Gather ing momentum

Commonly known as Members’ Day, the BMF Annual Conference & Awards takes place later this month at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham. PBM looks at what delegates can look forward to.

Providing BMF Members with a key opportunity to meet with other individuals in the industr y, a packed business agenda includes a full conference programme in addition to a supplier exhibition, all enhanced by breakout workshop sessions to drill down into the detail of vital industr y issues

These sessions will cover a number of subjects including Member Value, hosted by Membership Ser vices Director Richard Ellithorne; Product Data Standardisation in the Supply Chain led by Dianne Lucas of CMDi, Jonathan Chard of Bradfords and BMF Business Development Manager Oz Bham with ETIM UK Manager Dave Bate; Skills Development, presented by Kerr y Wilson, BMF Learning & Development Manager and LEAP Apprenticeships; and Government Influence in a workshop delivered by Policy & Public Affairs Manager Brett Amphlett and CEO John Newcomb

In the evening, a Black-Tie Award Dinner will raise funds for the BMF Charity Partner for 2023, the British Heart Foundation, whilst celebrating some of the sector’s high flying young merchant and supplier achievers In addition, the Awards will recognise the top Supplier and Ser vice ‘Member Engagement’ providers of the year along with the BMF Training Company of the Year the merchant company judged to have made the biggest commitment to staff development through the provision of BMF training ser vices

This year ’ s shortlisted merchants are Haldane Fisher, Harlow Timber Group, Howarth Timber and Builders Merchants, the IBMG Group and Robert Price Taking the theme ‘Building Momentum for the Future’ and with Unilin Insulation as headline sponsor, the event will be hosted by Award-winning sports presenter, Mark Pougatch Today, Mark is best known as IT V’s Chief Sports presenter, anchoring live football and rugby coverage, including the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year and the Six Nations rugby series Prior to this, he was a staple on BB C R adio 5 Live for 16 years, covering ever y major sporting event in the world

In addition to the business programme, a series of social events will be running as part of the conference including a (sold out) golf tournament at the Forest of Arden course and a recently announced ‘Escape Hunt’ which will see teams of 4-6 people working together as a team to find clues, solve puzzles and complete challenges before the time runs out.

Finally, the event is also CPD Certified For any attendees wishing to claim their CPD Points, contact the BMF following the Conference for these to be issued

The BMF Annual C onference & Awards will be held on 20-21 September at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham. For more information, visit www bmf org uk n The BMF has confirmed that an amazing £26,235 was raised for charity during the Gala Dinner that concluded the BMF All Industr y Conference in Istanbul earlier in the summer. The money will be split between the BMF’s charity partners, the British Heart Foundation and the Turkey/Syria Earthquake appeal.

BMF CEO John Newcomb said: “I am unbelievably proud of the generosity of our conference delegates. Huge thanks to ever yone who helped us achieve this fantastic sum for charity ”

He added: “The entire conference was one of the best if not the best I have ever been involved with My thanks to all our brilliant speakers, and to our superb host Mark Durden-Smith, who orchestrated proceedings in his own inimitable way ”