PIC 2007 Closure Report

The fourth PI Conference was held at the MacDonald Bath Spa Hotel on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd May 2007 and has proved to be as popular, if not more, than the previous 3 years. According to the delegate feedback the conference was a huge success and well received by all of those who attended. This was mostly due to the programme content, speaker quality, networking opportunities and professional organisation of the conference.

We had a record number of attendees this year from a variety of sectors and backgrounds. This year's conference not only saw many of our past attendees returning (64% of attendees from 2006 came back this year) but also there were 11 new companies in attendance. The split of industries at the conference was as follows:

Law Firms 34%
Banks 26%
Professional Services 17%
Vendors 10%
Other (which includes industry bodies, insurance, hedge funds and private equity) 8%
Recruitment Firms 5%

On the whole the feedback was very positive, with the vast majority of feedback forms recommending that their company attend the conference in 2008. We have already had a number of excellent suggestions for topics to include next year and ways to better the conference format.

Feedback Highlights:

• Aspects of the conference such as booking/admin, programme content, speech content, organisation and the overall event received scores of 4' and 5's.
• The venue was well liked by all attendees, receiving mainly 5's.
• The main attractions for attending the event are the networking opportunities, programme, attendee list, previous attendance, word of mouth and the opportunity to share experiences with industry colleagues.
• The majority of speakers were given a high ranking, ranging between 3 and 5. The most popular speakers were Jacqueline Beattie, Stuart Hensel and Dave Snowden.

(5 = excellent, 4 = very good, 3= good, 2= fair and 1= poor)

Breakout Sessions:

• Feedback from the breakout sessions was on the whole very positive with many attendees liking the sessions on the softer skills and also issues surrounding vendor relationships, case studies and recruitment problems.
• From feedback it is clear that the best sessions were those that were interactive and involved sharing experiences amongst the group.
• The most popular sessions were The Practice of Facilitation with James Traeger, Understanding the Drivers behind a Vendor Salesman with Dermot Corrigan and Successful Communication with Business NLP with Katie Hogg.

Networking & Social Events:

Both evenings received a very warm welcome from the delegates as they were seen as excellent opportunities to network and socialise with friends, vendors and new industry colleagues. Highlights included our trip and drinks reception at the Roman Baths on the Tuesday evening and the gala champagne reception in the hotel gardens on the Wednesday. It was also great to have the vast majority of delegates there for the whole 3 days of the conference and for both evenings. The only lowlight in all of this being our after dinner speaker who was not so well liked.

Here are some quotes from our clients regarding PIC 2007:

'Thank you once again - I have come back to the workplace inspired and refreshed' - Susan Dennis, Charles Russell

'This was my first PI Conference - I genuinely thought the set up and format was excellent. Plenty of content to take away from excellent speakers please a great opportunity to meet contacts' - Gavin Lewis, Swets

'I thought the conference was excellent. There was a great balance between speaker, panel and breakout sessions with the timing of each spot on. The content was appropriately varied whilst remaining within the framework of the conference theme and there was plenty of opportunity for networking. The venue was perfect and being in Bath gave all of us based in London the added "lift" of getting out of the city. The organisation was superb and I can appreciate how much effort must have gone into making the conference a success. Well done!' - Alison Black, Clifford Chance

'Thank you so much for yet another enjoyable and useful conference. The speakers and break-out sessions were well worthwhile and the networking opportunity invaluable. I had a really great time.' - Judith Hamilton, Rabobank

'First of all big congratulations on putting together yet another very successful conference! It can't be faulted in any way.' - Isabella Folwell, Threadneedle

'I found the conference very interesting and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Excellent organisation - well done!' - Janice Clarke, Head of Library & Information Services, Holman Fenwick & Willan

'Now the only ‘information’ conference aimed at high level professionals and with a strategic focus. The format encourages participation unlike other conferences' - Susan Doe, Sidley Austin (UK) Limited