A brand new venue with a room full of smiling audience members is always a good way to start an opening speech. I had managed to get some early feedback as the audience arrived and the general consensus was that they instantly loved the Millennium Point in Birmingham. 

This was the first conference that I had brought in more panels - building on the conferences retail buyers panel which is always a highlight of Brands Retail. Our panels consisted of a snapshot of our industry covering the licensees, Meet the owners, Women in Licensing and the Toy industry. I want to thank Kids Know Best, Fabacus, Products of Change and Powerstation Studios for supporting these. Also to the Good Play Guide for sponsoring the NEW IP's section as well which will be a session that will be in every conference going forward. We also had the first Summer gala dinner as well to look forward to which would end the Summer 23 conference perfectly.