Making the most of UKREiiF

You might be fresh off the heels of all the madness of MIPIM 2024, but we hope you haven’t packed your suitcases away yet because UKREiiF is knocking at the door.  

Like many of you, we’ll be in Leeds next month as one of the +10,000 event attendees for an industry conference that has quickly established itself as one of the must-attend events of the year.  

Flush with local authorities laying out their stalls for the year ahead and built environment movers and shakers there to talk turkey, you’d best have a good reason to miss the opportunity that comes with the event. 

Let’s talk details and key themes 

The event will draw in key players, influencers and decision-makers across the built environment, and represents a pivotal moment in the yearly networking circuit. 

700 speakers, across 30 stages will be tackling the key themes of: 

• Sustainability and net zero 
• The future of real estate 
• Social value and EDI 
• Inward investment

Is UKREiif more accessible for smaller firms? 

UKREiiF is no longer the new kid on the block when it comes to the built environment’s event calendar. In 2024 more than ever, UKREiiF resonates with a distinctly British pulse, and champions those firms with a keen focus on the UK market, and ‘doing it ourselves’. 

This UK-centric stage offers smaller firms, or those with a primary focus on the UK an appealing networking opportunity that’s more suited to their needs than say MIPIM, which is a considerably larger investment and much broader in scope and regions covered. 

Much like MIPIM, UKREiiF offers up an opportunity to have conversations you’d struggle to have outside the context of the conference. That person you’ve had on your target list for months but have struggled to find an in with? UKREiiF is the perfect opportunity to get in front of them and make that connection. That’s because businesses and people go to these conferences exactly to have these conversations. When they’re back at their desk on a Monday morning, its business as usual and you’d back at the bottom of their priority list. 

What we’re looking forward to at UKREiiF 2024 

Last year, UKREiiF almost suffered from success, with an overwhelming abundance of talks and topics, and not to mention fringe events. This sheer scale of information, although impressive, left us craving a deeper dive into particular topics. Variety and volume is good, but not at the expense of real depth. Hopefully, UKREiiF 2024 has developed itself, and goes that little bit deeper. 

We’re particularly looking forward to the Tuesday the 21st 09:30 talk, “Sustainable Infrastructure Delivery – How Do We Create a Roadmap to Cleaner, Greener Britain?” and the Wednesday the 23rd 13:00 talk, “General Election 2024 Outlook: Solving the Housing Crisis”.

Among the host of events, these in particular hold focus for so many of our clients who are championing a greener future, developing new technologies to alleviate the Housing Crisis, or driving the use of modern methods of construction in streamlining housebuilding. 

We’re also expecting great things from the exhibition this year. In 2023, it was a highlight of UKREiiF, and a fascinating showcase of the best of the industry. It goes without saying as well that you can’t go wrong with all the free swag. 

A boost to the local economy 

Once again, Leeds itself can expect a massive impact from the conference, from the buzz of the event itself, to the inevitable hotel chaos, the city can expect a boom for the local economy. Hopefully you’ve already booked your accommodation as there’s precious little left in the city for the duration of the conference (we’re already seeing a few of our own clients booking hotels a town or two over). 

Making the most of the conference 

We’ve beaten our drum a few times on this blog about the importance of going to the these events with a plan and set of deliverables, here’s a quick reminder of how you can maximise the chances of conference success: 

1. Plan ahead. Being in the right place at the right time is about planning, not luck
    
2. But don’t plan too much. Leave space in your diary for bumping into someone unexpectedly. This is what we like to call conference magic and you can’t underestimate its value
    
3. Know who and what you’re targeting. UKREiiF can be overwhelming. Knowing who you need to talk to and the events you need to attend will help you focus your efforts
    
4. Take it seriously. It’s an investment of time and money and comes with reputational risk if you overdo it on the fizz
    
5. Perhaps most importantly, have fun! There are people to meet, new ideas to happen upon, and opportunities to tickle into being
    
6. Don’t forget about the follow-up. If you can’t capitalise on the opportunities you create it’s all for nothing. We recently wrote a blog piece about the follow-up post MIPIM. It’s as relevant to UKREiiF as it is to any conference

Suffice it to say, we’re looking forward to everything UKREiiF has in store this year and we’ll be there with bells on supporting our clients and absorbing all the talking points.  

If you’re in need of a marketing agency to help you navigate the waters of industry events, to help you grow your profile and get you talking on some of the panels close to your heart, Luma Marketing can help you make the strides needed. 

To have a chat about what you’ve got going on and what you think you need, get in contact with us.