Feature: Guest speakers announced for conference

Thursday 29th March will see the largest group of leading industry experts from the voucher and gift card market bought together for the annual Va Conference, which will take place at The Jumeirah Carlton Tower, London. The event, now in its fourth year, will provide valuable insight and advise into the latest trends for the market.

The voucher and gift card market is a fast moving and growing sector that is changing rapidly. In the past 12 months we have witnessed a number of changes taking place in the industry, from the introduction of new players in both paper vouchers and gift cards to new and exciting innovations in technology and distribution.

The event will provide an excellent opportunity for both established issuers of vouchers and new providers that are looking to enter the market. It will share best practice ideas, discuss issues of mutual concern and allow delegates to learn about developments and innovations that can help grow and develop the incentive and consumer market, which is worth over £3 billion in the UK alone.

This year’s conference seeks to embrace the objective of learning and development and ensuring that your business is ‘maximising every opportunity’. With such growth and innovation there are always new opportunities waiting around the corner. The question is are you ready for them and how do you ensure you are making the most of them?

Two of the high quality guest speakers at this year’s Va Conference are Michelle Lapierre, Head of Marketing Strategy at Marriott International, and Martin Butler, Chairman of leading London retail advertising and marketing agency RPM3, and author of ‘People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you stand for’.

Michelle Lapierre will be making a presentation entitled ‘Generations at Work – The Power of Demographics’ and Martin will be sharing some of the key industry secrets that have brought success to a number of leading retailers in his presentation entitled ‘People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you stand for’. These are just two of the hot topics that will be covered in the conference and there will plenty of topical subjects that delegates can hear about that will be covered by leading experts on the day.

Experts from MasterCard, Ernst & Young, Osborne Clarke, First Data and Debenhams will also be speaking at the conference and will be sharing their vast knowledge of the industry and will be covering an array of topical and thought provoking subjects.

In addition, a mini exhibition will be running alongside the conference that delegates can visit during intervals. Whilst taking away new understanding and learning is important, a Va event would not be the same without time to network and learn from colleagues and peers. This event is a milestone in the industry calendar and an event for anyone involved in selling, issuing or servicing gift vouchers, gift cards and stored value solutions.

The Va has developed this event to offer a practical and business focussed programme designed to create an environment that stimulates discussion and debate among its audience.

I look forward to meeting people with a shared interest in this ever-expanding and diverse industry and am sure that it will be a highly informative and enjoyable day for everyone who has an interest in the vouchers, gift cards and stored valued solutions industry.