When a conference like Safety & Health Expo and IOSH 2015 looms on the horizon, preparation can feel like a burden if you’re an exhibitor like JOMC & Hill Solomon. There are presentations to plan, exhibition stands to set up, and difficult decisions about what it is that we’re promoting when so much has happened in the last year that we’d like to share.
So, where does the real value lie in a conference? Well it’s all about relationships.
People are the focus of our business and meeting them face-to-face at an event like IOSH is a great opportunity to initiate those new relationships. But there’s more to it than just growing a business; a conference can educate and inspire us as much as we try to engage visitors to our stand.
As a psychologist, people’s behaviour is my point of interest: I study what makes humans tick in the work environment and how we interact and influence each other. So it’s not just about listening to guest speakers for me, it’s engaging with attendees too – people with immediate health and safety problems on the front-line.
Sometimes, what begins as a sympathetic conversation with a frustrated EHS manager can transform into one of hope as they realise they’re not alone in the process of culture change. You can see the relief on their faces as they realise there are people out there like JOMC who’ve been through the process many times and can help them not only initiate change, but take ownership.
Others arrive at our stand with a vague suspicion of hidden safety problems at their organisation but no idea how to uncover what’s at the root of their poor performance. When you tell them about focus groups and other techniques for revealing what people really think their eyes light up.
Yet it’s a two-way process. Conferences are also a chance to hear from long-standing clients and get inspired by organisations at different stages of the culture change journey. Away from the daily rush of the workplace you can really have a good catch up on where they are and how they think things are going. This is usually difficult when you look at diary commitments but when people are already at IOSH they can find time for a coffee and it’s not so stressed.
Free from the stresses and strains of everyday working life, people are are open to new ideas at conferences so it’s a good time to showcase your latest ideas. At this year’s IOSH we’ll have Barry Dell from Hill Solomon on our stand eager to talk to you about bringing your health and safety message to life with a team of actors!
Sinead Foster will be there too, with live demos of our Engage software, showing how devolved reporting to your staff helps them develop their own solutions to health and safety issues. Steve Beswick, also in attendance, backs up the technology with tried and tested tips on how to better engage your teams.
I’ll be at IOSH on the Wednesday and Thursday to talk about measuring culture and benchmarking cultural maturity. Come over and see us at stand number P2325 with Hill Solomon with any questions or better still let’s grab a cuppa and chat during the break.
Find out more
