More than 500 participants attended the Heathrow Business Summit, delivered by White Label in 2024 for the third consecutive year – with the event growing by 40% since its inception.
Held in partnership with local chambers of commerce and business groups at the Radisson Blu Heathrow on 14 November, the event connected Heathrow’s strategic partners and suppliers with local SMEs to offer them opportunities across the airport’s supply chain.
The event’s theme was “Thriving Together – Making an Airport Fit for the Future” and the summit involved presentations, workshops and networking. Running alongside this was an exhibition involving 60 businesses.
In post-event surveys, 95% of attendees reported finding the summit useful while 90% were satisfied or very satisfied with the number of SMEs and strategic suppliers present.
Four out of five attendees said their understanding of working with Heathrow and its strategic suppliers improved by attending the summit. In addition, 72% of attendees made successful connections with suppliers from the summit which could lead to future contracts – two opportunities were secured within 24 hours of the summit
Speakers included Lord David Blunkett, Chair of Heathrow Sustainable Economic Growth Taskforce; Javier Echave Espot, Chief Operating Officer, Heathrow; Andrew Dakers, Chief Executive, West London Business; Charlotte Hurlow, Associate Director, Arup; Juan Pablo Perez, Airports & Civils Director, Ferrovial Construction; Mark Stannard, Aviation Head of Programme Design & Integration, Fujitsu; Paul Connolly, Director of Airport Services, APCOA; Abiel MA, CEO/Co-founder, Vuala; Jay Moorhouse, Chief Operating Officer, OnWave; Simon Child, Founder, CGL UK; Kevin Berry, Divisional Director – Airside, VolkerFitzpatrick.
White Label project managed the event which enabled us to apply a wide range of our skills and assets. Comprehensive briefing notes were drawn up for speakers to ensure maximum value from the sessions for both speakers and attendees, who we liaised with and supported on the day.
We promoted the summit and business exhibition to local businesses in the run-up to the event and ensured a seamless booking process and provided support to SMEs on the day.
Underpinning the Summit was the expert health and safety management that White Label applies to all events, alongside the application of sustainability practices and products which ensured the Summit contributed to Heathrow’s 2.0 Sustainability Strategy.
Our design, print and communication teams all contributed to the successful marketing of the Summit, and we also managed and updated the Summit’s website Heathrow Business Summit 2024 throughout the project.
As befitting an innovative, global business, we applied the latest AI conference technology so attendees could interact during the day and enjoy polls, quizzes and competitions.
Seven videos were created to convey Heathrow’s commitment to supporting SMEs and shown on the big screen on the day. Two videos included seven different sites, and every video involved a story board, supporting interviewees through filming, editing, timestamps and animations. Permits also had to be obtained to film in parts of the busy airport.
We had a photographer and videographer at the event, itself, to help showcase its success through different media. Photographs can be viewed at the Summit’s website (also managed by White Label) along with the video footage, now edited and complemented with music.
Finally, to evidence the value of the Summit to Heathrow, White Label undertook five different post-event surveys along with follow-up case studies and testimonials.
View the highlights video: 2024 Gallery – Heathrow Business Summit 2024
View the testimonials videos and the picture gallery: 2024 Gallery – Heathrow Business Summit 2024