On Thursday 10th July, over 150 delegates gathered at the Park Inn Heathrow for the first BPMA Annual Conference, “Building a Better Business”.

Brian Binley MP, our industry MP and a staunch supporter of small business growth, opened the Conference. Following this, the BPMA released the findings of the first ever industry benchmarking study, with attendees being the first industry peers to gain access to the valuable document. The findings summarised that 70% believe demand for our industry is stronger that in the previous year, average order values in the industry are close to £600 and 82% of Distributors believe the UK Promotional Market is somewhat or more competitive than before.

The rest of the day offered delegates the opportunity to book one to one appointments with a selection of experts who were there to offer valuable advice in a multitude of industry, or to sit in on 4 out of the 8 seminars which took place throughout the day.

Here is what some delegates thought of the day:

“Chas Williams in the Powerful Presentations seminar was great. It was a very compelling argument that presentations should be short, and focused on the client’s business, not your own. You can apply these ideas to work in many different situations and it is these skills I’m interested in improving.” Richard Sullivan, Director, Navillus Print Gifts

“Stef Lait from Our Social times delivered an amazing amount of informative, useful and inspiring content, delivered with confidence and passion.” Piers Miles, Managing Director, Drayton Gifts

“I found the first BPMA conference really valuable. The seminar sessions have provided some great insight and the one-to-one expert sessions have been very productive. It’s good to step away from your desk for a day to learn, meet with industry peers and the return to the office full of new ideas.” Christine Girven, Marketing Manager, SPS

“What a great day. I took something away with me from every session. It was a very well organised event. Congrats and thanks BPMA team.” Channa Madanayake, General Manager, Squeezyball

Once the Conference had ended, the BPMA hosted the BPMA Building a Better Business Awards. Key Note speaker Steve Head delivered a rousing and inspirational speech which really motivated those in attendance, after this attendees enjoyed food, drink and networking while watching 6 deserving companies win brand new BPMA awards.

• Ciarra Holloway, Allwag Promotions, BPMA Professional Development Student of the Year, sponsored by the BPMA Professional Development Programme
• Rainshader, BPMA Newcomer of the Year, sponsored by PSI
• Fluid Branding, BPMA Website of the Year, sponsored by Sourcing City
• The Sourcing Team, BPMA Catalogue Cover of the Year, sponsored by Print Vision
• Trade Only, BPMA Service Partner of the Year, sponsored by Incentive & Motivation
• Listawood, BPMA Employer of the Year, sponsored by Incentive & Motivation

Gordon Glenister, Director General of the BPMA commented:

“We are delighted with the overwhelming positive response from both delegates and experts who attended the conference. This event has been in the pipeline for many years for the BPMA, and we will be announcing information reading the BPMA Annual Conference 2015 in due course.”

The BPMA would like to thank Roantree, Twist Key, Laser Crystal, Print Vision, Prodir, Touch of Ginger, Bizz Badge, Crazy Bags, Cyan Group, Silverstream, Liquid Lens and Just a Drop for supporting the Building a Better Business Conference and Awards.

Look out for more BPMA Building a Better Business Conference and Awards pictures on the BPMA Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thebpma

Published on: July 22nd, 2014