For both Caddick and RLB, we helped to curate the programmes for their events. This meant establishing key themes and what particular issues and questions would be addressed, honing on these to pose insightful questions that differentiated their discussions from others in the programme, and having internal conversations with the clients to understand who their desired spokespeople would be.  

It was crucial to ensure that line-ups were as diverse and representative as possible, so Social worked with both clients to identify key partners, public sector stakeholders, consultants, and investors that could potentially be on the panel, working to secure these guests and strike a balance between hosting established partners and using the panel opportunity to build relationships between new contacts – be they potential investors or MPs operating in their key geographies. 

After this, we worked to prepare for the panels themselves, including having conversations with the host about what kind of discussion our clients were looking for, and agreeing the scope and scale of each of these discussions up front. For RLB, a clear focus was on creating healthy debate and drawing out insights, so the questions we drafted needed to bear this in mind. 

We also had separate conversations with each of the panellists to make sure their key areas of expertise and focus were appropriately covered and providing them with a briefing pack, outlining background on their fellow panellists, logistical considerations, and key messaging on Caddick, Moda and RLB respectively. In the build-up to and during the conference, we provided content and social media posts for our clients to promote the panels, workshops and drinks receptions making up their programmes.  

At UKREiiF itself, Social’s team had responsibility for ensuring that the agenda ran smoothly and to time, that speakers were all in the right place and had everything they needed to take part, that AV and microphones were functioning, and that any events with VIP guests were appropriately staffed – which was particularly important one RLB event which featured three Yorkshire Metro Mayors.  

For Incommunities, Social worked with them to understand what they wanted to discuss and how they wanted the session to run. The agreed topic was how social housing providers could keep homes in active use rather than demolish them.  

Over a ten-week period, we drafted a synopsis for the discussion and a longlist of potential invitees, working with the client to refine both and then manage the process of inviting and briefing the twelve roundtable guests. Social also provided an experienced host for the roundtable in Luke Cross, former editor of Social Housing and Director of Social’s London office. On the day, we captured a transcript of the full discussion as well as sharing key insights and themes.