The Meetings Show & Speakers Corner

The Meetings Show rolls back into London this week with the event moving into the larger Grand Hall at Olympia to reflect the year-on-year growth in exhibitors and buyer numbers. It is in this spirit of success that Speakers Corner is proud to announce an alliance with the show by providing six speakers from the worlds of leadership  and branding  (detailed below).

The Meetings Show is one of the leading events for the MICE industry (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing & Exhibitions) combining networking opportunities and professional education programmes under one roof over three days. With 550 exhibitors from over 50 countries meeting event professionals from around the world, it will prove to be one of the MICE industry's top networking events.

Meeting your needs, The Meetings Show

For those who work in events you will, no doubt, be familiar with how the show works. For those that do not: the show runs on the ‘hosted buyer model’ which is defined as an event organiser (The Meetings Show) inviting buyers - who are qualified beforehand - together with sellers exhibiting at the event. By pre-qualifying buyers, and their intent, enables the organiser to match them with an exhibitor before the show by arranging face-to-face meetings. Qualified buyers from outside the Greater London are provided with complimentary travel, transfers and accommodation.

This model claims to be the best ROI for buyers who are no longer having to prep majorly for this kind of event. The organiser can match buyer to seller, provide an appointment diary for both and aim to maximise opportunities for everyone over the three days. It also means, on a metrics level, appointments can be measured and compared with last year’s figures. In speaking to C&IT Magazine last year event director, Steve Knight, was able to confirm appointments were 'up 20% up on the previous year’ (between 2014 and 2015). With last year’s show beset by travel disruption due to industrial action, this year hopes to see a clear run and further increases in appointment numbers.

The Meetings Show three-day education programme is one of the most extensive in the events industry, with more than 80 sessions specifically tailored to meetings professionals within industries such as healthcare, event agencies, associations, PA/EAs, and tech. Session topics include Design, Technology, Leadership and Branding. It is on those last two topics that Speakers Corner, working closely with The Meetings Show team, have selected the six speakers from hospitality, transport, retail and technology for this year’s show. Experts in their respective fields, these speakers will be able to draw on real-life examples and share their experiences and challenges with the event planning and buyer audiences.

Along with providing speakers for the event, Speakers Corner will also be exhibiting on stand K400.

Leadership Speakers: Peter Avis, Lucy Adams & Hamish Taylor

Lucy Adams          15 June / 9.50am

Former BBC HR Director, founder of Disruptive HR and MD of award winning communications agency, Firehouse; Lucy will; be addressing the topic Leading in a Disrupted World. Using the BBC as a case study, Lucy will show how the volatility and uncertainty affecting all businesses requires a fundamental re-think in how we lead, develop and manage our people.

Peter Avis               15 June / 11.50am

Peter is a hospitality expert and winner of the UK Restaurant Manager of the Year. He will give an overview on his journey in hospitality and will outline how retention and employee engagement are one of the most important commodities to any business. In terms of marketing he emphasises the importance of consistency within values and making people believe in your brand, across the entire company.

Hamish Taylor        15 June / 2.50pm

“Trains, Planes and… Toilet Cleaners!” From flatbeds on BA flights to the turnaround of Eurostar and Sainsbury's Bank, Hamish Taylor drives innovation in businesses, successfully leading them through times of change or challenge. He will share his “war stories” and outline the four key challenges he believes all managers and leaders face if they want to create real breakthroughs.

Speakers: Andrew McMillan, Kate Ancketill & Marcus Kramer

Andrew McMillan       15 June / 10.50am

Andrew is passionate about customer service, retail and marketing and branding. You’ll understand why when we say he spent 28 years at John Lewis where he not only developed the above areas, but actually shaped them. Andrew will be asking: does your business have a personality and do your employees and customers identify with it?

Kate Ancketill            16 June / 11.50am

Kate is the driving force behind GDR Creative Intelligence, a global retail consultancy focused on strategic inspiration for world leading companies including Coke, Lego and Estee Lauder. Kate will share actionable insights for both strategic and tactical approaches to getting noticed in the marketplace while asking what event companies can learn from global trends in marketing, branding and communications.

Markus Kramer  16 June / 10.50pm

As Global Marketing Director at Aston Martin and Marketing Director at Harley-Davidson, Markus helped build, scale and deliver their fascinating brands to more people in more places around the world. Markus will be ‘exploring the world through the lens of luxury’. Markus will address the key principles that underpin Luxury and will reveal just how different this sector works, yet how these same principles are transferable across industries.

The Meetings Show runs from the Tuesday the 14th June until Thursday the 16th, taking place in The Grand Hall at London’s Olympia on Hammersmith Road in West London. For further updates and info please follow Twitter accounts: @Speakers_Corner  & @MeetingsShow  & hashtag: #TMS16