Que sera sera…
Whatever Will Be, Will Be…
Chauffeur, Courier, PHV & Taxi…
At the bright lights of Wembley!

I happen to know people who have seen the likes of Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury/Queen and George Michael at Wembley Stadium – not a bad list at the self-titled “venue of legends”. Well, there are also some legendary people in our trade too, and although it does not have legendary status (yet!), this great venue can now say it was home to the first-ever Ground Transport Show Wembley!

This brand-new event had two main aims – The first one was to be different, with the fundamental principal of being a cross-sector event, fused with tech, innovation, and sustainability. The second one was to bring people together, synergised with collaboration, enabling people to make new connections, start new conversations, and ultimately generate new business.

Like many others, we attend a lot of trade events around the country throughout the calendar year. The importance of getting out, seeing people, shaking hands, making new connections, exploring new business opportunities, networking, sharing a drink, socialising, etc., for me cannot be understated, particularly post-pandemic.

I have been involved in running industry events for 15 years now and know first-hand how much effort goes into putting everything together. So, regardless of ‘competitor’ events of ours, I wholeheartedly recommend getting out, going along, and seeing all the trade events that are on offer.

One piece of feedback though that recently seemed to be doing the rounds is “all the trade events have become very samey”, which to be honest, I could not argue too much with.  You do often see the same exhibitors, the same speakers, the same attendees, which for some is great, but for others there is a burning desire to meet and do business with new people. There is a business need to do new business and deliver return on time invested at the event.

So born out of that reasoning came the idea of doing a trade event that was as different to the rest as it possibly could be.  Yes, okay some people could argue that elements of this event were like things they may have seen before, but those who attended were impressed with many things that were also very different.  

For starters, Wembley Stadium was of course new!  It is a truly iconic venue and isn’t just “a box, inside a box, inside a box” as my colleague Leah mentioned of some other venues. Hopefully Wembley gave a little treat and a day out for the many fantastic, hard-working people in this trade who attended.  From what we have heard, everyone who made it along enjoyed the buzz that Wembley Stadium has to offer.

We also implemented putting together a collaborative mixture of different people, with different backgrounds, side-by-side on the same panel sessions. In fact, every single person who was part of the incredible line-up of people on stage added value with their own insights.

There were other unique aspects of this event, and one of the most popular was the fact that a huge 2,000-capacity room was uniquely split, allowing people to both network at the 45 exhibitor booths, or listen into the panel sessions, without affecting one-another.

This was not achieved by partition walls, barriers, or any kind of physical segregation, it was accomplished by tech. There were 300 wireless headsets for attendees to tune into and listen to the panel sessions taking place from anywhere within the room.

The feedback we have had from this concept has been fantastic and we are pleased to say, this will be back on a bigger and better scale ahead of the new and exciting panel sessions for the 2023 event.

On that note, the 2023 Ground Transport Show is already booked, and will be back at Wembley on 20^th and 21^st September next year, and with a year under our belt, we have plenty of innovative concepts already in review that will make next year’s event more unique and ultimately what we believe will be worthwhile attending.

Now onto the second main aim of the event and that was to bring people together. Not just regular contacts who already know each other, and already do business with each other, rather new people who had not met before.

The collaborative element was embodied by the event both being supported by, and being supportive of, multiple different Associations and Organisations who do fantastic work for their respective trades. Fans of acronyms are in for a treat, they included: the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the GMB, the Institute of Couriers (IoC), the Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA), the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA), the National Courier and Despatch Association (NCDA) and the National Private Hire & Taxi Association (NPHTA).

This event was in the main aimed at four key sectors; Chauffeur, Courier, Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) and Taxi, as well as affiliated sectors, and from the 900+ people that registered to attend, as well as those that made it along, there was a fantastic blend of different people, who were keen to network, chat, discuss and do business together.

We must acknowledge that the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II just days before the event, unfortunately affected the footfall.  So, for those who made it along, despite the capital manically preparing for the world’s biggest funeral, we want to sincerely thank you for supporting the event.

For those who did not manage to make it, we hope to see you at Wembley Stadium when the event returns on 20^th and 21^st September 2023. On behalf of the organisers, we hope this event will be the start of something special, that will grow and grow, and we look forward to you being part of the journey!