FIT Show organisers have declared its online learning programme a success after it held its inaugural event last week, coinciding with what would have marked the return of its live show at the NEC.
Hundreds of people registered and logged on for the sessions, in the two-day programme, kicked off by FIT Show co-founder, Paul Godwin, which included live webinars and panels tackling key industry issues.
Alongside sessions covering topics such as ‘tackling mental health in construction’, technical webinars covered ‘changes to building regulations’, ‘the importance of performance ratings’ and ‘trends in outdoor living’ delivered by RISA, BFRC and Renson UK respectively.
Social media was a prominent content theme within the programme. JC Media’s David Glenwright delivered two sessions covering ‘LinkedIn for thought leaders’ and ‘how to create a visual brand presence on Instagram’. Installers were also given an insight into ‘how to work smarter, not harder’ and ‘avoiding the lost lead’ in two sessions fronted by Elton Boocock of Business Pilot.
Panel debates, all hosted by Nichola Reeder of 12th Man Solutions, saw the likes of Fit for Trade’s Joanne Taylor, Tracey Jackson of Howells, BABSI’s Justin Ratcliffe and Endeavour’s Joshua Thompson discuss the growing skills gap and how to attract and retain new talent into the industry.
Gio Laporta of SmartReady and Nick Dutton of Brisant-Secure shared their thoughts on smart home technology and how to better equip installers to sell the benefits of these innovations to homeowners on the closing panel of the day. This panel, which also included Jey Jeshingham of Era Home Security and Masterframe’s Alan Burgess, drove much engagement and debate.
FIT Show event director Nickie West said: “We couldn’t have anticipated a better response to our online event this week. The response from our community has been fantastic – from our speakers and panellists through to the trade media and all of our online attendees.
“Hundreds of people registered and logged on for the sessions – our conversion rate was over 60% which is brilliant for an online event. We managed to utilise a large proportion of the content that we had planned to run at FIT Show.
“By running this content online we have created a vital touchpoint in our campaign as we work towards our return to FIT Show next May. We’ve created brand awareness, dialogue with our audience and served our community in the process. It was a huge success and I would like to thank everyone involved.
“We know that nothing beats the power of face-to-face interaction and bringing people together at live events, but we’ll be back to doing that at FIT Show 2022 next May!”
Pictured: Remembering the live events at past FIT Shows
