Conference
BIMA Beyond | The Conference
Organised by BIMA
Join us for a day-long programme of networking and inventive, positive keynote speeches designed to inspire the BIMA community.
About this event
The centrepiece of BIMA Beyond will be a high profile flagship conference hosted in London on Wednesday 29 June.
Hosted by Dan Sodergren, this four-part specially-curated programme of speakers will offer industry-leading insight as they explore the key theme of opportunity vs responsibility and what it means for us all. We'll be looking at the new ways to engage, new business models to embed, and new attitudes and expectations; it’s an exciting time and digital and tech are at the forefront of that change.
PART ONE. We will start the day with three sessions from three keynote speakers who will share their unrivalled experience and insight into where the digital industry is now, where it’s going next and how to make the most of it.
PART TWO. An event of this nature wouldn’t be considered relevant to our industry if it didn’t delve into the promise of Web3, so part two will consist of three sessions from three more speakers who will cut through the noise and explore real-use cases of blockchain technology in this new iteration of the World Wide Web.
PART THREE. Diversity, inclusion and sustainability remain focal points in digital and tech which not only require continuous discussion as our industry evolves, but also present a wealth of opportunity for modern businesses, with BIMA organisations leading the way. The three sessions in part three will focus on inspiring you and your teams to grow your businesses mindfully, ethically and with what really matters at its heart; our people and our planet.
PART FOUR. To conclude the day, we will bring all of the topics above together by bringing you the business-side perspective during an hour-long panel discussion with the help of four instantly recognisable brands, and a final session of the day from one more client-side speaker. Knowing how your clients' businesses are changing and what they expect from their agencies will help you shape your client services and new business strategies as you grow by using killer insight from "the other side".
Delivered to an in-person delegation at the world famous Ministry of Sound in London, attendees will also benefit from the opportunity to network with the speakers and their peers at a networking event in the evening and.... there will be goody bags. Just saying.
Who is it for?
Everyone! From students, interns and apprentices to middle-management to CEOs and their clients, this event is future-focused and designed to inform, excite and get the cogs turning no matter what level you're at.
Ticket types
- Conference & Networking - BIMA Member - £250+vat
- Conference & Networking - Standard - £300+vat
- Networking only - BIMA Member - £25+vat
- Networking only - Standard - £40+vat
Agenda (read full session synopses below)
- 09.30 - Registration & refreshments
- 10.00 - Welcome & introduction with Dan Sodergren
PART ONE.
- 10.10 - Sir Martin Sorrell, Businessman, Founder & Executive Chairman of S4 Capital (Title TBC)
- 10.40 - Orlando Wood, Chief Innovation Officer of the System1 Group, "Look out"
- 11.05 - Sam Conniff, Entrepreneur, Author, Creator of Uncertainty Experts (Title TBC)
- 11.30 - Break & refreshments
PART TWO.
- 12.00 - Mary Keane Dawson, Provocateur and Legendary Digital Media maven, "Building your business during an economic crisis: using innovation and creativity to deliver unfair competitive advantage."
- 12.25 - Fern Miller, Experienced and Influential Strategy Leader, "Why Social Commerce Changes Everything"
- 12.50 - TBC
- 13.15 - Lunch break, refreshments & networking
- 14.15 - Welcome back
PART THREE.
- 14.20 - TBC
- 14.45 - Yayhe Siyad, Diversity & Accessibility Lead at Cyber-Duck, "Taking a walk in my footsteps – how intuition transforms the unexpected into a world of opportunities."
- 15.10 - Kara Prosser, Design & Social Impact Consultant, "Design For Good — The $30 Trillion Opportunity"
- 15.30 - Break & refreshments
PART FOUR.
- 16.00 - Brand panel discussion (Title TBC) hosted by Sonoo Singh, Co-Founder of Creative Salon, with guests including Will Harvey, Global Digital Innovation Manager at Diageo, Chris Pitt, CEO at first direct, and more to be announced
- 16.25 - TBC
- 16.50 - Closing remarks
- 17.00 - Networking event
- 20.00 - End
Speaker information (more to be announced):
- Sir Martin Sorrell, Businessman, Founder & Executive Chairman of S4 Capital
Sir Martin Sorrell is Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital plc, a new age/new era, purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational and millennial-driven influencer brands.
For BIMA Beyond, Sir Martin Sorrell will share with us what he thinks the agency of the future will look like. And if it is even an agency.
Next up Sir Martin will take a Q&A from our special guests, a mixture of students and interns that would like some advice on how to build a career in digital agencies.
- Orlando Wood, Chief Innovation Officer of the System1 Group
Orlando Wood is Chief Innovation Officer of the System1 Group, Honorary Fellow of the IPA and author of Lemon (IPA, 2019) and Look out (IPA, 2021).
"Look out"
Advertising both reflects and leads culture, but recently it has changed, and not for the better. It has become rhythmic, literal, didactic. It has lost its characters, its humour and its charm. It is all part of a broader cultural shift brought about by our digital age. But why, and what might we do about it? In this eye-opening presentation, Orlando will describe how this has happened and propose an alternative; one that will benefit both advertisers and culture as a whole.
- Sam Conniff, Entrepreneur, Author, Creator of Uncertainty Experts
Sam is most recently the Creator of Uncertainty Experts, a unique hybrid of online learning, interactive documentary and psychological intervention. He is the author of the international best-seller and "modern life-bible" Be More Pirate. He was Co-Founder of Livity, the multi-award-winning social enterprise and youth-led creative Network, Co-founder of Digify Africa, providing transformational digital skills to thousands of young Africans and Co-Founder of Don’t panic, the original activist and Bafta-winning content studio. Sam has won Entrepreneur of the year, Agency of the Year, The Queens Award and many others and he turned down an MBE in 2020.
A consultant to brands from Rolex to Red Bull, and a mentor to many entrepreneurs and innovators around the world. Sam is also an in-demand Keynote Speaker, facilitator, host and MC.
- Mary Keane-Dawson, Provocateur and Legendary Digital Media maven
As a five times recipient of the BIMA 100 accolade, Mary Keane-Dawson is a true pioneer of the digital world.
"Building your business during an economic crisis: using innovation and creativity to deliver unfair competitive advantage"
For BIMA Beyond, Mary will explore how creative sector agency and tech businesses need to build out their strategic value proposition, build innovative new products and services that meet clients needs in an online first citizen driven recession facing market.
Her success throughout previous economic downturns, as well as hockey stick recoveries, will be illustrated with real life case studies and examples, as well as a 'surgery session' for anyone who has specific challenges that they would like Mary to address during her talk.
- Fern Miller, Experienced and Influential Strategy Leader
Fern's career in strategy spans creative, brand, consulting, digital and service design, across global markets and in agencies, consultancies and client organisations across two decades. She has led industry thinking about brands and technology; she's led brand, advertising and digital design strategies, with multidisciplinary strategic teams for UNICEF, Astra Zeneca, Costa Coffee, Nestle, Sky, Kelloggs, Comic Relief and Mumsnet, amongst others and advised several successful startups/ scale ups to help them define and live up to their promise.
"Why Social Commerce Changes Everything"
For BIMA Beyond, Fern will be talking about social commerce: the secret weapon in many brands arsenal. So secret in fact that many don’t know about it, or if they do, they don’t know how to access it. It’s the perfect opportunity to connect with potential customers in the moment, whilst also bypassing the large ecommerce platforms. And its rise is exponential.
- Yahye Siyad, Diversity & Accessibility Lead at Cyber-Duck
Yahye Siyad is Cyber-Duck’s Diversity & Accessibility Lead, bringing many years of lived experience, first-hand insight, and professional experience to the role. Born in Somalia with a visual impairment caused by retinal dystrophy, Yayhe uses his white cane to navigate the world independently and a screen reader to access the internet.
"Taking a walk in my footsteps – how intuition transforms the unexpected into a world of opportunities"
From Somalia to England and beyond, follow in former-Team GB Paralympian, entrepreneur and digital Diversity & Accessibility Lead, Yahye Siyad’s footsteps in his extraordinary journey around the globe.
For BIMA Beyond, Yahye will share how he uses intuition to reframe challenges as opportunities to be explored, and how digital transformation was key to unlocking closed doors and can be for billions of people round the world, particularly those with disabilities.
- Kara Prosser, Design & Social Impact Consultant
Kara is a passionate design leader striving for change through creativity and innovation. She has over 10 years experience with start-ups, NFP’s, governments and corporates delivering products, services and experiences - for good. Kara has worked in over 45 countries driving design projects with the world’s biggest organisations like the U.N, the W.H.O, and Google to combat climate change, eradicate malaria, and stop violence against women. She started a multi-million dollar creative agency division (Isobar Good) dedicated to social impact, which she scaled in over 10 countries.
"Design For Good — The $30 Trillion Opportunity"
The world is facing some of the biggest social challenges of any of our generation has ever seen, all happening at once - climate change, inequality in health care, millions of people fleeing war and violence. However rather than see these as the terrible things they are, focusing on these challenges can be good for your business as well as society. Designing and responding to briefs with social impact in mind, can deliver extra value for your clients, leading to commercial growth, better client relationships and more team motivation. It’s a total win: win situation!
- Will Harvey, Global Digital Innovation Manager, Diageo
Will Harvey is Global Digital Innovation Manager, as part of the Breakthrough Innovation team at Diageo, focusing on 3-5 year Vision for the business, experimenting and assuring that Diageo stays at the forefront of all things digital.
With the focus on leading the Test and Learn agenda exploring new and emerging technologies, behaviours and Startups, to then run Pilot Test to Deploy and Enable Sustainable and Scalable Digital Innovation.
He advises a number of Startups, was named in the Drum Future 50 as well as BIMA 100 and HClub 100, and has previously worked at both VCCP and Ogilvy looking to find the intersection of Creativity & Technology.
- Chris Pitt, CEO of first direct
Chris' career marketer specialising in financial services. He has worked for HSBC, Tesco Bank, first direct and Marks & Spencer Bank during his career.
He is driven by an interest in understanding what matters to people and communicating brands and propositions that deliver to their needs. He's particularly interested by the intellectual challenge of new ideas and business opportunities.
Chris is currently the CEO of first direct. Leading one of the best customer services businesses in the UK – powered by doing the right thing, delivering on what matters to customers and challenging the status quo. Prior to this Chris was Chief Marketing Officer for HSBC UK, responsible for the leadership of a marketing team who developed and delivered all HSBC, first direct and Marks & Spencer Bank marketing activity.
- digital
- tech
- business
- startup
- branding
- entrepreneur
- opportunity
- responsibility
- inclusion
- diversity
- sustainability
- talent
- brands
- web3
- blockchain
- blockchaintechnology
- inclusivedesign
- metaverse