Keynote Speakers

Martin Fullard 
Associate Director – News & Content at brand communications agency Davies Tanner

Martin fronts The Business of Events, an independent Think Tank and platform for Policy, Advocacy, Content, and Engagement, which works to research and develop Government policy initiatives for the events industry. 

Alongside supporting clients with their own brand content, he offers industry commentary and supports advisory work to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events, the DCMS, and industry trade bodies.

He was previously an industry journalist at Conference News and Exhibition News, appearing on the BBC, LBC, CNN, and in a host of national and regional titles.

We are delighted that Martin will act as our Conference host and deliver a keynote presentation. 

Peter Heath
Founder – Venue Performance

Peter is the founder of Venue Performance, a future-focused M&E benchmarking service for hotels and venues.

Venue Performance also provides regular market updates and analysis for industry bodies including AVS, Venues of Excellence, beam, HOSPA, government bodies and many of the UK's DMOs.

Peter will share the latest trends from the UK's M&E benchmarking data.

Exploring lead times, pricing and pick up post pandemic, Peter will share the state of the market with Martin Fullard and discuss what the future holds for the UK M&E industry and specifically for the academic venue businesses.

Shona Hirons

Mindset in Motion Ltd

There’s no shortage of mental health experts out there, so what makes me different to them?

I believe it’s my lived experience!

I am often asked, how can one person experience so much trauma and adversity, but still keep going?

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t always easy and 10 years ago I was probably the most negative person around, yet I had what some would say was a successful career, nice house, nice car, gorgeous daughter and a wonderful husband, but I was so unhappy. Much of this was because of the things I exposed myself to, like the news, the wrong people and negative self-talk. I didn’t have healthy boundaries and I had no balance in my life.

What a mini-stroke, heart surgery, burnout, a life-changing accident and cancer has taught me is that we can give up or get up. It has given me the opportunity to slow down and reflect on my why and what’s important to me.

When I was recovering from my accident in 2017, I realised that if that had been my last day on earth, would I have been happy with what I’d achieved? My answer was absolutely not and it was time to take back control of my life.

I believe that tough times make tougher people and that’s a choice.

Following my accident, I was told there were certain things I’d never be able to do again, but I refused to believe that and became very goal-orientated.

Once you start believing in yourself amazing things start to happen and I’ve achieved things I didn’t think were possible.

Despite what I’ve been through, I am more positive and excited about my future than ever and I believe I’m still here to share my story and inspire others to be their best.

Instead of just sleeping with your dreams, wake up and chase them and see the impossible become possible.

Figen Murray

Figen Murray is the mother of Martyn Hett, who at 29 years of age was tragically killed alongside 21 others at the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in May 2017. Since the Manchester Arena attack, Figen has been working with the Government and the security industry to make the tangible changes that can help ensure no other family has to go through what hers has. She is the force behind Martyn’s Law(Protect Duty), a legislation requiring publicly accessible locations to provide mandatory security against the threat of terrorism. Her ambitions to better understand counter-terrorism saw her achieve a distinction in a counter terrorism master’s degree from the University of Central Lancashire.

Figen’s dedication and work in counter terrorism saw her awarded an OBE in the2022 New Year’s Honours List. She is a Visiting Fellow for the Institute of Strategic Risk Management, a member of the senior leadership team for TINYg, and an Associate Member of the Security Institute. She gives talks on Martyn’s Law across the UK as well as internationally. Figen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Salford in November 2022. 

In addition to the work around Martyn’s Law Figen also visits secondary schools, colleges and universities and talks to young people about the dangers of online radicalisation. She has so far reached over 25,000 young people all over the UK.

Duncan Stevens

Duncan is a leadership and influence coach  with a background in behavioural psychology who spends his time working with brands, companies, teams and leaders to help people cultivate a mindset for success. 

He helps teams and leaders create new opportunities through new perspectives by inspiring them to build on their current skillset or unlock skills that currently lay dormant. Doing so, allows them to create new perspectives to enable them to use these skills differently to impact their teams positively. 

Duncan will deliver “Mastering Effective Influence To Build High-Performing Collaborative Relationships” -How Brilliant Teams Leverage Effective Influence, Persuasion and Collaboration To Build and Maintain More Authentic Internal and External Long-Term Relationships.