The Indie Forum: May 25th - 27th, 2021

When the pandemic is over, we hope to return to holding our annual in-person conference for all independent agencies – the Indie Summit. Sadly, that’s not possible this year. Large conferences are still forbidden in many countries, including UK – and international travel is impracticable for most people.

So – we have decided to hold an online ‘Indie Forum’, instead!

PLUS, we’re also delighted to announce an exciting 3 day series of creative workshops ‘The Seven E’s of Engagement’ with world leading creative director, Patrick Collister. Click here to book.

The Indie Forum will be exciting – informal – accessible – inclusive - and affordable.

Exciting

We have hand-picked inspirational speakers - leaders in their fields, but also people you’ve probably not heard talking at conferences before. Our speakers are from around the world – China, India, UK and USA.

Every presentation is LIVE – no safety-first, pre-recorded content here. No pay-to-play from the sponsors. If you don’t agree with what the speakers say – challenge them. We promise you’ll hear new thinking and acquire new knowledge that will change your view of our industry – forever.

Informal

No-one likes sitting in front of a screen for a whole day. The Indie Forum is spread over three days – each with two to three hours of active content, and breaks to chat with fellow participants if you wish to.

Each day has a theme.

- Tuesday is “Fun Tech and Scary Tech”

- Wednesday is “Re-Set and Re-Think”

- Thursday is “Looking Forward, not Back”

Accessible

Don’t expect fancy Virtual Reality environments, with complicated sign-up procedures and multiple simultaneous content streams. All you’ll need is Zoom. If you don’t like one of the speakers, take a break.. but we think you will like them all!

Speakers are briefed that the Indie Forum is a jargon free zone. Everyone in marketing communications will learn to understand stuff they had not even heard of, half an hour earlier.

Inclusive

Like all our big events, the Indie Forum has a gender-balanced and ethnically diverse speaker program.

But “inclusion” goes beyond our speaker program. The Indie Forum, like the Indie Summit, is relevant for people from ALL independent marketing and communications agencies and consultancies. Creative, media, PR and all forms of digital and social media communications.

Dip in for the sessions that most interest you – or stay for all, and learn something really new!

Leave your ego behind. The only think you need to bring, is your professional curiosity.

Affordable

We love the feeling of meeting people who have travelled halfway around the world for a full-scale Indie Summit. But we also know that not everyone can afford this.

You’ll have no travel costs to the Indie Forum, and you will definitely not catch Covid! Best of all, we’re only charging a nominal fee to join –

- GBP £20 per person for all sessions on any day of your choosing

- GBP £50 per person for all three days

- GBP £95 to bring your entire agency!

Some speakers are subject to confirmation

14.00: Introduction, Julian Boulding, thenetworkone

14.05: "Commerce Livestreaming in China - An E-commerce Evolution" - Colin Phua, Captive Media, China & Singapore

14.30: "Emotional Artificial Intelligence: Oxymoron or the future of Advertising?" - Ian Forrester, DAIVID, Australia & UK

15.00: "A little bit of data, on my side" - Roger Darashah, Applied Analytics, India

15.30: "How ISIS, Russia, and the Alt-Right Remade Modern Marketing" - Curtis Hougland, Mainstreet One, USA

16.00: Breakout Session

16.15: Media & Tech roundtable

Click here for the full agenda.

Some speakers are subject to confirmation

14.00: "Wash. Rinse. Repeat." - Meera Sharath Chandra, Tigress Tigress, India

14.30: Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts, PLH Research, UK

15.00: "The "She" Storytellers" - Heetal Dattani, Shweta Iyer & Priya Jayaraman, The Nine Yards Consultancy, India

15.30: "The Truth About Women and Power in the Workplace" - Marissa Orr, Author of "Lean Out", USA

16.15: Breakout Session

Click here for the full agenda.

Some speakers are subject to confirmation

14.00: "I’m a person, not a patient: how can the industry embrace the digital revolution to truly personalise healthcare?" - Panel discussion

15.00: "Looking forward? Follow the money!" - Tony Walford, Green Square, UK

15.45: Debate - This House believes that "Over the next five years, technology will be more important than talent in our industry.”

Click here for the full agenda.

AND at the same time… A BONUS OPTION!

'The Seven E'S of Engagement' - A 3 day series of workshops

Patrick Collister is one of the World’s Leading Creative Directors – and thinkers about our business.

His award-winning career has included long-term creative leadership roles at agencies as diverse as Ogilvy, EHS Brann and the Google Zoo.

Today, he works as a creative NED, edits the Directory, Curates the Caples awards and provides creative coaching and training to agencies around the world.

Patrick has kindly agreed to provide course of three online workshops, two hours each day, for a small-ish group of up to 20 people, to coincide with the Indie Summit.

The theme is “The 7E’s of Engagement” – a compelling distillation of Patrick’s unique learnings and experiences on how to get customers interested in what you have to say.

There will be three workshop days plus a special in-between day, where participants are invited to join Patrick for the Caples Awards presentation ceremony.

Click here to book your place.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Eligibility

Participation is limited to Owners, Directors and Staff of independent marketing and communications agencies and consultancies, from any country. “Independent” means not majority owned, controlled or co-branded by traditional network agency holding companies i.e. WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Denstu, Havas or MDC. If in doubt, please contact stephanie.fox@thenetworkone.com before making your booking.

All kinds of marketing and communications agencies are equally welcome: creative, media, PR, experiential, branding and design and all kinds of digital and social communications agencies.

If thenetworkone is in doubt about your agency’s eligibility, or the eligibility of any participant, we will contact you to verify this within seven days of your registration. If it is not clear to us that you meet the criteria, we may elect in our absolute discretion to cancel your registration and refund your fee.

Please register with your business email address so we're able to identify your agency.

Technical requirements

All programs will be delivered online, in English. Thenetworkone’s zoom account will be used unless otherwise advised. You will need to have an up to date and working zoom account and a good internet connection, with camera and sound enabled; but otherwise no special software is required. To take full advantage of the opportunity, a PC, laptop or tablet is recommended, rather than a mobile phone. If any presenter would like to use additional technology which requires additional software, this would be checked and confirmed with participants, in advance.

Payment

Payment is due at the time of booking and should be made via Eventbrite’s secure credit card payment facility. No booking is confirmed until payment is received. In case you need to pay by any other means, please contact Stephanie Fox at thenetworkone, stephanie.fox@thenetworkone.com. An additional charge may apply.

Costs are as follows:

- GBP £20 per person for all sessions on any day of your choosing

- GBP £50 per person for all three days

- GBP £95 to bring your entire agency

Currently, agencies based outside UK in other countries are not liable for UK tax, but if this situation changes and we are legally obliged to charge VAT or any other tax, we reserve the right to do so.

UK based agencies must also pay VAT (tax). Please ensure you select a VAT inclusive place if this applies to you. If so, you will receive a tax invoice enabling you to reclaim this tax if you are UK VAT registered.

Changes to the program

Presenters and facilitators are advertised in good faith, but thenetworkone cannot guarantee the participation of any individual facilitator. Thenetworkone reserves the right to make alterations to the program content.

Refunds policy

Refunds are at the absolute discretion of thenetworkone and will normally only be offered in the event of the cancellation of the event, due to unavoidable reasons outside our control. In case of cancellation of the event for any reason, thenetworkone’s liability will be limited to the money received by thenetworkone from registered delegates, directly or via Eventbrite. However, a substitute delegate of similar seniority may attend the conference in place of the booked delegate, at no additional cost, subject to written confirmation provided by you and acknowledged by thenetworkone, at least 24 hours in advance.

There is no right to a refund except in case of the cancellation of the event. If the entire event is cancelled, you will receive a refund of all money you have paid, within two weeks.

Data privacy

You agree by booking this program that you may be contacted by thenetworkone and/or the presenters and/or other program participants, before, during and after the event. You may ‘unsubscribe’ from this commitment, from two weeks after the completion of the program.

Your data will not be sold to, or shared with, other third parties without your written permission.

Seminar presentations may be recorded and shown on thenetworkone's YouTube channel and website.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How many people from my agency can attend?

Registration for each series is not limited . If you'd like to invite the whole agency to join, please purchase the 'All three days - entire agency' ticket (£95 GBP ex. fees & VAT).

Are substitutes allowed?

If you have registered for the event and are unable to attend, please let us know in writing (email is fine). We can accept a substitute from your agency up to 24 hours in advance, providing he or she also meets the eligibility criteria. There is no charge for this. After the programme begins, substitutes may only be accepted at the discretion of thenetworkone.

Who is responsible for running the program?

The program is offered and will be managed by Thenetworkone Online Limited. Any correspondence should be addressed by email to Julian Boulding (julian.boulding@thenetworkone.com) or Stephanie Fox (stephanie.fox@thenetworkone.com), tel +44 207 240 7117.

A representative of thenetworkone (usually Stephanie Fox) will be available during each seminar to assist presenters and participants, as required.

Emergency contacts for participants to use, in case of technical or other problems, will be advised after booking.

Additional questions about the event

For any questions, please contact Stephanie Fox at thenetworkone: stephanie.fox@thenetworkone.com or +44 (0)207 240 7117.