We aim to make this event one of the highlights of the year.  The event is centred on the FIA’s successes over the last 12 months and includes, our morning Annual General Meeting, a three-course lunch plus entertainment as well as fantastic opportunities to network throughout the day. This is the event gets increasingly more informal as the day goes on – this is fantastic for catching up with old colleagues as well as expanding your network in a relaxed environment. 

"We like to challenge ourselves to make each event even better than the last, we really do listen to the feedback from each event and try to make the improvements our members and guests want to see." Ryan Brassil, FIA Events Manager. 

Accommodating a crowd of 500+ guests is an enormous task. The challenge for this event was to not only host an enjoyable day for our guests, but also to build on the successes of last year, whilst listening to our member's feedback and make the improvements our members and guests wanted to see.  

This event was held at the Brewery in the City of London. From the moment our guests arrived, the event was strongly branded, with our event registration team being the very first people they met. Whilst representing the FIA in a smart and professional manner, the team were there to welcome our guests issuing them with their name badge and lanyard as well as being on hand to answer queries that some of our attendees had about the day. We collected delegate information pre-event via a bespoke registration website we'd worked with, so our event management team had live data on who had or hadn't arrived allowing us to improve our attendees' experience. 

The venue had a fully branded experience, with large format printed banners throughout, FIA-branded marketing materials throughout, and sponsors and member companies having their brand prominently displayed. 

The morning AGM began with our CEO, Ian Moore, opening the day and highlighting some of the FIA’s achievements over the last year. In addition to this, various other members FIA Board and secretariat discussed all areas of the association including Finance, Membership, Training, Councils, Marketing and Events. This provided an ideal opportunity for attendees to gain a real understanding of the work the association does and provides an insight into how the organisation had performed over the previous year. Providing both customer and industry insight ensured that the conference content wasn't purely self-congratulatory or isolated. 

Moving into our afternoon lunch, our commercial team worked with the venue to craft an engaging and immersive three-course lunch experience. This included installing a large 6m x 2m screen with LED lights. Throughout the lunch this screen featured advertising from not just the FIA but also member companies that had purchased time to showcase their ethos and products. The screen was also used to feedback who was on stage talking and presenting/receiving awards, helped to focus attention on the stage throughout the meal and presentations giving those further back in the room a clear view of what was happening on stage.    

The afternoon entertainment was provided by comedian Jo Caulfield. Jo was fantastic, delivering a routine specifically for our audience, poking fun at companies and the wider industry which was highly engaging and enjoyable for everyone. This was fantastic and received a huge amount praise in our feedback survey. 

With the AGM and Annual Lunch concluded, our attendees had the opportunity to network further with several other members and guests at the networking bar, drawing the event to a close for the year. It is key to note that in 2023, the FIA will be bringing networking after the lunch, creating an even better experience for our attendees. 

Ensuring we continue to highlight the FIA's key attributes; we are excited to improve from the comments we received from our 2022 AGM. We look forward to seeing you at the annual AGM and lunch on the 9th of November 2023.