OHC2022 FEEDBACK REVIEW

The OHC planning team met at the end of January to analyse the feedback that was submitted following the OHC in November 2022, in Manchester We had a 60% response rate, including some opposing opinions, so I thought it would be useful to pull out some frequently occurring themes and hopefully answer some of the questions

Venue and Ticketing

Some of you wanted a cheaper and bigger venue, while others wanted a smaller and cheaper venue. Some wanted a bigger and larger event, while others questioned the need for holding it over two days.

Our requirements for the type of event we like, and that seems to be well-received, requires a main auditorium and at least two smaller rooms for the workshops and other lectures We need a large hall for the trade exhibition and the space that they need, thus we need to stick with a purposebuilt conference centre to continue attracting the delegate numbers that we do

Some of you mentioned that you would prefer a more central location each time and would not travel to Bournemouth for an OHC.

BSDHT serves a membership across the UK and, as such, tries to move OHC around to different localities. Additionally, this serves the purpose of ‘sharing the wealth’ and whenever we

by MIRANDA STEEPLES PRESIDENT BSDHT

hold a conference in a different location, this means that local businesses and hospitality services will benefit from our investment in that area.

Some of you requested different dates in different venues through the year.

A typical OHC is 10 months in the planning For those of you who enjoy networking and face to face learning, why not attend your local Regional Group study day event or join us for our other educational opportunities?

Programme

There were a few comments about the fact that, at the time of booking, there was still a number of TBC on the programme.

This was because contracts had not been signed and returned, and we could not publicise a speaker’s attendance until they had been fully contracted. This was out of our control

Some delegates felt that sessions were too rushed at 45 minutes long

However, at one hour long in 2021, feedback suggested that was too long, so sessions were shortened in 2022.

Some feedback suggested more time was needed in between sessions.

In planning, we try to maximise the CPD hours that can be accrued and, when designing a programme, it is unknown who will want to go to which lecture and how much time it will take them to move between sessions.