BALPPA, the British Association of Leisure, Parks, Piers and Attractions, has announced a range of upcoming events for attractions professionals, including its Autumn Conference and schedule of informative seminars
BALPPA is looking forward to its Autumn Conference, which this year will take place in Blackpool from the 1st – 2nd October. The event includes an overnight stay at Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s new hotel and features a line up of fun events and industry updates.
Members are also invited to the organisation’s annual charity golf day which takes place the day before the conference on the 30th of September. This event is an opportunity to raise money for the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, which provides emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness. The event is held at Heron’s Reach Golf Club in Blackpool.
Professional development opportunities
BALPPA has announced a new seminar called The Power of Purchasing. It is being held on the 17th of October from 10 am – 4 pm at Prestige Homeseeker Park & Leisure Homes Express Business Park in Rushden.
The seminar is being run in conjunction with new BALPPA Members Purchasing For Parks and Prestige Homeseeker Park & Leisure Homes. It will feature an informative schedule, including purchasing top tips, theme park diversification, managing and reducing energy costs, a case study based on an attraction and a tour of the Prestige Factory.
Purchasing For Parks specialise in providing purchasing services to the UK holiday, theme, attraction and farm parks industry and offer the largest range of service in this area for our industry.
Marketing Seminar and Health & Safety Seminar
BALPPA members are also invited to a Marketing Seminar at Drayton Manor Park Hotel, on the 27th of November from 10 am to 3 pm. It will include talks on Crisis PR with a real-life case study, adding accommodation with a marketing case study and SEO and the impact of Alexa. Attendees will also learn about audience personas and benefit from a GDPR and cookie policy update.
On the following day, the 28th of November, Drayton Manor Park Hotel will also be host to BALPPA’s annual Health and Safety Seminar, from 10 am to 3 pm. A panel of professionals will deliver key talks, including Chartered Engineer and Consultant Tristan Pulford, Sue Dearden H&S defence lawyer, Julie Thomas H&S prosecution lawyer (now turned to the defence side) and Melvin “flip” Sandell, ex HSE with media experience. More speaker will be confirmed nearer to the event.
The seminar will focus on topics such as the impact of asset integrity management (AIM) and asset life extension (ALE) on ride availability and safety, and crisis management. It will also explore how to handle the media and gather engineering evidence, as well as providing an HSE update on current industry issues.
BALPPA members recently enjoyed the annual summer conference in the New Forest, where they experienced a range of networking opportunities and events, as well as visits to popular nearby attractions such as Paulton’s Park and the Spinnaker Tower.
