BIBA 2020 - The year to pioneer

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has today announced its theme for next year’s conference and it appears that 2020 will be “the year to pioneer”.

This year’s theme was “leading the way” and the Association certainly did just that when it came to headlines. It was during his keynote address that then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson confirmed that he would indeed run for Tory leadership when Theresa May stepped down.

Politics aside, the event was a great success as usual.  We supported 12 of our clients through the madness of the conference, issuing press releases, writing articles, arranging press interviews, creating impactful videos, and developing and delivering social media plans, all to help them make the most of one of the UK insurance industry’s biggest annual events.

Turning to 2020, BIBA CEO Steve White explained the choice of theme stating; “We have been talking about change for some time and 2020 really is the year for us to overcome the new challenges we all face. Technology is an enabler and seizing its potential could help us to address the developing needs of customers. Understanding that the world expects businesses to not only provide products and services that work, but also to embrace sustainability, wellbeing and different mindsets is essential.”

So, what can we expect from BIBA2020?  Well, given the current uncertainties surrounding Brexit and a hardening of rates across many lines, we could see some changes in levels of involvement. That said, our industry is nothing but resilient and demand will no-doubt remain as strong as ever for this premier event.

Although not yet confirmed, the popular Hackathon is likely to make a reappearance for a third year, pitting teams of innovators against one another to scope and develop new products or solutions to help shape the industry. With this year’s theme, the challenge could take on an interesting twist and force participants to take a pioneering approach and really think outside the box.

Keynote speakers are also not yet confirmed but in line with the theme, we could reasonably speculate that the line-up may feature an explorer or well-known entrepreneur – BIBA frequently attracts high profile speakers and the reveal is usually surprising and thought-provoking.

What we do know is that it will once again be one of the biggest dates in the industry calendar and that the energy in the hall will be electric. We’ve spoken to many of our clients who exhibited in 2019, and they all confirmed it was excellent for business development, making a huge number of new contacts and developing new ideas and solutions. It is important to remember that the BIBA conference is what you make it!

We already have a number of clients confirmed to exhibit and planning has started to ensure that their communications in the run up to, during and after BIBA helps to maximise their attendance and help to shape their story. It’s sure to be another excellent event.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you to develop a full multi-channel communications plan around BIBA or other events, please contact the team;

Alex Wise – awise@fullcirclecomms.co.uk

Matt Beasley – mbeasley@fullcirclecomms.co.uk

Kirsty Plank – kplank@fullcirclecomms.co.uk