Feature: Education, education, education!

A highly impressive and informative group of leading industry experts provided valuable insight and advice into the latest trends in vouchers, gift cards and the stored value market at The Va’s fourth annual conference at the Jumeriah Carlton Tower hotel in London.

The Va’s ‘top ten’ list was a feature of the introduction of the day highlighting which topics would continue to have a significant impact on the Va and its members during the course of 2007. The top ten list is:

The concept of educating the industry was paramount throughout the conference and was highlighted in the top ten list, as well as being discussed by several speakers on the day, whether it is educating the government, the media or the consumer. Indeed, it was also stressed that there is a distinct need for organisations to educate their staff internally on the benefits of gift cards and vouchers.

Another topic that made it into the ‘list’ was the issue of regulation, which has dominated the industry. The whole debate on whether the industry should or shouldn’t be regulated rages on. While a definite answer wasn’t agreed in the conference, what it did raise was that the subject needs more analysis and debate on the pros and cons on the issue. What was suggested was that it would be far better for the industry to self regulate rather than having it imposed.

As an industry we are constantly evolving and welcoming new members on board (we are already in double figures since the start of 2007!). This has never been more apparent then when I met delegates during the breaks, lunch and post event drinks. The conference was packed with visitors from a broad range of companies from established issuers and providers to those that wanted to ‘test the water’ to see where the industry was heading and to hear what our high calibre group of speakers had to say for themselves.

A powerful presentation by Martin Butler, Chief Executive of RPM3, and author of the accredited book, ‘People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you stand for’ opened the conference. Martin gave a fascinating insight into what makes a consumer enter one shop over another. Drawing on examples from John Lewis, Tesco, Carphone Warehouse and Oddbins he highlighted how these retailers had set themselves apart from their competitors by giving consumers a compelling reason to shop there.

Tony Craddock from Giftex chaired the ‘innovations in consumer sales of vouchers and gift cards’ forum with the panel including Bernard Grant (Debenhams), Helen Jones (Theatre Tokens), Russell Morris (Sainbury’s) and David Brown (Serious). During this lively discussion the panel were asked how to ensure that vouchers and gift cards were no longer deemed as a ‘last resort’ by the consumer and how to change perceptions.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Michelle Lapierre from Marriott International who presented ‘generations at work’ and has travelled the world as an educator on the subject.

This highly successful interactive presentation helped the conference end on a high note as Michelle went on to explain the four active generations in play; matures (veteran traditionalists), baby boomers (aged between 43-62), Gen X (dotcom-ers technocrats) and finally Gen Y (generation next millennials) and why it was important for the different age groups to work together.

This year’s conference was a resounding success and delegates had the opportunity to hear from a wide range of high-level speakers. Feedback for the conference has been extremely positive and it was great news that so many companies could join us. The 2007 conference has now set a precedent and the 2008 conference will have a lot to live up to.