Sessions

Updated programme sessions

To view the conference session schedule to date, please click here.

Plenary Sessions

The challenge for our downtowns, town and city centres

• Barbara Askins, Chair, International Downtown Association, President & CEO, 125th Street BID, New York, NY, USA
• Graham Chase, Chairman, Association of Town Centre Management and Chase & Partners, London, England
• Helen Gordon, Director, Legal & General Property, London, England
Ground Control - fear and happiness in the 21st Century
• Anna Minton, Award Winning Journalist and Author, London, England
The Bigger Picture - designing better places
• Jason Prior, Executive Director, Design and Planning, AECOM, London, England
How Retail Theatre can help revolutionise your whole town centre experience
• Kate Hardcastle and Richard Gomersall, Partners, Insight with Passion, Leeds/Manchester, England
• John Bird, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Big Issue, London, England

Policy

Retailer-led place management

• Raffaele Mannelli, Head of Economic Development Department, Regione Toscana, Florence, Italy
• Paul Boylan, Town Centre Regeneration Fund, Scottish Centre for Regeneration, Glasgow, Scotland
• Ojay MacDonald, Policy Officer, ATCM, London, England
Promoting local distinctiveness
• Michael Loveday, Director, Heritage, Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART), Norwich, England
New funding approaches for European town centres: TIFs and Tourism Taxes
• Roland Murauer, CEO, CIMA Austria, Ried im Innkreis, Austria
Austrian TCM fee and a general overview about Tourism and TCM marketing in Austria
• Dr Andy Johnston, Head of the Centre for Local Sustainability, Local Government Information Unit, London, England
Preparing for and recovering from disaster: an intimate view of how downtown New Orleans is redesigning, rebuilding, and rebranding smarter post Hurricane Katrina
• Kurt Weigle, President & CEO, Downtown Development District, New Orleans, LA, USA and other speakers to be announced
Purple Flag - improving the attractiveness of centres in an evening and at night
• Mark Baird, CSR Manager, Diageo GB, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Greenslade, Police Borough Commander for the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, London England

• Andres Coca-Stefaniak, Senior Lecturer, London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London, England
• Martin Blackwell, Development Director, ATCM, London, England
• Duccio Roggini, Associate, GeCC-Lab, Ivrea, Italy
The role and significance of traditional markets in town and city centres
• Lisa Durkin, Town Centre Manager, Bury Town Centre Partnership, Bury, England
Local authority engagement in BIDs
• Mike Fairmaner, Westminster City Council, Westminster, England
• Diane Wehrle, Director, Springboard, Milton Keynes, England
Policy considerations for market towns
• Chris Wade, Chief Executive, Action for Market Towns, Bury St Edmunds, England

Place

The value of strategic investment in the public realm

• Gunnar Ericson, Commissioner of the Urban Environment, Malmo City Council, Malmo, Sweden
Top Centres Down Under: Best practice examples of implementing city centre visions in Australia and New Zealand
• Rod Duncan, Regional Support Program Manager, Department of Planning and Community Development, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Drivers don't spend anymore...Incentivising access to retail centres by non-motorised transport modes in the UK and the Netherlands
• Giles Semper, Partner, The Means, Llanelli, Wales
• Minze Walvius, Director, Advier, Delft, Netherlands
Sensory Cities: the role of the sense of smell in the urban design and management of urban environments
• Victoria Henshaw, Acoustic Research Centre, University of Salford, England
Building competitiveness of town centres through integration of regeneration and business strategies
• Dr Shaleen Singhal, Lecturer, School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Who will be a winner in Tokyo's shopping districts?
• Dr Miki Muraki, Associate Professor, Department of Urban Environment Systems, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
People in towns - reconfiguring urban streets
• Richard Latcham, Associate, Peter Brett Associates, Reading, England
Transforming Second Tier Cities into Global 21st Century Cities
• Chris Beynon, Principal, Director of Planning and Design Services, MIG Inc, Berkeley, CA, USA
The Livable Streets Plan: a case study on developing a transformative master plan for your urban centre
• David Diaz, President & CEO, Downtown Raleigh Alliance, Raleigh, NC, USA

People

Destination Branding - boosting your bottom line

• Jace Tyrrell, Director of Communications, New West End Company, London, England
Creating benefit from major international events
• Ged Gibbons, Chief Executive, City Centre BID, Liverpool, England (European Capital of Culture 2009)
• Speaker to be confirmed, Yaletown BIA, Vancouver, Canada (Winter Olympic Host City 2010)
Place marketing and the consumer: A town centre manager's perspective
• Lewis Kirnon, Town Centres Coordinator, Dartford Borough Council, Dartford, England
A new era of marketing: using social media to build buzz for your downtown
• Jamie Licko, President, Centro Inc, Denver, CO, USA
Living in Community: A balanced perspective on Vancouver's sex industry
• Patricia Barnes, Executive Director, Hastings BIA, Vancouver, Canada
BIDs and Community workers
• Thomas Turner, President & CEO, Nashville Downtown Partnership, Nashville, TN, USA
• Philippe Lavigne, Project Manager, Destination Centre-Ville, Montreal, Canada
The Anglo-North American consumer
• Professor Cathy Parker, Professor of Retail and Marketing Enterprise, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, and Director of the Institute of Place Management, Manchester, England
Leaders or Managers?
• This is a facilitated debate about the role of the downtown, town/city centre or BID manager/director. It will feature contributions from practitioners and key stakeholders and ask how can leadership be developed in a way that drives forward change but doesn't alienate key stakeholders. Speakers to be announced shortly.

Partnerships

The challenge for BIDs - perspectives from practitioners

• Claude Rainville, President, L'Association des SDC de Montreal, Montreal, Canada
• Mo Aswat, Director, The Mosaic Partnership and Chief Executive, Bedford BID, Bedford, England

• Andrea Trofer, Deputy Town Centre Manager, Salzburg Alt-Stadt, Salzburg, Austria

• Edgar Eller, Town Centre Manager, Feldkirch, Austria
• Other speakers to be confirmed
The Taupo Story: Practical partnerships in small town New Zealand
• Kylie Hawker, General Manager, Towncentre Taupo Inc, Taupo, New Zealand
• Gareth Green, Group Manager, Environmental Services, Taupo District Council, Taupo, New Zealand
BIDs and Town Centre Management: adapting to different national contexts
• Paul Levy, President & CEO, Center City District, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Peter Williams, CEO, Better Bankside BID, London, England
Chewing gum to diamonds: evolution from a town centre partnership to an economic development company
• Tim Smith MBE, Executive Director, Reading UK CIC, Reading, England
Informal Place Management: the economic and social contribution of local business associations to small towns
• James Cloar, Scholar, Penn Institute for Urban Research, Tampa, FL, USA
• Other speaker to be announced
A Tale of Two Cities: How successful partnerships enabled Baton Rouge to thrive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
• Davis Rhorer, Executive Director, Downtown Development District, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
• Jacob Holinga, Assistant Executive Director, Downtown Development District, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
• James Andermann, Development Project Director Downtown Development District, Baton Rouge, LA, USA,
Why 9 out of 10 businesses voted to extend a BID in a time of economic crisis
• Duncan Currall, Chairman, Plymouth City Centre Company, Plymouth, England
• Clint Jones, City Centre Manager,  Plymouth City Centre Company, Plymouth, England
Essential Guide to BIDs - an introduction
• Mo Aswat, Director, The Mosaic Partnership and Chief Executive, Bedford BID, Bedford, England
• Jacquie Reilly, Director, ATCM and the UK National BIDs Advisory Service, London, England
The influences behind business support for BIDs
• Diana Hobson, MSc Student in Place Management, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Manchester, England

This is not an all-inclusive list.  All sessions are subject to change or merger.