Five reasons why you can’t afford to miss the IDPE 2019 Annual Conference:

What can you expect?

The IDPE 2019 Annual Conference is developed by members for members. It provides a two-day programme of professional development for schools’ development practitioners and senior leadership teams, from both the independent and state school sectors.

The conference features inspirational speakers from schools at different stages on their development journey, as well as presentations by experts from across the wider education and charitable sectors.

With sessions for both the more experienced schools’ development practitioners to those just starting out, as well as sessions tailored to the needs of heads, bursars and governors within our strategy and leadership stream, the conference provides relevant and essential learning for all schools involved in schools’ development.

Last year’s conference focussed on telling your story, how to share your story to increase engagement and raise more from your school community. As we celebrate 20 years of IDPE supporting development professionals, and launch the key findings from the 4^th benchmarking survey, the UK's largest fundraising survey for the education sector, the IDPE 2019 Annual Conference will explore how we, both individually and collectively, make an impact on young people’s lives.
 

A full two-day programme
In response to feedback from delegates, there will be a change in format to the 2019 conference, with the programme running for the full two days of Monday and Tuesday (instead of finishing after lunch on Tuesday). We will be starting at the slightly later time of 10:30 on the Monday and finishing at 16:00 on the Tuesday. Please note, we are no longer providing a  formal networking event on Sunday night or providing packages which include Sunday night accommodation. If you would like to stay over on Sunday night, please contact the hotel directly.

New conference streams
Our new strategy and leadership stream will run throughout the two days of the conference, providing sessions for heads, bursars and governors as well as our more experienced development directors, exploring the latest innovations from across the sector.

We are also introducing a personal effectiveness stream. With sessions and lunchtime clinics on topics such as time management and prioritisation, creating and monitoring budgets and resilience.  This stream will focus on providing you with the necessary skills to be an effective development professional.
 

‘How to’ sessions
Our new ‘how to’ sessions will provide step-by-step practical information on a range of topics for anyone new to development or looking for more detailed guidance on a particular aspect of fundraising or alumni relations. For example, this year’s programme will include sessions on how to use social media effectively, how to move from friend-raising to fundraising, and how to launch your first appeal.