In September, Lee Hayhurst, Editorial Director for Aviation Business News, attended the T2RLEngage Conference.
The T2RLEngage event is an annual gathering of senior aviation and tech supplier delegates to discuss one of the most critical digital transformations going on in the industry today.
There’s a lot of jargon associated with this change, which is characteristic of the aviation sector, but put simply, it’s all about how airlines can become modern online retailers.
ABN saw this annual gathering as an ideal opportunity to get our new branding into the public for the first time since it went live along with our new website in July.
So, we reached out to T2RL to ask if they’d consider bringing us in as their official media partner for Engage this year, and thankfully they agreed.
Under the agreement, we had a stand and a five-minute mainstage presentation to introduce the audience to our new branding and the thinking behind it.
This also gave us the perfect opportunity to launch Best Places To Work In Aviation, our new awards scheme that focuses on arguably aviation’s most pressing challenge – people.
Part of the new ABN approach is to be more present at industry events such as this so we can report on them and expand and enhance the content we make available online.
Hopefully you’ve seen the video we produced at T2RLEngage, which underpins our intention to be much more of a multimedia publisher in the future.
We also want to host more face-to-face events.
We really value being present at the many conferences and trade shows that take place in aviation and travel annually, but anyone who attends these events knows that they can be rather daunting, and there are no guarantees that you get to meet the people you want.
And while your diary during the day is usually bulging with pre-arranged meetings, there is often little formally organised for delegates in the evening or at the start of the day.
Conversations and meetings on the trade or conference floor are one thing, but there’s often no beating the serendipity of that chance meeting at a networking event.
That’s why we decided to take the opportunity of 500 aviation delegates being in our home city to host our own networking event at a nearby venue immediately after T2RLEngage.
We are extremely grateful to DOHOP and TPConnects for sponsoring this first-ever ABN event and for IBS Software to come in as our multimedia sponsor.
Ultimately, we really enjoyed our media partnership with T2RLEngage and look forward to many more in the future as we work to promote the ABN brand in the industry.
Without a doubt, a real highlight was attending the official gala dinner hosted in the National Gallery, surrounded by some of the world’s most famous works of art.
We should never forget how privileged we are to work in this fantastic industry and the incredible experiences that so often come our way.
Thanks, T2RL; ABN will always be grateful that you were there right at the beginning of our journey of transformation.