The TALENT Conference 2024

Michael Heppell, Keynote Speaker

How To Be Brilliant - Sunday Times No.1 Bestselling Author, Speaker and Coach 

Doing a good job is no longer good enough. Your customers expect more, they want to pay less and they want the experience to be bigger and better than ever. 

During a fast paced entertaining keynote Michael Heppell will show you how by changing a few habits, implementing some positive actions and using your natural talent you can be brilliant.

Chris Ireland

BUILDING BRILLIANCE

Hospitality is the art of making people happy every day, through Building Brilliance in our Teams, Our Businesses and Ourselves.  Come this way for a rollercoaster journey through Hospitality and Leisure where it’s all about 3 core elements and a continuous drive to improve.

Mehalah Beckett

What’s the biggest risk worth taking?

If you’re looking to be the leader you secretly know you could be, that inspires yourself, your team and industry at large, then I can highly recommend taking this risk, that has served me over and over again in my leadership journey. Let’s all be the change we wish to see in the world, with this simple, not easy, action. 

Chris Wayne Wills

“More Resilience, More Brilliance”

The importance of building your resilience throughout  your career,  told through the story of the successful  “HIT the Crerar 450 cycling challenge” in 2023.

Seminars

Stephen Whitelaw

"Unleash the Power of ChatGPT & Artificial Intelligence (AI) to grow your business"

AI has been hitting the headlines recently, with the launch of ChatGPT already making waves in various industries. ChatGPT and other similar AI applications use natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails.  Find out how you can make use of it in your business to become more efficient and productive.

Jane Rennie, Founder, The Extraordinary Training Company

Learning is not a spectator sport!

I often hear people debating who should be held accountable for learning in the workplace. More often than not, the discussion revolves around whether the learning provider or the manager should bear this responsibility. Strangely enough, it’s rare to hear anyone mention that the learner could, and perhaps should, be ultimately accountable.

• Do you want to feel like you’re more in control of your development?

• Where do you begin?

• How can you take responsibility for your own development?

• How can you become an agile, adaptable & resilient hospitality employee?

Zoltan (chef) and Hub International, Head of Culinary Training, Lauren Shields

The Customer Journey starts way before a guest steps foot on your property, miles before in fact, at the farm or the field where our ingredients are produced. Join Chef Zoltan and Lauren as they discuss how 'farm to fork' isn't just a concept for inside the kitchen and how the Customer Journey isn't just a duty for Front of House. Let's take our guests beyond the dining room to surprise & delight and create raving fans.

Victoria Monterrubio, The Dorchester Collection

The dynamic landscape of customer service in various industries highlights the perpetual and evolving nature of customer expectations. Despite these shifts, Dorchester Collection, renowned for its 10 ultra-luxury hotels spanning Europe, the US, and the Middle East, has established an exceptional Guest Experience. Central to this strategy is continuous learning and development for over 4000 employees, a pivotal element that ensures alignment with guest expectations and hotel operations, ultimately serving as a key differentiator.

Zara Janjua, Journalist & multi-award winning broadcaster

Presenting for hospitality professionals.

“If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.” – Warren Buffet

Presenting helps you to sell yourself and your business, it enables you to share ideas to help others succeed and can move them to action. Public speaking skills are essential in leadership and in life. If you can master them, the opportunities are endless. In this session we will look at communication theory, structure, practice and mindset with a focus on storytelling as a key form of engagement, whether your audience is in a hotel lobby, boardroom or on stage. We will deliver key tips and advice for personal and professional development.

Bill Thomson, Hello Scotland

When you embark on any journey, you identify a starting point and a destination.

You make a plan and consider a routing that you feel is consistent with the brand you want to build, or the success you wish to achieve.
However, no matter how methodical you are in all of this up front detail, reality tends to bring about something a little different, it presents challenges you didn't think about, surprises, setbacks and also unexpected excitement and new opportunities...and so much more
What I am going to speak about today is about my journey and about your journey , and perhaps also the mindset you also need to factor in to ensure you reach your chosen destination in one piece!

Professor John Lennon, Dean of Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University also Director of the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development.

Building Innovative research and business development to fund tourism scholarships : a case study of the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development and its impact on students.

A review of progress over two decades that has used commercially funded projects to generate more than £1,5m in scholarships for tourism students at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Harry Olorunda & Adrien Rosier, Bacardi

“How a Spirits company like Bacardi is unleashing the future of bartending through education? The purpose behind the Shake Your Future program.”

From an observation of youth, unemployment reached a peak, and the cocktail scenes across markets were lacking skilled staff, Bacardi decided to hit two birds with one stone.

Exhibitors

Thanks to our lanyard sponsor Recruit Genie, and our exhibitors.

Make sure you stop by their stands and say hello!