nineteen Agency Leaders Retreat 2021

nineteen - The Retreat 2021

We're not in Kansas anymore

Leaders and MDs of agencies including CWT M&E, Smyle, DRPG, OrangeDoor, TTA, Noble Events, Strata, Cheerful Twentyfirst, Goose Live Events, Identity, Black Tomato Agency and more attended the inaugural micebook Agency Leaders Retreat, which took place at Birch last week.

Check out the first official pictures from the event, which saw members of nineteen, our recently launched collaborative membership group for agency leaders to connect, develop and influence at an executive level, gather in person for the first time.

The two-day event kicked off with a Women in Leadership session, chaired by Worldspan’s Jennifer Jenkins, and a session with TBA’s Guy Horner and Top Banana’s Richard Bridge on their recent acquisition. This was followed by drinks and dinner for agency leaders.

The second day saw leaders inspired by Chris Penn, Co-Founder, Performance Hotels – creators of Steel and Birch, who shared his experiences of swimming the channel and setting up his own hospitality business, and tackle the difficult topic of diversity and inclusion in session with Diversity Ally’s co-founders Gabby Austen-Browne and Ashanti Bentil-Dhue.

Agency leaders were then joined by micebook partners including Cignpost Diagnostics, Lore Group, Just The Letter B, Accor Hotels, Belmond, Conventions Malta, London & Partners, Ablemaxx, Monaco Convention Bureau, Dorchester Collection, Wonderful Copenhagen, Explore Edmonton, Vienna Convention Bureau and more, for more content sessions including an inspirational evening keynote by Natalie Campbell, Co-CEO at Belu Water Ltd, activities hosted by Birch, drinks, dinner and networking.

David McDowall, President & COO at BrewDog, in partnership with Speakers Corner, kicked off the final morning, followed by a Leaders Panel, chaired by Martin Fullard, Editor, Conference News, on whether the events industry could be better structured and prepared for handling future crises.

In the words of...

“We are about much more than just putting on events. We change behaviours. When you look at the value of our industry, it’s much higher than the figures that are shared because we don’t take into account the impact we have because of that behavioural change. If we organise a sales conference, we have generated x bullions from that. So our value is not just the turnover of the industry, it’s the impact we have on every other sector.””

Dale Parmenter, Group CEO, DRPG

“Living through the pandemic personally and commercially is probably the biggest strain all of us have ever faced and will ever face again, but I was not going to let it define me. We could have taken the money and run. But because we are entrepreneurial women, we took the decision to keep fighting and to do whatever we could to keep our businesses going.”

Elizabeth Heron, CEO, OrangeDoor

“What the pandemic has done is shown a great need for face to face, and people being together and communicating. So let’s shine a light on that and trailblaze it. Creativity and innovation for me are really important. I want to make sure we are always trailblazing whether its innovation, whether its people, whether its creativity, we want to be known for leading the light on trends within our industry.”

Jemma Peers, Managing Director, Top Banana

“If a business is trying to trade without purpose, it won’t be sticky and is unlikely to survive. Having a clear purpose keeps us going and helps us get through difficult times. There will be many more challenges ahead but the purpose is what holds us all together.”

Chris Penn, Co-Founder, Performance Hotels – creators of Steel and Birch