

Given any challenge, we make it happen! We take care of all the details. For us the right event has to be creative and imaginative! Sophisticated, but relaxed! Different, unique, authentic!

 

First Event

Now 21 years old, First Event, based in Yorkshire, is taking the industry by storm. In 2021 we became employee-owned, meaning every employee is also a shareholder. Our whole 68-strong team has a stake in providing clients with the very best experiences.

In the last year, we have grown our turnover by 175%, from £8 million in 2021 to £22 million in 2022. We’ve grown our workforce by 50%, from 46 in 2021 to 68 in 2022. And we’ve grown our customer base from 42 active clients at the end of 2019 to 117 active clients at the end of 2022.

But it’s not just about the numbers. We’re investing in innovation, creating dedicated web, app and client services teams to provide a more complete service. We’ve invested in an in-house production studio, facilitating high-quality virtual and hybrid events. And we’ve put sustainability at the heart of all we do, with dedicated sustainability experts on every project team from day on and reporting the carbon footprint of every event we create.

We ’ve also developed an in-house training platform, to ensure that every area of our agency is growing and progressing to ensure that First Event is always future-ready.

 

Identity

For the second year running, Identity, the human experience events agency, is named as one of Europe’s fast-growing companies. Identity ranked 56th in the 2023 edition of the FT 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies – a climb of 253 places since last year and the only human experience events agency on the list in consecutive years. It also ranked No2 in the UK’s Top 100 Event Agency league table.

This success comes from having a dedicated team; winning great clients; delivering on sustainability; and never losing sight of its social value policy.

Identity sustains its exponential growth with investment and opening of new offices in London and Abu Dhabi, as well as ongoing senior hires, and further additions to the board of directors. The agency now has 200+ employees across its offices.

The agency continues to attract and retain leading industry talent through its holistic approach to work/life balance, continuous learning and development, and offering vast career progression opportunities.

Winning a range of enviable new clients, and delivering high-profile, creative and complex events, while achieving ISO sustainability accreditations for its events and it’s clients has ensured Identity’s successful trajectory.

 

Outsourced Events

Founded in 2001, Outsourced Events’ (OE) wide-ranging experience, creativity, agility, relationships and commercial prowess supports clients to host engaging, unforgettable, sustainable and cost-effective global events, reaching tens of thousands of delegates.

Providing comprehensive end-to-end event, tradeshow, inventory management and marketing services, London-based OE has a team of 39 who delivered some 300 in-person, hybrid and virtual events in 22 countries and 51 cities during 2022.

Committed to progressing the next generation of event professionals, the leadership team mentors staff including two “year-in-industry” students, supports team members in achieving professional qualifications, creates content and contributes to numerous articles to share learning and best practice.

Forging several 20-year-plus global brand corporate technology and association relationships, OE has built a trusted reputation, becoming ‘part of the team’ and developing unparalleled knowledge of industries and target audiences.

Dedicated to delivering informative events and at the forefront of event management innovation, OE engages clients, delegates, speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors to understand and meet their objectives, driving content, format and pre and post-event marketing.

Commercially astute, OE supports clients to develop objectives and KPIs and explore creative ideas and content to attract new delegates and sponsors, encourage repeat attendance and create new revenue streams.

 

Best Hybrid or Virtual Event

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CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition 2022

The CIPD’s audience of human resources (HR), learning and development and organisational design and development professionals face constant challenges in the ever-changing world of work. Our Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) is an essential date in the diary for our community to debate, share and learn to help businesses grow and make positive societal impact through work.

 We’ve been innovating since our first hybrid ACE and took 2022 to a new level for our audience; people perfectly positioned to influence work and working lives for good. The hybrid format supported our accessibility goal to make content available to all customers.

We improved the functionality of the platform for Q&A, polling / surveys and introduced new features to ensure that delegates everywhere could engage with all areas of the show. We increased the number of virtual speakers and panellists which meant we were able to have more international speakers – this had been difficult historically, due to geographical barriers.

We introduced new formats which increase audience participation and encouraged shared learning. Customers reported that our event was “inspiring”, “insightful”, “informative” and “interesting”. Sponsors gave us excellent satisfaction ratings and exhibitors rebooked at our highest rate ever.

 

CloserStill Media, Women’s Health Professional Care

 Women make up at least 50% of the UK population but it has taken a global pandemic to make people sit up and take notice of the serious healthcare inequalities which are entrenched in our healthcare system and affect girls and women throughout their lives.

 Women’s Health Professional Care took place on 13-14 September 2022, and was launched as a free to attend, fully CPD accredited virtual conference, for healthcare professionals serious about reducing inequalities in healthcare services and treatment for women.

The focused conference programme included a celebrity speaker and covered a range of topics, from menopause, PCOS, fertility issues, endometriosis, contraception, cervical cancer, menstruation, and more. There were 16 expert led presentations and three sponsors.

The virtual event was a hit, with over 1,500 delegates attending, doubling its pre-event target, it also scored a 4.59 out of 5 average for all sessions, and staggering engagement with 6,533 session registrations, 3,799 messages exchanged, and 337 connections made.

Women’s Health Professional Care achieved everything the team behind the scenes hoped it would be and more, and it now has a huge potential to grow in future years too!

 

DRPG, Consumer Live 2022

We have a phenomenal client relationship with BT and have worked on its Consumer conference for many years. Consumer Live is a full end-to-end delivery by DRPG, which includes the logistics, registration, venue, comms, creative, event strategy, content production, technical production and on-site delivery managed and delivered by our teams.

We had to help build the story for one shared EE, BT and Plusnet future. This incorporated four main chapters and key messages which were, ‘our pride and purpose, our current reality, our fundamental opportunity and the journey we must take.’ With this in mind, we also had to ensure people attending, whether in-person or hybrid, felt supported and excited; we needed to immerse them and create a personal experience, have a strong rallying cry and call to action that brought everyone together, to unite the entire team and celebrate the best of the best.

 

emap Publishing, World Architecture Festival 2022

 The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is the largest global gathering of architects where they congregate for 3 days to present their projects live for the chance to be awarded World Building of the Year. After postponing due to COVID, WAF pivoted to a virtual event for 2020 and 2021 editions, but in 2022 with most global restrictions lifted, planned to return WAF as a live event in Lisbon on 30 November – 2 December 2022. We knew we would face challenges returning to the live format, especially with China, one of our core markets, still in lockdown and there may be a reluctance from attendees to resume travel. How could we manage to attract Chinese entrants to enter if they were unlikely to be able to attend the live event for judging if shortlisted.

Using technology we managed to create an inclusive event through use of an event app for in-person and online delegates, with presentations online for our Chinese finalists that couldn’t attend.  Through the app these delegates were also able to view keynotes and live finals, ensuring they weren’t excluded from participating.

 

Financial Times, Future of the Car Summit

 The Future of the Car Summit is a must-attend, strategy-focused conference, where visionary OEMs, industry shakers, and challenger brands come together to examine the technology, consumer, and business model trends changing the way cars are made and sold.

Across 4 content-packed days, two of them in-person at The Brewery in London and live streaming, the summit welcomed over 1500 attendees, 118 speakers and generated over 1M in combined sponsorship and ticket sales. Delegates experienced an exciting introduction to a new hybrid format, participating in riveting live conversations, peer-to-peer roundtables, and unmissable networking.

 

First Event, Cardano Summit 2022

 The first Cardano Foundation Summit smashed every target, creating it’s largest-ever in-person event.

With 31,700 attendees online and in person, the event needed to nurture connections in the community. And it certainly did that. With 51 Community events and watch parties on six continents, and online attendees from 78 countries, collaborations and networking were the name of the game.

Engagement was built in from the start, with the Cardano community suggesting speakers and content topics, then voting for award-winners for the first ever awards ceremony on Day 1.

The bespoke virtual world was a model of the real one, delivering a seamless hybrid experience. In-person networking opportunities were created by the opening night, awards ceremony and after-party, and online adaptable virtual avatars were able to start video chats and conversations with others.

A treasure hunt for NFT’s (highly-prized in this tech-savvy community) in person and online cemented the interactivity. And with content available on-demand to cater for time zones and subtitled in three different languages, everyone was included.

 

Foundry, CIO Summit UK

 The Official CIO Summit UK is UK IT’s premier virtual event for peer-to-peer insight and ideas. The event ran from Tuesday 11th October to Thursday 13th October. It provided over 300+ IT leaders with the best opportunity to gain insight from their peers, benchmark their strategies and generate new ideas to implement into their businesses. This year, The Summit focused on how IT professionals are ’leading the change’ – moving IT at the speed of digital business and developing business acumen.

“The summit was exceptionally well organised, with a brilliant content diversity and engagement from participants. Communication before, during and after was fantastic and I really enjoyed both speaking and listening at the event. The overall platform is easy to use and makes attending so much easier. A great event, well done all on pulling together” – CIO Summit Speaker

 

Toucan, Ahead Together

 A hybrid event including high quality film content, live experiences, virtual platform and multi-site global broadcast to empower GSK to harness a pivotal moment in their history; the largest demerger in history alongside the launch of a new brand driven by a purpose that put their people first. GSK wanted an event that brought the entire company together as one. Something much bigger, brighter and bolder than they had attempted before. Toucan created a hybrid experience to unite and inspire their whole global workforce, including a live satellite broadcast from five locations around the world, unique 3D platform and flagship London event, watching parties all over the world and hours of engaging content. As lead agency, Toucan created the content, and led and managed the entire production. An incredible 39,467 people took part, with 26,752 viewing online and 12,715 spread across 235 watching parties, making our event GSK’s largest ever global live broadcast and a step forward in building confidence and trust in GSK’s future.

 

Universities UK International, UK-Ukraine Twinning Conference

An event, turned around in ten days following a request from President Zelensky’s office, to celebrate tens of twinning partnerships between UK and Ukrainian universities – supporting Ukraine’s universities to continue their teaching and researching activities throughout war time – which drove 100 UK universities to twin, helped attract £5m of funding to supporting twinning, and was the catalyst to driving a 36% uplift in positive public perceptions towards UK universities.

Best Overseas Conference or Event (over 1000 attendees)

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Attendable, Inclusive Africa Conference 2022

Working with African NGO inABLE, Attendable, the UK-based accessible events specialists, delivered the ambitious Inclusive Africa Conference 2022.

For many of the estimated 300 million people with disabilities in Africa, digital services and products are unusable. The Inclusive Africa Conference provides a platform for disability and accessibility experts, people with a lived experience, business and government to accelerate digital access for disabled people and ensure that no one is left behind.

The brief was to deliver an inclusive and accessible event and grow the audience by at least 25%. Challenges included overcoming the digital divide, poor internet connection and barriers including large geographic distances for delegates to travel and the unaffordable cost of travel.

The hybrid event combined a two-day in-person event in Nairobi which was live streamed to a large online audience. The conference was free to attend online and an innovative sponsorship arrangement with Google established 14 watch parties in 14 African countries, overcoming the digital divide and facilitating national coalitions to help accelerate digital accessibility.

Registrations were up 56% on 2021 and the event saw the launch of Africa’s first-ever digital accessibility standard for products and services for people with disabilities.

 

Bray Leino Events, UK National Day

UK National Day was an unprecedented celebration of UK culture, brought to a massive stage, the World Expo site in Dubai, for one day.

The concept was ambitious. Encapsulate thousands of years of history, art, science, creativity, and innovation.

The numbers were mind-boggling. 48 separate events. Across 8 different venues. Engaging an audience of 140,000. Hundreds of artists, musicians, suppliers, exhibitors, crew, and VIPs.

The first challenge was to bring key government stakeholders together with our creative and production experts to envision how we would deliver this feat.

Then, covid. Expo 2020 Dubai was delayed by 12 months, then travel restrictions and disruptions wrought havoc with our carefully prepared plans.

Despite this, the entire project was brought in under budget. We delivered a cultural and visual spectacular – incorporating sports stars, a royal visit, a parade, a full music festival, and a world record breaking 360-degree laser projection – that delighted stakeholders and audiences.

 

Capacity Media, Metro Connect USA 2023

Metro Connect USA is a vital meeting for North American C-level digital infrastructure leaders. In 2023, Metro Connect took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, having moved from its home of 21 years in Miami. Attracting over 1700 delegates, this year was the largest event to date, and marked the kick-off of annual deals and trading between a vast number of senior leaders within the North American digital infrastructure, who line up $bn+ deals with partners, raise capital, and build out business road maps for the year ahead.  Networking and private meetings sit at the heart of Metro Connect, and it boasts a high-class, relaxed and business-focused atmosphere, alongside a leadership-led conference. The sheer rate of growth, along with the development of networking & content features at Metro Connect USA 2023, is what makes it a contender for the Best Overseas Event award, with event targets being surpassed across the board. A concerted effort was made by the team to provide enhanced and tailored experiences for all attendees, which resulted in significant overall growth, fantastic customer feedback, and an overall uptick in brand recognition in the market.

 

Hyve Group, Africa Oil Week

Africa Oil Week puts Africa at the heart of everything we do.

Following a 3 year gap and following the covid dust settling, the AOW organisers set about returning to Africa, embracing the global energy transition and growing the event to pre-pandemic levels.

 

Hyve, Investing in African Mining Indaba

In 2022, the fallout from COVID meant it was down to the wire as to whether Mining Indaba was going to run. Having been postponed twice, we were preparing for a considerably downscaled version. Then, just six weeks before the event was due to begin, the South African government lifted restrictions – and it was all systems go! The team worked flat-out to bring together a powerful line-up of speakers and turn the focus on the industry’s most important topics. The results were incredible, in many cases surpassing Mining Indaba 2020 (MI20) which was held pre-pandemic.

In the run-up, the uncertainty meant that our targets and budget were very conservative. We didn’t just meet the target budget of £5.015m, we doubled it, to finish on £10.6m (106%) – exceeding MI20 revenue by £1.3m! SPEX revenue reached £6.9m, exceeding MI20 revenue by £700k and exhibitors had a 83% retention rate generating £4.2m – with £2.9m of that in onsite rebook. Total revenue was up 32% on MI20!

 

IFS, IFS Unleashed

Unleashed is the IFS flagship event aimed at customers and select prospects. Following a company rebrand in 2021, we also re-branded the event from IFS World Conference to IFS Unleashed. Taking place in Miami in October 2022 this event took a unique approach… we broke away from the usual conference objectives of updating our customers, prospects and partners on the latest company/product updates and instead focused on demonstrating how the right technology and success plans can dramatically liberate and accelerate business outcomes.

 

 

Best Overseas Conference or Event (up to 1000 attendees)

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CTL Communications, An Iconic Launch

We were invited to deliver a launch event for the first treatment for an ultra-rare disease. Our mission was to deliver a 2-day live event to both in-person and virtual attendees, creating a truly memorable experience.

An iconic location goes hand-in-hand with an iconic event. Iceland, a country renowned for tectonic plates, energy and beauty, was selected as the host country. It served as the perfect representation of the brand – a force of nature providing hope for patients with a power beyond anything they had ever imagined.

But from cancelled site visit flights due to a sudden snowstorm, an earthquake forcing the team to halt the rigging of AV equipment within a lava tunnel, GPS magnetic fields wreaking havoc with kit, power surges shutting down multiple media servers, flooding and multiple electric shocks for the crew, there were numerous challenges to event delivery.

Trailblazers served as the creative thread, bringing to life this ground-breaking product as a celebration of new hope, and a unique tie-in for the brand teams leading the way to forging a flare-free future for patients. Emotive sessions, an immersive patient experience, a drone show and more, delivered an impactful launch event.

 

Exile Group, TXF Global 2023: Export, Agency & Project Finance

TXF Global 2022: Export, Agency & Project Finance took place in the stunning city of Lisbon in June 2022 and was the ninth iteration of our largest conference in the yearly event calendar. After a bumpy pandemic we rose like a phoenix from the flames and surpassed all our expectations and smashed every target set to ourselves in terms of revenue generation, profit margin, buy/sell side audience distribution and seniority of speakers. This hybrid event brought together over 800 in-person attendees with hundreds more watching live and catching up on-demand, providing attendees not only with a fantastic event experience, but giving the wider market access to view some stellar content and incredible panels with the leaders in export and project finance. Alongside the usual panel sessions and keynote speeches, we supplemented the event programme with smaller workshops, idea labs and ‘game show’ style sessions, not to mention the additional networking activities. Guests were treated to a delightful city walking tour and rooftop ice breaker drinks the day before the event, as well as a poolside cocktail reception at the end of day one. It was an event to remember and was received with rave reviews from the market.

 

ICIS, The 17th ICIS Middle Eastern Base Oils and Lubricants Conference

In 2022 ICIS took the bold decision to move one of its most prestigious and established events, The Middle Eastern Base Oils and Lubricants Conference, from its traditional home of Dubai to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The team built strategic partnerships with key companies in the region to help shape content and provide the local support to make the event a success. As a result, the event exploited local appetite to showcase the region’s capability and filled an unmet need for Saudi Energy companies to access the global stage. With over 300 attendees from 139 companies representing 32 countries, it smashed its targets and saw a 31% increase in attendance from 2019.

 

Outstanding Schools, Outstanding Schools Middle East

As the world recovered from the pandemic, Outstanding Schools took the decision to transform a highly successful virtual event, launched during the pandemic, into a flagship face-to-face conference in Dubai. As a result, Outstanding Schools Middle East 2022 took place on 5-6 October.

The event has quickly established itself as the region’s premier strategy conference for international school leaders, bringing together and facilitating dialogue between senior school leaders, passionate educationalists, key stakeholders, and inspirational thought-leaders from English-speaking international schools across the Middle East.

Following in-depth market research, and utilising the Outstanding Schools Middle East Steering Committee, the team designed a two-day conference agenda of strong, inspirational content – with the goal of challenging school leaders. The content was fresh and forward thinking, on the verge of radical, bringing new ideas and concepts. In total, there was 50 hours of CPD accredited content across the two days.

The event was a huge success, the feedback from delegates, speakers and sponsors was incredible. Delegate revenue increased by 135%, whilst SPEX revenue jumped by 98%. By bringing the conference face-to-face in Dubai, Outstanding Schools had established itself as the go-to event for international school leaders in the region.

 

Sounds Commercial, Ibis Global Summit

The Global Summit has been running for over 20 years and is a celebrated event within the auto collision industry. Sounds Commercial have had the privilege of providing the creative and technical design for the event since day one.

This years’ Global Summit was held in Monaco at the prestigious Le Méridien on the French Riviera.

The summit was held across 3 days offering a variety of activities for the delegates – including Guest Speaker plenary’s, Pool Parties, Beach Parties, Al Fresco Dinner events, Interactive Exhibitions and many more.

Sounds Commercial were tasked with bringing the brief to life through creative AV installations, branding, set design, scenic elements, and lighting designs.

William Reed, IPA World Congress + Probiota 2023

The microbiome has really captured the hearts and minds of consumers and the media in recent years and is now a hot topic. Over three days, Probiota, the leading Microbiome business to business event organised by NutraIngredients.com brings together experts and leaders from global industries and academia under one roof to present top level insights.

Probiota is more than just a conference; Scientific authors from around the world are invited to submit their latest research through our Scientific Frontiers Poster Sessions and start-ups can earn themselves a spot on the stage by entering our Probiota Pioneers.

The event is designed to stimulate conversations between business and academia, scientists, and product developers, with lots of opportunities for networking and social interaction throughout. Attendees can get involved through; live Q&A, Wellness Program, Speed Networking, Roundtable Lunch, Welcome Reception and our renowned Probiota Social Evening on day two.

Probiota is insightful, engaging and successful in uniting industry professionals from across the globe. It is an unmissable event that continues to challenge, inspire, and fuel the growth of the microbiome community. www.probiotaevent.com

 

With Intelligence HFM Asian Operational Leaders’ Summit

The HFM Asian Operational Leaders’ Summit brings together executives from the largest hedge funds in Asia. Traditionally the event has been held in Macau, in a retreat style environment enabling us to build a close-knit community.

In November 2022, the Hong Kong Government announced the relaxing of restrictions enabling us to host the event in-person (after a 3 year move to virtual) but due to some restrictions remaining, we had to host the event in Hong Kong instead.

Utilising relationships with the biggest funds in APAC to shape the agenda and form an advisory board, we forged ahead with our ambition to have as many hedge funds together in a safe environment and provide the first chance to network on a large scale since 2019. We focused on diversity and inclusion, showcasing as many high-profile female speakers as possible (one panel was exclusively C-suite female speakers).

We leveraged our relationship with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to communicate changing regulations effectively and worked closely with delegates, sponsors and speakers to access their communities. This helped us to generate significant buzz.

Despite all of the challenges, the Summit was a record-breaking event growing in size to beyond what was achieved pre-pandemic.

 

Wonder, Google Marketing Live

Google Marketing Live EMEA was the chance for Google to rethink and reframe hybrid events, encompassing a people-first philosophy – to engage, inform and entertain in a way that met and exceeded its audiences’ evolved expectations.

Wonder applied its philosophy of ‘whole-self design’, creating product experiences that encouraged exploration, networking moments that fostered togetherness and stimulating conversation that delivered longtail value.

A return to live through a refreshed outlook that helped build relationships, product understanding and future pipeline – all whilst hitting Google sustainability goals – GML EMEA 2022 represented the new benchmark for people-first business experiences.

 

 

Best UK Conference (over 1000 attendees)

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Ascend Global Media, Women of Silicon Roundabout

Ascend Global Media’s flagship event, Women of Silicon Roundabout in London, has become the cornerstone of the global gender diversity movement in tech.

The theme for the 2022 Women of Silicon Roundabout event was Resilience: how women can stand tall in the face of the obstacles that still exist in the tech world – and overcome them. The keynote topics included the power of storytelling, the importance of authenticity, and how to go about building a personal brand.

The event included masterclasses, workshops and talks from inspirational speakers that connect women throughout the global tech ecosystem with one another. Speakers included C-suite executives from the BBC, Natwest, IBM, and other major companies worldwide.

The heart of the event was community building: developing a tight-knit network of women in technology who can help each other, as well as the girls and young women entering tech, to chart a bold career course and achieve their goals, whatever they might be.

 

DRPG, BT Enterprise Live 2022

Part of The BT Group, BT Enterprise is the leading business communications provider in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, connecting more than one million businesses and public sector organisations to their colleagues and customers.

DRPG had been tasked with producing BT Enterprise’s annual internal event for the past few years, with 2022 no exception. The live event had to communicate CEO Rob Shuter’s key #DriveForGrowth message to 3,500+ BT Enterprise team members, and a full comms plan also had to be produced. BT Enterprise had to be engaging, thought-provoking, and informative.

The result was a fantastic event which saw 14,000 delegates attend in total. An experiential expo area, intimate TED-style talks, team member competitions and insightful thought leadership sessions were all in abundance, along with positive feedback from those who attended.

 

Lambeth Palace – Palace Public Occasions, Lambeth Conference

Convened by The Most Reverend Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference is a gathering of the bishops of the Anglican Communion – an international communion of interdependent, autonomous and self-governing churches. The Lambeth Conference has run every decade since 1867, held originally at Lambeth Palace in London. Since 1978, the conference has taken place primarily in Canterbury at the University of Kent.

The fifteenth Lambeth Conference ran from 27th July – 7th August 2022. With the theme of ‘God’s Church for God’s World – walking, listening and witnessing together’, bishops met for prayer, bible study and conversation on church and world affairs.

The aim was to explore what it means for the Anglican Communion to respond to the needs of a 21st century world. Bishops’ spouses also participated in joint sessions with bishops and completed a parallel programme during Lambeth Calls discussions.

Midway through the conference, over 1500 delegates and staff travelled to Lambeth Palace for the discussion on Environment and Sustainable Development. Here, the Communion Forest project was launched. A legacy project for this iteration of the Lambeth Conference, the Communion Forest builds on a history of creation care within the Anglican Communion around the world.

 

Royal College of Physicians, Medicine 2022

Medicine 2022 was a fantastic opportunity for healthcare professionals across the globe to come together to learn and reconnect after the pandemic.

We are delighted to have achieved all three of our aims.

The programme provided the latest medical updates and featured key leaders and decision makers.

The conference showcased all that the RCP has to offer – high-quality education and a community of likeminded, friendly physicians.

We achieved record attendee numbers and income from sponsorship and delegates fees.

Most importantly, the feedback from delegates, speakers and sponsors echoed the success of the event.

“A fantastic and highly educational event, for any physician. Lots of food for thought. I enjoyed feeling part of the college!”

 

The Assembly, CrimeCon UK

CrimeCon UK, established in 2021, is the leading true crime event in the UK for enthusiasts within the genre and industry professionals alike. It brings this riveting and rapidly expanding genre of entertainment to life in an immersive, engaging, and accessible convention.

Over one weekend, more than 70 hours of true crime content is shared and features over 100 true crime contributors and experts. Documentary makers, experts, podcasters and law enforcement professionals have the opportunity to meet with true crime enthusiasts and share real life stories from survivors and victims’ families.

Additionally, CrimeCon UK offers immersive experiences including the opportunity to step into the role of a Crime Scene Investigator, to meet some of the most talented police dogs in the business as well as to meet and greet emerging and established experts, our live podcast studio and access to V.I.P events.

CrimeCon UK engages with the true crime community all year round, with events & activations including our online book-club, in collaboration with Crime Monthly magazine, live speaker Q&A’s and ‘CrimeConversations’ the events very own podcast series. This builds a platform for future events and creates a ready-made audience of engaged enthusiasts, all looking to celebrate the genre.

 

UK & Ireland SAP User Group, UKISUG Connect

UKISUG Connect is the largest annual gathering of SAP professionals in the UK & Ireland, what sets this event apart from others is it’s fundamentals. Community; bringing the SAP community together and providing a space for them to drive success on whatever SAP journey they are on. Learning; with so many SAP users in one space, collaborating and learning together through workshops, speaker sessions and panel discussions from SAP experts, partners and customers. Networking; opportunities to network with other SAP users, share ideas, challenges and successes in order to grow and develop everyone’s SAP knowledge and success.

Best UK Conference (up to 1000 attendees)

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1LoD, XLoD Global – London

Run by 1LoD, XLoD Global launched in 2020 as a virtual event with the mission to bring together the 3 lines of defence in financial institutions globally to address cultural failings to avoid another financial crisis.

After two successful virtual editions the event pivoted back to in-person and included a day of virtual roundtables in November 2022. Like no other event XLoD Global enables non-financial risk and control practitioners to speak with and listen to regulators from across the world to inform their risk frameworks. The event also regularly features pioneering discussions with convicted rogue traders, to learn first-hand about cultural failings. The seniority of speakers and rigorous research that goes into the programme ensure that this event provides a standard that ensures our delegates return year after year with a retention rate of 96% amongst the big global banks. In 2022 Dominic Cummings, Former Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a keynote speaker to inform about the cultural failings at No10 and how banks can learn from this.

 

Anthropy, TRO and Porter Novelli

Anthropy was a magical, emotional meeting of minds.

Enduring a turbulent and unprecedented time post Covid-19 and Brexit, Britain needed something new to genuinely drive change and bring people together.

Delivering the largest crowd sourced agenda the UK has seen, Anthropy was born. Senior leaders and influential individuals were encouraged to attend the 3-day summit, therefore committing to finding new connections and new solutions to take this country forward.

For the first time ever, the Eden Project in Cornwall closed its doors to the public and welcomed 1,000 ‘Anthropists’ to ideate, debate and collaborate on crucial topics including education, health and sustainability.

Notable attendees included Sadiq Kahn, Rachael Reeves, Kamal Ahmed, Mary Portas, Lord Hastings and many more.

Senior stakeholders of major organisations attended, including EY, Omnicom, NatWest, Unilever, KPMG, Greggs, Timpsons and more, as well as charities and youth partners, including Youth Futures and One Young World.

This game-changing inaugural event achieved over 1 billion in media reach, made a splash online reaching over 20 million users and forms the basis for a framework being presented at the House of Lords in March 2023, which aims to drive real change in Britain.

Experience a flavour of Anthropy: https://anthropy.uk/thinking/

 

Hennik Research (part of Nineteen Group), Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit

Now in its 15th year, Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit is the UK’s longest running manufacturing conference attended by 300+ senior professionals from the largest defence, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceuticals, food and drink and electronics sectors, researched and produced by the leading industry brand The Manufacturer.

The Manufacturer has been at the heart of the sector for over 30 years. As rapid advances in technology drive transformation in the industrial landscape, we’re on the frontline of that change, working with the most innovative manufacturers and technology providers. Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit is our flagship conference, covering all the key topics that manufacturers need to be abreast of to be more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable.

The event has a unique interactive roundtable discussion session format that allows delegates to sit with two expert “Discussion Leaders” (a vendor and a manufacturer) and 5 – 8 of their peers to discuss topics of mutual importance.

This format offers a unique opportunity for delegates and sponsors to connect with one another, build relationships, and facilitate new business opportunities.

The unique format, high-level audience, and well-researched content mean that Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit is the most prestigious senior-level industry event.

 

Incisive Media, Net Zero Festival

BusinessGreen believes passionately in shining a positive light on a sector that is gaining attraction and momentum. The Net Zero Festival was created to make a difference, to inspire creative ways to tackle the climate crisis, to celebrate real examples of action that is already making a difference, and most crucially, to connect organisations and people who can accelerate the progress we all want to see.

 

Kisaco Research, Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation Europe

Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation Europe was the first industry event to market in Europe and is the market leader as the premier innovation hub. Created 8 years ago from our extensive industry research, the event fulfils the need for innovation by providing a platform that facilitates partnerships between emerging companies, multinationals, investors, and service providers.

The success of the event in its first year spawned a global series with spin-offs in the US, Latin America, and Asia, as well as satellite events across pet care and livestock which form the broader portfolio.

Two key elements of the event are the Innovation Showcase, which allows start-ups to pitch in a Dragon’s Den style format, and pre-scheduled 1-2-1 meetings which enable delegates to meet potential partners in quick succession.

In 2023, Kristin Peck, CEO, Zoetis, the world’s leading animal health company said of the event “It’s this forum, and this group of people that’s going to ensure the next 10 years of equal or greater growth across the industry”.

 

Meet & Potato, Moving Forward Together

Dunelm motivated colleagues in Moving Forward Together with a conference designed to implement the new business communications strategy. With an emphasis on promoting open conversation, sharing personal experiences and stories, and celebrating success, the aim was to bring everyone together to reconnect in person for the first time following the pandemic.

The conference content needed to be authentic and relatable with colleagues from across the business delivering the message.  Structured in 3 parts, the conference was informative, educational, and celebratory. The Context came from director’s keynote presentations. Workshops empowered colleagues with the Confidence needed to deliver the strategy. The business Culture required to support everyone in moving forward together was celebrated in an unforgettable evening of entertainment and activities tailored to the individual.

We interviewed a wide range of Dunelm colleagues, cutting together their individual stories to create emotive video content for the conference that was perfectly aligned to the strategy.

Taking inspiration from the brand strapline, Dun Your Way, the evening celebrations offered everyone the opportunity to design their perfect night. With something for everyone, from the food to the entertainment, everything could be customised to the individual.

 

Solar Media, Energy Storage Summit 2023

Solar Media is delighted with the extraordinary growth in our Energy Storage Summit this year, representing a real step change in delivery for us as a company and our sector. It has been impressive to see the impact the team has made in preserving the quality of the event through considered and in-depth speaker engagement and extremely diligent client prospecting and relations.

The event’s considered planning and multiple satellite functions also contributed to serve the attendee experience, and we’re extremely happy to see robust growth, positive customer feedback and rebooking for 2024.

The impact this event has on the wider business is significant and serves as a blueprint for delivering high-quality large-scale conferences that we seek to replicate globally.

 

 

BEST CONFERENCE OR EVENT SERIES

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Argus Media, Argus Clean Ammonia Conference Series

Focusing on net zero solutions, the virtual global conference originally launched during the pandemic in March 2021 and has since evolved and progressed to become an established in-person, global conference series. In summary, this conference series is a fantastic example of an agile conference production strategy, identifying an opportunity, researching, developing a unique value proposition which served the needs of the community whilst simultaneously establishing a track record for growth. With a best in class marketing campaign and delegate experience, this event series should not be overlooked by the judges.

 

Borough Bench Media, Open Banking Expo

Borough Bench Media organises the world’s leading Open Banking event series; Open Banking Expo. With events in the UK, Europe and Canada, the organiser achieved 267% increase in revenue for one of its regional events, and 93% uplift in attendees in 2022. More than 1,300 attend the events across the series annually, and the brand has more than 7k Linkedin followers, 25,000 Open Banking professionals opted into its newsletter and its social engagement off the charts! With more than 100 partners and 45 media partnerships, the brand has demonstrated rapid growth post-Covid and smashed all targets set.

 

Dods Events, Civil Service Live

For 15 years, Civil Service Live (CSL) has brought a wide selection of excellent, actionable, and relevant learning and development for tens of thousands of civil servants who have attended the events in person, online or on-demand. The events allow attendees the chance to renew bonds that help them work together successfully, learn from what works best, and hear inspiring examples from across the UK. CSL is the biggest professional development opportunity in the Civil Service calendar.

After two years of online events, CSL returned to a face-to-face format in 2022, welcoming over 15,500 civil servants across the UK to learn, network and share best practice. The event delivered 649 sessions, showcased 1,850 speakers from the Civil Service and private sector, hosted over 100 exhibitors, delivered over 600 1-2-1 mentoring sessions and received over 70,000 session views of our learning and development post event via an online content hub allowing civil servants to access the content in their own time.

 

GovNet Communcations, Healthcare Excellence Through Technology

Healthcare Excellence Through Technology (HETT) delivers better patient experiences and operational efficiencies through education and networking opportunities. The team was tasked with expanding the brand throughout 2022 – focusing on 365 content and growing its events portfolio. HETT outperformed its targets. From one flagship conference in 2021, the portfolio now consists of 5 leading digital-health events, plus a comprehensive 365 content offering.

The HETT team works closely with a dedicated steering committee to better understand the key issues affecting the sector and the content required to provide significant value. In addition, HETT has forged strong partnerships with NHS England, NHSX, NHS Digital and other partners to serve the community with much needed virtual and agile content to support an unprecedented acceleration of transformation in digital healthcare. As a result, HETT has become one of the central voices in communicating updates and best practice for innovations.

The results have been impressive. The revenue of the entire portfolio grew by 140% year on year, whilst the team surpassed its revenue target by 42%. HETT is also now the largest provider of digital content for face-to-face events across the sector.

 

GovNet Communications, GovNet Technology

GovNet Technology’s industry-leading events provide public sector digital leaders with high-quality content, knowledge sharing and benchmarking, helping find the right solutions to transform their digital services, deliver exceptional user experiences and drive positive impact for citizens.

With steady community growth and portfolio consolidation over the pandemic years, GovNet Technology has emerged with a bang – 81% growth in sponsorship revenue year on year and 91% increase in delegate attendees compared to pre-pandemic!

 

Infopro Digital, Asia Risk Events Series

Asia Risk Events offers the only conference series that caters specifically to the needs of risk management, compliance, and derivatives professionals from financial institutions, including country focused events that are tailored to the challenges of regional banks and financial institutions. 2022 was a year to remember for the Asia Risk Events Series – the team received record breaking audience and sponsor feedback on their big return to in-person events.

 

Open Pharma Research – The Lab of the Future

The Lab of the Future Congress was launched in a science park in Cambridge UK in 2019. With just one iteration before the Covid pandemic, it was kept in the consciousness of the industry with a series of one-hour online debates and two completely live, triple-track, virtual events, attracting in total, 2,000+ online attendees from 3,200+ registrations. After a successful hybrid Congress in March 2022 in Boston the Lab of the Future Congress has been developed into two international, large-scale, multitrack, in-person events with an exhibition. The Lab of the Future Congress Europe was established in Amsterdam in October 2022 and is growing in 2023 to fill the historic Commodity and Stock Exchange. The Lab of the Future Congress USA took place in March 2023 in central Boston, moving to a larger venue for 2024 to accommodate 40+ Sponsors and exhibitors.

 

we.CONECT, HR + Communication Event Series

The we.CONECT HR + Communication Event Series is a leading brand in the HR and Communication industry, offering a portfolio of topics including Employee Experience, Digital Workplace, Internal Communication, Learning & Development, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics and more. The series has 14 events across Europe and North America and have created a strong community.

The success of the series is built on a dedicated and experienced team, high-level speakers and attendees, exclusivity for sponsors and exhibitors, and a focus on interactive and meaningful engagement. The events are marked by a consistent attention to detail and a strong focus on delivering an outstanding attendee experience. The marketing efforts leverage a multi-faceted approach to build trust and establish the series as a reputable authority in the industry. The events provide a reliable source of the latest content and have seen tremendous year-on-year growth in attendance and revenue.

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