Our afternoon campfires provide the chance for you to have your say and learn from others on a variety of topics shown below. During the registration process, you'll be asked to select two 25 minute campfires which will be rotated twice. Please note that space is limited for each session. We will do our best to accommodate your requested sessions.

Alternatively, you can apply for our 1 hour Leadership session which runs in parallel with the campfires.

Alternative Accommodation
With Alison Makosz and Erica Livermore, in this short participative session we invite you to:

• Articulate your challenges and/or opportunities;
• Identify two concrete objectives for the Association to deliver back to you that will add value to your cycle in this arena;
• Share any insight that can help and support other members entering this arena.

 

Do we need to create personal brand and how can it benefit our businesses
This session, led by Andrew Winterburn, explores how to create your own personal brand with some hints and tips from industry gurus from around the World. We will challenge whether a personal brand conflicts with a company’s brand identity or can the two be mutually aligned.

If you have created your own personal brand it would be great for you to share your experience, if you are starting to think about creating your brand then this is definitely the session for you. Business owners it would be enlightening to get your thoughts and input around how can someone creating a personal brand be beneficial (or not) to your organisation.

HBAA in 2020 - What's the vision?
In this group led by consultant Executive Director, Juliet Price, you will be encouraged to:

• share your thoughts on the future shape and structure of your association
• give feedback on what works well and any changes you’d like to see
• let us know if you’d like to get involved more in the work of our committees

PR – How to Make the Most of the Opportunities for Your Organisation
Meetings industry PR consultant Chris Lewis invites you to share your PR problems, experiences and solutions and pick up valuable tips on how to:

• Make the news
• Have a greater voice and presence in the media
• Generate good content – and make the most of it

Safety and Security
How to help ourselves as a business and leisure traveller and also our guests and customers, when it comes to safety and security, led by Leigh Cowlishaw.

Which is the best social channel for you?
In this short, participative session, Suzi Johnson and Louisa Watson invite you to understand more about the social channels:

• Identify different social streams and their strengths
• Developing a campaign for social
• Measurement for success

The future of small meetings: automation, online bookings, and how this will affect how agents & venues work together
HBAA Tech Chair, Caleb Parker, invites you to discuss the pros and cons of online bookings for small meetings.

• What are the trends driving customer expectations today?
• What challenges are facing both venues and agents who want to implement automation
• Are there solutions and scenarios where online bookings can be accommodated
• When does a meeting require more than an online booking solution?

Waking Up from the Dream Team
In this short, participative session, Dragons' Den author Michael Heath invites you to:

• Identify the dysfunctional behaviours that many good teams drift into
• Develop strategies for ‘disrupting’ the team’s status quo
• Articulate the damage a team’s ‘herd behaviour’ can have on your organisation

Wellness and You: Let’s talk about Stress Management
Led by Samme Allen, Managing Director Sequoia Partnership & Supporter of Eventwell 17, UK Event Wellbeing Week

What is keeping you up at night and how are you managing it? How stressed are you? How can we change being no 5 in the Forbes list of stressful roles? Is this sustainable for introducing talent into the sector?

Key objectives will be to understand how “stressed” our delegation and the main causes of this. We will talk about balance and whether it can exist in our industry. We will also look at communication techniques, how to talk to your boss so they understand and not think you are just complaining and share tips for managing stress.

• 1 in 4 will experience a mental health illness every year
• 42% of employees have changed job due to stress, 75% have felt stressed in the past 12 months
• Young people are more likely to experience stress than older generations
• A 2015 report found 58% of women and 65% of men to be overweight or obese
• Around 700 people a day are diagnosed with diabetes
• Only 36% of adults take part in physical activity once a week and 18% 3 times or more

Why Creativity will be the Ultimate Hack for the Events of the Future
A campfire discussion with Alistair Turner, on where the industry is right now, where it is going, and the increasing role creativity will have. A chance for a small group of #eventprofs to chew the fat, share thinking and take some action. The session will cover:

• The move from event management to event marketing
• The interaction between live and digital
• The three C's; content, curation, creativity
• A rose-tinted view of our future

Life Personal Leadership (One hour session running once in the afternoon)
This session is led by Chris Gaines and is aimed at senior personnel and business leaders. Attendance is subject to approval by the organisers.

Are you investing sufficient time in the development of what truly matters?

Are you prioritising and positively influencing the most important parts of your life that are really important to you, such as your career, friends, family, health and passions in life?

The Life Leadership introductory module has been designed having referenced a cross section and blend of personal development and inspirational business leaders approach in how they maximise their time, harness energy and prioritise on what really makes a difference. The model and approach can enable you to change your outlook and support you in making a step change in;

• Prioritising what really matters.
• Delivering exceptional business and career results
• Enhance your self-esteem and grow inner confidence, aligned to your personal values.
• Overall a challenging combination that fuels personal motivation, progression and attainment