It's always exciting to host an event at a venue you have never worked at before, especially when it involves a trip to London.
I've hosted about 10 events in London, but none since a round-table in February 2020, when the pandemic still seemed a very faraway problem. Early this year, I travelled to London to host an event at the House of Commons - only to be told, 45 minutes after arriving in my luxury Travelodge room, that the parliamentary estate had been closed to external events due to a Covid-19 outbreak. So I hosted the event online from my room instead.
It was great to host an in-person event again (on December 8th) - and at the QEII Centre, which really is a conference venue and a half. If you haven't been, it's very impressive, very large and has lots of corridors. I asked a member of staff if delegates often got lost. "Oh, yes," he said, "and the staff too."
I was at the QEII to host a conference called Timber! Why the UK needs the wood and the trees - on behalf of forestry and wood trade body Confor. The last time I organised a UK-wide policy conference for Confor was just before Christmas 2018 in Newcastle - that was called Superwood! How forestry and timber can drive a low-carbon economy.
I guess this proves I have a crippling addiction to exclamation marks in policy conference titles! Sorry if you're not a fan!
The usual pre-event challenges ensued for my latest sojourn south from Edinburgh. A week before the event, I got an email from the office of Lord Deben (John Gummer MP in old money), Chair of the Climate Change Committee, saying an urgent meeting had cropped up and he couldn't make it.
However, he agreed that we could record his planned Q&A session in advance - which we did, less than 24 hours before the event started. Lord Deben was great - at 83, he's full of energy and passion, and articulates the climate message incredibly well. He had a strong message about a "remarkable future" for forestry and wood, but cautioned the industry to avoid jargon and speak in clear language - in the case of forestry, he said, people had to avoid being "arboricultural nerds". That raised a laugh.
The conference touched a lot on climate change and how planting more trees, and using more wood, can make a significant contribution to tackling it. We also talked about future timber supply (a big challenge), economic growth, skills and jobs, biodiversity, different tree species, regulation, farm forestry, collaboration, communication and much more.
We also heard the great line: "You can't live in a sheep" - in response to criticism that "You can't eat a tree".
My favourite conferences are the ones where there is a broad agreement around big themes, and a genuine desire to address challenges collectively. We had it in spades last week - in a room made up of politicians, environmentalists, academics, foresters, wood processors, regulators, government agencies, farmers and landowners, civil servants, communications and public affairs professionals, lawyers, carbon experts, consultants, rural surveyors, standards professionals and much more.
Mike Childs from Friends of the Earth, who produced a report called Why The UK Needs More Trees earlier this year, told the conference: ”We need to get all parties around the table - not everyone leaves with everything they want, but that’s the nature of compromise and discussion." Quite so.
As ever, with conferences featuring multiple speakers, there were bumps along the way. A few slides glitched later in the day, and one speaker didn't make it due to train chaos. However, she made a fabulous short and authentic video out on the stump in Cumbria instead, with a soundtrack of vehicles rumbling past in the background.
We had to cut the event 10 minutes short due to further rail chaos and my train was cancelled and I was two hours later than expected getting home. But I did manage a pint in The Red Lion. my favourite Westminster pub, even though it cost £7.55!
The whole day reminded me how much I love doing conferences in London - and I hope I'll be back before too long.