UK Space Conference
When UK Space Conference visited Belfast in 2023, astronauts, explorers, innovators, and politicians came together, and stakeholders called it the best one ever.
UK Space Conference is cost neutral.
The UK has more space businesses and attracts more space investment than any country outside the US. UK Space Conference is where the world comes to find the next great space innovation.
We collaborated with industry leaders on a thought leadership campaign to drive almost 2,000 delegate sales, while our sponsorship experts secured 18 major sponsors and 112 exhibition packages.
Inspiring the next generation.
We invited 400 Belfast schoolchildren to come and meet real life astronauts.
One child had a question for trainee UK astronaut John McFall, training to be the first ever disabled astronaut. Could she be an astronaut too, the girl asked, even though she was having operations and would likely lose part of her leg.
McFall left the stage, went into the audience and sat beside the girl. He told her not to let it define her and to follow her dreams. She cried, her teachers cried, everyone cried – it was a special moment.
Stage design
“I didn’t want the speakers to look lonely or tiny on such a large stage, so we needed to find a way to give some depth and geography,” says Nick Goolding, Production Manager.
“We settled on the colour web backdrop, which we loaded with loop content to create twinkling stars, acting as a low-res LED screen, with various colourways to denote the different conference streams.
“It’s a retro product, which I was delighted to bring back. I really enjoy practical lighting and seeing how something so simple can be so effective.”
Sustainability and economic impact
UK Space Conference was served almost exclusively by local suppliers, with build material strictly reuseable or recyclable. Catering was ethically and locally sourced, and 79% of delegates rated our plant-based menu a success.
According to Visit Belfast’s measurement approach, UK Space Conference 2023 generated £1.2 million in local economic impact.
And feedback was great. A massive 97% of delegates rated the event ‘good’ or ‘very good’, saying it enabled them to make new connections and refresh existing ones, and 94% say they’re already looking forward to the next event.
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