BTA Chief Executive Clive Wratten, Agiito CEO James Parkhouse, TripActions VP Marketing EMEA Simone Buckley, Blue Cube Managing Director Bex Deadman and Festive Road Managing Partner Paul Tilstone are just some of the industry leaders now confirmed for The Business Travel Conference 2021.
The in-person event takes place on September 14-15 at the London Hilton Bankside with the theme ‘Reconnect, Reset and Restart’.
Also taking to the stage will be ITM CEO Scott Davies, TRIPBAM MD Europe Peter Grover, Ray Rackham, Managing Director UK at CIBT, Frank Harrison, Security Director at World Travel Protection, Wayne Britton, Director at Peregrine, TapTrip COO Neil Ruth and Carol Fergus, Director Global Travel at Fidelity International.
The opening keynote speech will be from Stephen Hammond MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for business travel.
The conference programme, announced today, is packed full of invaluable content and debate, with insights from top industry experts to help travel buyers navigate the new world.
Lively and engaging sessions will cover key topics such as travel risk and duty of care, traveller wellbeing, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and the new role of the travel manager.
“It’s been a long time since our industry has got together for an in-person conference and there is so much to catch up on,” said Bev Fearis, Editor of The Business Travel Magazine.
“We’re so excited to already have such an excellent line-up of speakers and panelists and we’ll be announcing more names in the coming weeks.
“The sector is going through the most significant changes it has ever experienced so it’s never been so important for us to come together share our experiences and learn how best to move forward. As the theme of our conference says, it’s time to ‘Reconnect, Reset and Restart’.
The conference programme is based on a survey of buyers to ensure the sessions provide the discussions, workshops and presentations that will be most relevant, useful and inspiring.
“Whether you’re new to the sector or highly experienced, there will be something to take home from our experts,” added Fearis.
Alongside the conference sessions, there will be an informal meeting area plus our Wellbeing and Advice area will also return including key areas such as recruitment, risk, mental health and wellbeing experts.
Key travel suppliers will be exhibiting at the event, including Egencia, Agiito, Gray Dawes, Singapore Airlines, ANA, TripActions and TRIPBAM.
Delegate numbers are deliberately limited and delegates are required to meet certain criteria to qualify for the 200 free places.
“The intimacy of our conference makes it easy to meet the people you want to talk with,” said Kirsty Hicks, Commercial Head – Business Travel at BMI Publishing, organisers of the event.
“We know that networking is so important – especially after all this time apart – so we’ve allowed plenty of time for delegates to chat and socialise, catch up with friends and colleagues and make new contacts.
“The spacious ballroom at the Hilton London Bankside is the perfect location. The hotel is easy to get to in central London and, as you would expect from Hilton, the event will be held with stringent health and safety measures in place with regards to Covid, including regular disinfecting of common touch points in the event space and sanitisers in key public areas.”
For the first time, the prestigious Business Travel People Awards will be held on the second evening of the conference, so delegates can attend two of the most important events in the business travel calendar at the same time.
