Bankhall

Annual members' conference

Brief

To design a one-day conference at Wembley Stadium for over 500 Independent Financial Advisers, all Bankhall members.

Solution

Delegate acquisition was on-line via a dedicated website. It featured a blog that drip-fed event highlights to delegates, creating a more engaging invitation process and resulting in record attendance.

The main plenary was central to the event environment and surrounded by exhibition stands giving the 27 sponsoring financial service providers exposure to such a key audience. In addition, the environment housed 6 breakout facilities, a VIP lounge, also utilised by a handful of industry journalists and a one-to-one lounge to enable providers to hold in-depth meetings with customers.

Delegates were free to schedule their own day, attending sessions of particular interest, meeting providers or simply networking. The day culminated with an awards ceremony, appropriately hosted by football pundits Ray Stubbs and Mark Lawrenson, followed by a spectacular gala dinner featuring entertainment from Tony Hadley.

Outcome

The digital invitation process and on-line presence ensured record attendance with over 600 delegates; 63% of whom had not previously attended a Bankhall conference. A post-event survey highlighted the success of the recruitment process and the event itself with 92% of delegates agreeing that it was the best industry event attended.