Networking in person again, a brand new conference, multiple side events, alongside the dazzling London Christmas lights and mince pies… It’s a one-time special event!
By the time you’re reading this you’ve probably heard that IMPA London will return as a one-off Christmas special in December this year, the dates to be December 14th and 15th.
The annual event has been known to attract visitors from 75 different countries although the majority of stakeholders and attendees are UK based it is hoped that the one-off December event will provide the opportunity to gather in London and celebrate being together again.
With the UK’s vaccination programme aiming to reach as many adults as possible by the summer and with more than 38 million already receiving at least one dose the UK is striving to get back to normal. At the recent IMPA council meeting reports from The Netherlands, Germany and Italy as well indicated that there is hope we will find our way out of lock down and for good! Whilst we can’t predict what will happen in the coming months everything points towards a more regular form of business life by the Autumn and so by Christmas we should be primed and ready to join together once more.
Nicole Robert’s event director said “IMPA London is about bringing people together and it has such a global feel, we really want to see it back to its best or as near as possible and London in December with the Christmas lights and everything that goes with the festive season is going to be special”
IMPA London at the QE2 conference centre in the heart of Westminster will again provide the events’ two-day exhibition and conference and there’s a lot planned for this special event.
Asked about ensuring safety for the event Roberts added:
“Safety and health are our first concern and we will be taking any such measures necessary at the time to ensure our visitors and exhibitors are kept safe and well. I’m in regular dialogue with the venue on this subject and as a government owned and operated venue, they are naturally operating to the highest standards in this respect. Whilst we don’t know for sure right now what measures will be needed in December, we will know soon and we are all confident that it will not prevent us from putting on a first class event”
Sustainability has been high on the IMPA agenda for several years now but over the last two years IMPA has dedicated much of its time and energy to the subject, best typified by the IMPA SAVE programme that now has over 10% of the global fleet signed up for the first initiative which is to reduce the use of single use plastic drinking water bottles.
For the December event there will be a large number of activities around sustainability including for the first time a new ‘Green Zone’ within the exhibition area for companies that offer environmentally friendly products and services. This area will showcase some of the organisations that have connected with the association on the subject of sustainability over recent times and will include providers of alternative solutions to plastic drinking water bottles with P Ship Systems being the first to sign up as soon as the event was announced.
Beating them to sign up first however was US based Clark food service equipment who signed up there spot as soon as they could. They join a handful of others who clearly have been really keen to get back to face to face, live events and explore and exchange ideas and news.
After a long delay – at last – IMPA London is back in business! The only place to showcase is IMPA the view from new exhibitors Remote Pharma Solutions.
Previously Dave Hatch and Lawrence Garnett who head up the new operation were part of the senior management team at a well-known maritime pharma business and have been exhibiting at IMPA London since the late 1990s.
Mr Hatch commented:
“Whatever sector of the maritime industry you are in, IMPA is a crucial date on the calendar, providing opportunities to meet both new and old faces, catch up on industry news, or to just chat over a drink, and the atmosphere at IMPA is always great”
And Mr Garnett added: “The IMPA team is consistently helpful, providing advice and support before, during, and after the event – we’d never miss it!”
As well as an all-new sustainability conference, the event will feature workshops, presentations and meetings covering the latest developments in maritime procurement and supply chain and there’s certainly quite a lot to catch up on.
The IMPA ACT programme is on the agenda with several new companies signing up for the ground breaking responsible supply chain management (RSCM) programme over recent months, perhaps nudged by changing legislation affecting shipping companies and their suppliers. The original architects for the programme and IMPA’s long standing partners Global CSR, will be in London to run a workshop on the programme that still today represents a world first in the arena. In addition, there will be some major news around the programme for the event that will see many companies take a fresh look at the programme.
The IMPA SAVE initiative will see many of the stakeholder groups gather to present their work and there will be presentations and demonstrations around sustainability and for those that don’t mind a brisk early run around the park the sustainability run will be back on – make sure you bring some warm clothes, although actually December has been historically pretty mild in the UK!
As always the organisers will be looking at the social side of things at IMPA London and there will be announcements soon on a major networking evening and other events, once again these will be staged with the outmost care and attention to safety.
The organisers will be providing numerous meeting rooms and facilities for stakeholders to use for meetings and discussions and there will be a wonderful opportunity to run these with a distinctly festive feel to them, watch this space for updates on that by visiting the IMPA BLOG or the IMPA events sites.
Visit the IMPA BLOG or check back the IMPA Events website regularly.
