Bournemouth International Centre and Bournemouth Pavilion have announced a busy season of new and returning conferences and events for 2018 and a business pipeline worth £100m for the town over three years.
The UK Dance Championships kicked off the year with competitors from Europe, Asia and America, all vying for top places in Latin and Ballroom. The event is a firm fixture in the dance industry calendar brought 4,500 competitors and visitors from around the world for three days.
In early March, the Green Party brings its spring conference for 600+ delegates. It will run core policy-setting workshops and plenaries.
The conference will also be open to the public.
The Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland (APM) follows with its annual Supportive and Palliative Care Conference. Showcasing new procedures in patient care, masterclasses and ‘state-of-the-art’ approaches to care, the event is expected to attract 500 professionals from around the UK.
Two thousand delegates from one of the UK’s largest women’s voluntary organisations return, 19-21 March, for the annual conference of the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in GB&I. The programme also includes a golf tournament, organised walks, commercial and charity stalls and features special guest speaker Helen Sharman OBE, the first Briton in space, courtesy of a Russian Soyuz rocket and the Mir international space station in 1991.
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) holds its annual conference, 11-12 July, for an estimated 800 delegates.
Also in July, Future Cheer International – Europe’s largest cheerleading and dance competition – returns to Bournemouth International Centre for its 10th year, bringing 21,000 competitors and visitors to the region.
In the autumn, returning and new clients include the British Association for Critical Care Nurses, the Society for Acute Medicine, College of Podiatry and British Society of Interventional Radiology for their annual conferences and exhibitions.
The Arts University Bournemouth, Bournemouth University, Anglo European Chiropractic College and National Citizens Service will also be hosting their graduation ceremonies in the town this year, involving 15,000 people.
In addition to business events and conferences, there are also new and returning public expos, including wargames event Beachhead 2018, which returned for a third year on 17 February.
The 9th Annual Big Bournemouth Beer Festival is set to take place from 30 March-1 April 2018 and the UK’s biggest cheese touring festival, Cheese Fest UK, comes to Bournemouth for the first time on 7 April,
The festival fizz continues with Prosecco Festival, the UK’s largest touring festival, landing at Bournemouth Pavilion 13-14 July.
And Bournemouth Air Festival comes to town 30 August-2 September.
“The events scene in Bournemouth is as buoyant and diverse as ever,” says BH Live’s director of venues and events, Pat Coyne.
“2018 has kicked off with a host of new and returning events which will, over the course of the year, attract thousands of delegates and visitors to the town. As well as delivering a platform for learning, networking, collaboration and enjoyment, events such as these, hosted in our venues, support more than 4,500 local jobs. In addition, we predict that they will also generate in the region of £100m in economic benefit for the town over the course of the next three years.”
