The 2010 Conference Awards

Who attended, what they said, review of the winners.

The inaugural Conference Awards held on 25 June 2010 were a huge success! On a beautiful sunny day in a terrific venue and a great atmosphere 400 conference professionals from across the industry gathered together to celebrate their collective successes over the past 18 months. The feedback from participants has been fantastic (see below) and the Conference Awards can now be viewed as very much a fixture in the industry calendar.

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Who Attended

The list of 400 attendees at the Awards lunch in June 2010 reads like a “who’s who” in the commercial conference industry. The following companies were represented at the ceremony and the seniority of the individuals is illustrated by the chart below.

ACC Liverpool, Adam Smith Conferences, Arena International Events Group, Ark Conferences, AVC Production, Blue Ant , Brocket Hall, Campden, CandC London, Centaur Conferences, Centaur Exhibitions, Central Hall Westminster, Cheers interactive, Circulation Data Services, Clarion Events, COI Live Events, Connecting Meetings, Coworth Park, Crown Group, CRU Group, DRP Group, E3, Economist Conferences, etc venues, Euroforum, Euromoney Seminars, Euromoney Seminars and Metal Bulletin Events, Eventia, Eventica, Eventsforce, F2F, Faversham House Group Ltd, FC Business Intelligence, Genpact, Europe, Glasgows, Global Infusion Group, Green Power Conferences, GSMA Ltd, Hanson Wade, Falconbury, Haymarket, Health Network Communications, Hiscox UK, ICBI, ICM, Icon Consultants, IHS Jane's, IIR Exhibitions, Incisive Media, Informa, Informa Life Sciences, Informa Telecoms & Media, Intuitive Design, IOSH, IQPC, IVCA, Jamie Oliver's Fabulous Feasts, Jumeriah, Kenes UK & ABPCO, Kent House, KPMG, LexisNexis, MA Healthcare, Management Forum, Management Forum Ltd, Marketing Birmingham, Mash Media, Media Contacts, Metal Bulletin Events, Moore People Event Staffing, Neil Stewart Associates, NHS Institute for Improvement and Innovation, One Alfred Place, Orc International, P&MM Ltd, Parliament Speakers, Pound Lane Productions, Quadrant Media & Communication, R3 , Real Recruitment, Royal College of Nursing, Saville Audio Visual, Singapore Tourism Board (London), Spotme, Springboard, Standard Board, Starwood Hotel & Resorts, Telecom TV, Terrapinn, tfconnect, The Belfry, The Business Voice, The Concerto Group, The Dorchester, The IET, The London Speaker Bureau, The Media House, ™ Forum, Tristar, UBM Awards, UBM Conferences, UK Oracle User Group, United Business Media, VenueFinder.com, Virtual Economic Forum, WBR, World-Check, Yorkshire South Tourism.

What they said

“...a fantastic meeting place for the events industry to recognise and celebrate the achievements of this dynamic group of people.”
Isobel Peck, Chief Marketing Officer, Informa

“The organisers set themselves a tough task but the event worked on every level: colleagues were reunited, new relationships born, achievements recognised. Bring on 2011!"
Katherine Kreuter, Conference Analyst

"Conference Awards team what a great job you have done! It was a fantastic achievement to have been able to gather so many companies from our sector in which we all had a very good informal place to meet up and give recognition to each other on the great job we are all doing really.”
Gabriela Cogorno, Head of Marketing, WBR Ltd

“I have attended many events and believe, without doubt, that your Conference Awards was one of the very best. Your venue, staging, food, entertainment and organisation were faultless. Ruby was perfect!”
Howard Winn-Moon, Director of International Relations, Tristar Worldwide Chauffeur Services

"Thank you for organising such a lovely inaugural Conference Awards ceremony. I can only imagine the pressure you must have felt organising an event for a group of conference organisers! The venue was superb and the food delicious, especially considering the numbers. There was a really nice buzz in the room too."
Victoria Langley, Royal College of Nursing

"Just a quick message to say a huge thank you to the team behind yesterday's Conference Awards. I think I speak for everyone at UBM Conferences when I say it was an absolutely fantastic event. "
Michael Oakes, Conference Editorial Director, UBM Conferences

“A massively attended event that exceeded all expectations. Very well done - I suspect that this will be the industry's key event for years to come."
Zahid Tharia, MD, Health Network Communications

"Just wanted to extend my thanks and say congratulations on a great event. I confess I was slightly sceptical about the concept when I first heard about it, but Friday completely won me over! "
Joby Turner, MD, IQPC UK

"A big congratulations to the Conference Awards team - an inaugural event that I think must have surpassed everyone's expectations. Full marks of course to the audience for getting in the swing and creating a great atmosphere. From management, production to catering, everyone was on their game and it showed."
Jill Fielder, Director, Blue Ant Ltd.

"We had a great time on Friday, the event was brilliant and very well organised."
Jennie Sharp Lexis Nexis

“A massive success and very exciting event to be at. So many old friends and interesting people to meet and you created such a wonderful sense of occasion."
Sarah McCaldin, Director, Hanson Wade

“Well done on not only pulling this off but making it an industry feature in its first year. I thought the whole event worked really well...I can’t imagine anyone going back to their office and not wanting to involve their companies next year.”
Tim Mann, Managing Director, WBR

“We were very impressed with the huge audience, the size, scale and slick professional production of the Conference Awards. It was great to meet up with so many ex-colleagues and make new contacts as well and we very much look forward to next year and I will be insisting all Green Power teams enter for an award!”
Nadim Chaudhry, Managing Director, Green Power Conferences

Review of the winners

Click below to see a brief review of the winners in each category together with pictures of the awards being presented.

Best Development of an Existing Event
Best Conference Brand Development
Best Development of an Association Event
Best Geographical Expansion
Best Sales Team
Best Networking Event
Best Marketing Team
Best use of Technology
Conference Triumph in the face of Adversity
Best use of Social Media
Best Operations Team
Best Green Initiatives
Outstanding Conference Team
Best Awards Team
Best New Conference Launch
Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award

Winner: The Economist Group for Emerging Markets Summit
Highly Commended: Quadrant Media & Communications Ltd for Innovate 09
Shortlisted: Informa Life Science for Chemical Industries Regulations (C.I.R)
Shortlisted: Terrapinn for World Vaccine Congress Washington 2010

Review of winning event:

Date of event: 17 & 18 September 2009 Venue: Park Plaza Riverbank, London

Website: www.economistconferences.co.uk/event/2009-emerging-markets-summit/18

The Emerging Markets Summit was launched in 2007 but was completely rethought to raise the profile of speakers and increase audience and sponsor revenues as well as press coverage.

The success of the event was down to a number of factors. The calibre of the speaker line-up was incredible and included Presidents, Prime Ministers, Peter Mandelson and Annie Lennox. The marketing campaign emphasised that attendance represented a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet and talk to some of the most powerful figures in the world.

The event was structured in such a way to allow for a maximum of informal networking. A special Gala Dinner and two networking lunches allowed delegates to enjoy privileged access to world-renowned authorities. Throughout the two days, delegates listened to rich analysis of emerging business trends, new economic forecasts, and case studies from the leaders of the world's most successful companies.

The Emerging Markets Summit 2009 delivered an event beyond anyone's expectations, and provided a platform for significant future revenue growth.

The judges described the conference as “a star-studded event and well packaged and promoted.”

“This award, which is greatly appreciated, recognises what can be achieved when you have a clear vision for an event. In this instance we set our sights high, and then worked incredibly hard to deliver a world-class line-up of speakers and a live event which did them justice."
Dougal Thomson, head of programmes at The Economist Group

Winner: WBR for TradeTech 2009
Shortlisted: BBCG for Retail Business Russia
Shortlisted: Neil Stewart Associates for Youth Justice Convention
Shortlisted: SBL for CIPOG

Review of winning event:

Date of event: 21st - 24th April

Location: The CNIT Centre, Paris

Website: www.tradetecheurope.com

TradeTech is the annual meeting place for over 2,000 industry professionals who see the event as the most comprehensive industry get together.

From the inaugural event in 2001, the brand has been consistently developed and now features in 11 regions worldwide and has inspired 10 cross industry spins- offs. The audience is carefully balanced in composition to deliver unparalleled networking and learning opportunities, resulting in a delegation who returns in greater numbers year after year. The event has extensive support from the industry press and online media outlets and has become synonymous with the industry. Integration and cross event marketing between WBR offices and departments ensure consistency of brand message.

The success of the TradeTech brand is measured by its longevity: it has been running for 10 years, its growth: attendance has increased by 995% and in revenue 1163%, industry support: the overwhelming majority of the industries key organisations choose to sponsor and/or exhibit and audience reach: the number of companies and countries attending grows each year, with over 30 different countries attending the event in 2009.

The judges described Tradetech as “A clear category leader. Not just about creating a strong brand in the market, but constantly innovating and developing it.”

Winner: GSMA Ltd for App Planet
Highly Commended: Neil Stewart Associates for Royal College of Midwives Conference 09
Shortlisted: ACS (Association of Convenience Stores) for Summit09
Shortlisted: RCN (Royal College of Nursing) for RCN: Congress & Exhibition
Shortlisted: UBM Conferences for IOSH 09 conference and exhibition

Review of winning event:

Date of Event: 15 - 18 February, 2010

Venue: Barcelona, Spain

Website: www.mobileworldcongress.com/index.htm

In 2010 the GSMA introduced App Planet at Mobile World Congress. For four days, in Barcelona, Spain App Planet became the Centre of the Apps Universe. Designed to bring together the many critical elements of the broad mobile application ecosystem together in one location, App Planet attracted more than 20,000 visitors and overall, more than 6,000 developers attended Mobile World Congress 2010. App Planet 2010 featured application developer conferences (ADCs) hosted by Google, Motorola, RIM, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone and Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP), as well as an interactive exhibition with more than 120 exhibiting companies. App Planet also offered the App Lounge for networking and business development activities; a dedicated, day-long conference programme on industry trends in mobile applications; and the App Garage, which showcased cutting-edge GSMA initiatives in the mobile applications space.

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. www.gsmworld.com.

Winner: UBM Conferences for ATC Global Middle East Conference
Shortlisted: Frost & Sullivan for Growth Innovation & Leadership Congress
Shortlisted: Green Power Conferences for their Turkey Portfolio
Shortlisted: Incisive Media for Unquote" South Africa

Review of winning event:

Date of event: 14-16 December 2009

Venue: Hilton International Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Website: www.atcglobalme.com

UBM Conferences was tasked with developing the international expansion for ATC Global, the largest conference and exhibition for the air traffic control industry. The Middle East was chosen as the location as it had a buoyant regional aviation sector; a fragmented ATC environment, desperate for a unifying event; support from the UAE’s civil aviation authority (GCAA); and a hugely successful ATC Global 2009 Middle East Briefing in Amsterdam which uncovered a thirst for information.

A multi-channel marketing strategy was developed including direct mail (some hand delivered) to the regional and international ATC Global community; an extensive list build project to expand the database; an intensive telemarketing campaign; and local & global PR.

One of highlights was the UAE Minister of Economy giving the opening speech and spending over an hour at the event. Later it was discovered that the Minister had delayed the signing of the crucial UEA bailout at the Ministry of Finance by 30 minutes due to spending more time at the conference!

With over 280 delegates and 15 sponsors, the event was such a success that it is being rolled out to three other regions this year.

Judges comments: “Fantastic achievement showing that gaining the support of government is invaluable in driving revenue. Excellent local buy in”.

Winner: Informa Life Sciences Sales Team
Shortlisted: IIR BV South Africa for IIR BV South Africa Telesales: Conference Division
Shortlisted: WBR Ltd for DGI 2010/Sponsorship Sales team

Review of winning team:

Informa Life Sciences Sales Team consists of 7 members, a Commercial Director, 2 Vertical Sales Directors, 3 Business Development Managers and 1 Business Development Executive. The current team has been in place for the last two years. Collaboratively, the team has over 57 years of experience, extending from 3 years to 15 years.

The Sales Team worked on 77 events in 2008 and 81 events in 2009. In 2009 they overachieved on a third of the sponsorship/exhibition targets, the highest increase being 620% on one event. The team also over achieved on the annual sponsorship target by 16% and were particularly successful in re-sell. These results were achieved despite the economic downturn and the increasingly competitive Life Sciences events market.

The Sales Team received ongoing support including objection handling and proposal writing training. In addition, they developed sponsorship/exhibition packages to increase flexibility and provide more value-added benefits, tailoring solutions specifically to client needs. They worked in tandem with the Conference Producers to ensure that programmes included key areas attracting the service providers.

The judges were impressed by the extensive training offered and the structured sales team approach.

Kirianne Marshall, Commercial Director at Informa Life Sciences commented “The Sales Team was delighted to have their achievements recognised with this award by such a distinguished judging panel”.

Winner: IQPC Exchange for Corporate Counsel Exchange
Highly Commended: Glasgows for Breaking Through 2009 Conference
Shortlisted: Informa Life Sciences for 8th Annual Partnerships in Clinical Trials Congress and Exhibition

Review of winning event:

Date of event: 25 – 27 October 2009

Venue: Steigenberger Kurhaus Hotel, The Hague, Netherlands

Website: www.corporatecounselexchange.co.uk

The Corporate Counsel Exchange was a strictly senior delegation ensuring that all delegates would only be networking with their senior counterparts. Strictly limiting the number of delegates meant the event was intimate enough to maximise networking opportunities. Despite a very condensed and full programme schedule it also included 2 networking dinners, 2 networking lunches and a networking drinks function. All delegates stayed in the same hotel so delegates could continue networking beyond the set programme agenda.

Networking was facilitated pre and post event via a LinkedIn group, allowing delegates to interact prior to the event and arrange meetings at the Exchange. The BrainWeave sessions, 30 minute roundtable discussions on a series of topics delivered by industry leaders, also encouraged interactive knowledge sharing and problem solving.

The target was to facilitate a highly productive and interactive two day conference where senior General Counsel not only learnt from others and networked with their peers, but generated new business between law firms and legal tech providers. So far, four General Counsels have been introduced to new Law Firms/Legal Technology providers and are now working together.

“IQPC Exchange are very grateful to the effort put in by The Conference Awards 2010. A good time was had by those that attended and we are of course very pleased to accept our award. The Exchange format has a strong emphasis on networking so to receive this accolade from industry peers reinforces the hard work we are doing. The news of receiving the award spread quickly to all arms of the business globally and has given the team a great boost in terms of pride in their work.”
Lindsay Lovell, Marketing Manager - IQPC Exchange Europe

Winner: Incisive Media Marketing Team
Shortlisted: Green Power Conferences Marketing Team
Shortlisted: IRR SA Marketing Team for Large Scale Events IIR South Africa
Shortlisted: Terrapinn Inc for Alternative Investment Summit Brasil 2009
Shortlisted: Informa Life Sciences Marketing Team

Review of winning team:

Website: www.incisive-events.com

The Incisive Media marketing team consists of 18 marketers delivering 600 events per year across the globe predominantly in the financial markets, which had a really terrible year.

With expectations of a drop in volume of paid-for delegates, a clear marketing strategy was developed and action taken on price and cost early. So whilst peers were shedding jobs, Incisive Media were delivering numbers.

Successes included:

pricing all of non-UK events to benefit from the fluctuations in exchange-rate
spending no more than 50% of marketing budget on any event
continuing to exceed sponsor expectations in terms of delegate volume and quality
embracing social media as a medium for delegate recruitment, list research and brand enhancement
launching two hugely successful event websites delivering an upside of 1,150% in lead generation
delivering cost savings of over £3/4M without compromising on marketing quality, delegate numbers or revenue

The team delivered 94% of budget and whilst that may be a missed target, it was a horrible year and was a phenomenal achievement. What’s more, the team did it with a smile, showing a true team spirit and togetherness.

“I was absolutely delighted to win the Best Marketing Team award. In what was an horrific year for our markets, it was fantastic to see the team’s passion and pride in their performance rewarded by an objective body at the inaugural Conference Awards. Winning this award made an old man and his team very proud and very happy - and we’re all looking forward to trying to retain it in next year!

I foolishly was on holiday the week of the awards and can honestly say it’s the first time I’ve ever wished I was at work whilst I was away! Everyone told me it was a very good bash so looking forward to attending next year.”
Ben Wood, Group Head of Event Marketing, Incisive Media

Winner: LexisNexis for Dispute Resolution Webinars Series
Shortlisted: Incisive Media for Spotlight On
Shortlisted: Neil Stewart Associates for UK COMMISSION CONSULTATION EXCERCISE SUMMER 2009

Review of event:

Date of event: 18 March 2009 to 2nd February 2010

Location: Desktop

Website: www.conferencesandtraining.co.uk/dispute-resolution-webinars

LexisNexis redesigned the dispute resolution (DR) conference into a series of 8 webinars which enabled delivery of additional learning with flexible timing, which better suits lawyers and has resulted in an increase in audiences.

The DR series uses a system integrating bespoke webcasting software with a custom-made cutting-edge broadcast-quality multi-media studio facility. This system streams high-quality video without degrading picture quality and displays presentation notes and supporting slides simultaneously, together with participant questions in real time creating a genuinely interactive and engaging experience.

Results have been impressive, 60% reduction in production costs to that of a 3rd party provider, 5548 paid for registrations and 95% passed CPD test, denoting excellent participant engagement. This webcasting software and studio is now even being used by the wider LexisNexis business as well as external paying customers.

Whether to strengthen customer relationships, communicate brand values, grow new business or run training sessions, LexisNexis™ webcasting software and studio is proving it delivers a high quality, customised and cost-effective technology solution.

Judges comments: “Simple solutions, implemented effectively with good results. Considerable savings demonstrated”.

Winner: Neil Stewart Associates for The Guardian Higher Education Summit
Highly Commended: P&MM Ltd for OKI - Pinnacle Club
Shortlisted: UBM for British Crop Production Congress & Exhibition 2009
Shortlisted: Virtual Economic Forum for Virtual Worlds Forum 2008

Review of event:

Date of event: 2-3 Feb 2009

Location: QE II Centre, London

Website: www.hesummit.com

The Guardian Higher Education Summit 2-3 Feb 2009, was hit by the snow storms which brought transport to a halt and meant, half the delegates and several of the speakers could not get to the conference or the dinner.

Although the event was not commissioned for live online broadcast a plan was put together which meant that it was delivered online within 2 hours. The aim was to capture all the contributions, broadcast live, take interactive questions by email and telephone and make all the sessions available later on line on demand.

This provided delegates and sponsors with the content and business intelligence they expected, with the additional benefit that they were able to share it more widely.

The event turned out to be a demonstration of the robust nature of the technology and a modernising moment in attitudes to conference experiences online in Higher Education in the UK.

Judges comments: “Considerable credit to NSA for keeping the show on the road”.

Winner: Incisive Media for Search Engine Strategies
Shortlisted: ACC Liverpool for TweetUp North
Shortlisted: Reed Business Information for ComputerWeekly Roundtables
Shortlisted: UBM Conferences for Harnessing the Power of Twitter

Review of event:

Date of event: Series of 6 throughout 2009

Location: London, New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Berlin, Chicago, Amsterdam, Hong Kong

Website: www.searchenginestrategies.com

Social Media Networks have enabled the market to reach attendees in ways which have been difficult in the past. Rather than gearing social networks as revenue drivers Incisive Media have used them to cultivate a conversation and ultimately build a base of evangelists to help build the brand, as well as interact with attendees on a more personal level.

Cultivating user generated content through brand enthusiasts and gauging brand sentiment and awareness have been key areas of success. Measuring the feedback from attendees and following conversations about shows with unique hash tags has been one way in which brand sentiment has been tracked.

"Social media networks have enabled us to reach attendees in ways which have been difficult in the past. All measurements from first contact through to client engagement and sales via social channels have showed double digit improvement year on year. We don’t just teach the subject, we use it too!"
Matt McGowan, publisher and head of U.S., Incisive Media

Winner: Informa Telecoms & Media Operations team
Highly Commended: Marketing Birmingham for 100th Rotary International Convention
Shortlisted: Incisive Media Event Operations Team
Shortlisted: Oracle Users Group (UKOUG) Events Team
Shortlisted: WBR Event Management Team

Review of winning team:

As a team, Informa Telecoms & Media organise over 60 events worldwide per year. Of these, the African-based conferences and exhibitions are the most challenging with a number of unique situations arising, including:

South Africa (AfricaCom – flagship event) – Informa & exhibitor shipment being delayed in customs until hours before the show opened. This included event registration equipment and exhibitor stand equipment – a potential disaster for an event that registers 4000 people and has over 100 exhibitors.

Nigeria (West AfricaCom) – many challenging situations including “renting” an ambulance for the event, stomach virus that swept through the whole event team and many exhibitors and attendees across the 2 days, power cuts throughout the event including the keynote presentations.

Despite these and other issues seemingly flawless events are delivered where exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and attendees are none the wiser about the challenges faced to execute the event.

The judges were impressed by “Excellence in a market many others would hesitate to tackle” and the team's ability to overcome adversity.

Winner: Green Power Conferences
Shortlisted: Euroforum for Consumententrends (Trends in Consumer Behaviour)
Shortlisted: Seventeen Events Ltd for The Sustainable Events Summit 2009

Review of winning team:

Website: www.greenpowerconferences.com/general/green_policy.html

Green Power Conferences have developed numerous green initiatives to support their position in the marketplace. Since it was founded Green Power Conferences' entire mission has been to fight climate change by using event media.

They have helped spread best practice and accelerate the market development of renewable energy technologies, sustainable business practices and GHG mitigation projects across the world having run 120 conferences in 32 countries over the past 6 years.

They encourage green thinking from staff, suppliers and delegates to maintain their position as the “Green conference organiser who walks the walk on sustainability”.

“We were all very pleased to receive the recognition of the conference industry, we will continue to innovate and minimize the impact of our conferences. This year we are even launching a staff emissions training scheme to help change our behaviour.”
Nadim Chaudhry, Managing Director, Green Power Conferences.

Winner: Health Network Communications
Highly Commended: MA Healthcare
Shortlisted: Campden Wealth for Campden Conferences
Shortlisted: Standard Board Private Limited (Energy Division)

Review of wining team:

Website: www.healthnetworkcommunications.com

The team at Health Network Communications demonstrated:

Passion for events and the Life Science industry
A world class portfolio of market leading conferences

In a year of turbulence for the events industry, Health Network team had a year of substantial growth and established itself as one of the leading international Life Science events businesses. With a commitment to event quality and innovation, every event held in 2009 grew in revenue and profitability compared with 2008.

Additionally, 3 new events were launched in the US and UK markets which generated significant revenue with high margins and repeat business. This trend is set to continue into 2010 where first six month forecast revenue is up 25% on 2009 and forecast half year net profits up 95%.

Through the commitment of the team, Health Network Communication events have become recognised as world class. As evident by growing sponsorship revenue, delivery of quality leads to sponsor clients together with the provision of excellent agendas and positive delegate experiences.

"This is a great honour and a fabulous achievement. It justly recognises the fantastic work that our hugely talented team have done in creating high quality events for the international Life Sciences community. I am very proud to be working with them."
Zahid Tharia, Managing Director of Health Network Communications in London

Winner: UBM for UBM Awards
Highly Commended: Informa Australia for Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards 2009
Shortlisted: Beyond Media Services
Shortlisted: The IET

Review of winning team:

Website: www.ubmconferences.com

2009 was a tough year for all media spend. It was a tough year for almost all industries. When it is tough – items such as awards entries, tables and entertaining at lavish dinners or events and sponsorship are at the top of the list of things to be cut. This was the picture faced by the UBM Awards Team.

In 2009 the team adapted to this new, challenging market. With sponsorships drying up and table sales dipping the team focused on the commercial viability of events and specifically ‘Three Pillars to Profit’. As a group they really concentrated on ensuring that the business side of the events became the mantra. They re-negotiated contracts, looked at innovative ways to save costs and worked longer and harder. They also showed themselves to be truly creative. They kept quality high – an expectation of a UBM Awards event - but also costs
low. The quality of all events in 2009 did not drop at all, and in many cases guests remarked on how things even seemed better, but the focus on cost and on commercial viability of the events has kept UBM one of the biggest awards organisers in the UK.

Judges comments: “A very highly professional division executing best practice event management and business process -benefiting from economies of scale and specialisation”.

"As a team that runs over 40 awards a year for other people to win, it was fantastic to be recognised as winners in our own right. Our determination to drive down costs as well as driving up quality has really paid off and puts us in a very strong position. We were thrilled to win!"
Caroline Jackson Levy, Managing Director of UBM Awards

Winner: The Institution of Engineering and Technology for Substation Technology 2009
Highly Commended: C&C International Group of Companies for Excellence in Paediatrics
Shortlisted: The Economist Group for The Risk Summit: new perspectives on decision-making
Shortlisted: Faversham House Group Ltd for Water NI - Meeting the Challenges
Shortlisted: tfConnect for Global Event Summit

Review of winning event:

Date of event: 3-4 November 2009.

Location: The Thinktank, Birmingham

Website: www.theiet.org/substation2009

The IET’s Substation Technology 2009 conference provided a unique opportunity for power engineers to discuss the technology employed in Substation Automation Projects, as well as the design, management and construction of the modern substation.

There were no other events in the UK or Europe that were specifically examining the technical issues behind the implementation of these substation technologies and market research identified that this was an area growing in prominence.

The combination of a balanced, technically-focused programme organised by Europe's leading engineering society, alongside a vendor exhibition, provided a mixture of technical integrity and commercial savvy for the event. It also brought together the main vendors and asset owners in a major substation specific forum, which had not been done previously.

“We really enjoyed the ceremony – well done on putting together an entertaining and interesting awards lunch! It was a great opportunity to take the team out and celebrate our achevements. We’ll definitely put in an entry again next year.”
Danielle Crofts, Group Manager, Event Production, The IET

Winner: John Haines, Founder, IBC

John Haines co-founded IBC in 1964. After merging with LLP IBC eventually became informa, now by a distance the largest international commercial conference business worldwide. He led many of IBC’s initial ventures into overseas conference markets, including continental Europe and United States. Always on the lookout for new conference ideas, John was regarded by colleagues throughout his career as one of the great innovators in the industry.

Photography by Duncan Robb at Red Dog