‘We connect event professionals – that's where the magic comes’ 

It’s not just the younger generation that the pair have in their sights - in-house PCOs are another big focus. 

“ABPCO has to be an association that is member-led and we want those in-house PCOs to be that lifeblood,” says Beattie, sales director at Conference Care. “They're going to make those events, drive best practice, embrace the technology, and bring events up to the standard that we all aspire to. If we drive the membership through in-house PCOs, everyone else will want to become part of that, because they're going straight to the voice of the association."

ABPCO has a dedicated student task force that works with a range of universities and colleges, which is currently looking at how to incorporate associations into the curriculum, so students are aware of them in the very early days.

“When we go to universities and tell them all about associations they have no idea,” says Connell. “Sometimes the lecturers have no idea either. They're like, I didn't know even this existed. There’s also a lack of understanding about the different sorts of associations, whether it's tech, pharmaceutical, education… so I think it's been really positive. From doing these talks a lot of the students are now becoming members of ABPCO, we've seen a really good return on our investment with students.

“We've really knocked down the student rate because we know that funding it is difficult for students. From the event we did in Birmingham, we had a student member that came on board and actually got a full time job working with a venue that was there. And then from them coming to the Festival of Learning, they also had a placement confirmed. So there's all these lovely success stories that are happening from us bringing people together.” 

When it comes to growth, understanding the membership better is key, according to Beattie.

“It’s understanding who our members are,” she says. “We know a large percentage of them are health and med tech, also financial services, so those associations are working already with ABPCO. 

“We also need to understand who's not working with ABPCO, who's not in the room with us, and why are they not in the room with us? We’re thinking about how we tailor that member value proposition better to the people that are not joining ABPCO. We've got some exciting plans about how we understand that better and how we attract more members.  

“We know that we have a really strong brand, people recognise ABPCO - but they don't always automatically think it's for charities and not for profits.” 

That growth piece will be built around the existing members, she adds. 

“There's a genuine collaboration at ABPCO, it is so open. We're trying to harness that authenticity. We're building a marketing programme around ‘My ABPCO’, and we're looking at getting people involved as ambassadors from all of those different sectors to say ‘this is why you should get involved with ABPCO’. That's the organic growth that we're looking for.”

January 2024 saw the results of ABPCO’s first impact report which showed a clear breakdown of who members are. The biggest area is health services, followed by science and manufacturing, and professional services. Between them, ABPCO members organise about 2,500 events every year - and more than 300 of those are 500 plus delegate events in the UK.  

“It's quite a big impact in terms of what they do,” says Beattie. “But the next impact survey will help us to understand more about our members and what they're doing. Knowledge is power. The more that we can understand about what they are, what they're doing, the more we can leverage that.” 

For Connell, continuing professional development (CPD) is set to become a major focus in 2025. 

“As an in-house you're often a specialist and in terms of your development, it will not necessarily be about events,” she says. “It's really hard when you're in-house to get funding to go on courses that are not internal. I'm very keen that ABPCO becomes the place for CPD. We're now CPD accredited; when Pauline and I took over, one of the first things we wanted to do was make sure that people could get accredited. It's been really popular. 

“Sometimes in-house planners are very alone. They are very specialist, and actually ABPCO is one of the only places they can go for CPD. It is where I get all of my learning.” 

ABPCO offers show and tell sessions, where any member of ABPCO can put any of their events up for a show and tell.  

“That means that I can go to another event that an ABPCO member's hosting, shadow them and follow the event to see how they're using that venue, what they're doing with the logistics, their exhibition, etc,” says Connell. “It's been really popular. Our NASUWT event is in Liverpool next year, so I'm sending my team on one of the show and tells, so they can go and see exactly what it's like on build day, how they're using the areas, what the traffic flow’s like, just so they can experience an event before they're out there delivering one. That is a unique experience to be able to offer to our members, it’s great learning and CPD for them. 

“We have our learning programme, and The Festival of Learning has a huge CPD element, and we just keep putting more and more events in our calendar because, our membership's growing and it's more diverse. I think that's really exciting.”