19/05/2025
By Angela Ramage AIEP, Events Coordinator, IEP
This was my first IEP Networking event, and it was held at the home of Welsh rugby, the Principality Stadium.
There was a real buzz in the room as everyone enjoyed the views and beautiful sunny weather!
The event was hosted by Case-UK with the opening superbly delivered in Welsh by the brilliant Andy Milton FRSA FIEP.
The 3 speakers, Angharad Lloyd Benyon, David Heath and Gareth Matthews FIEP who spoke at length about their specialist areas, and an engaged audience felt compelled to interact with some great questions after each session. Angharad had everyone involved through her interactive session with questions and tasks for audience participation exercises.
The speed networking was brilliantly facilitated and allowed attendees to catch up with some new sector colleagues and make some valuable new connections. The chat was so loud they couldn’t hear the bell ringing to end the session!
The evening ended with an informal dinner at Aura based in the Coal Exchange building in Cardiff city centre. The building which was full of history and culture allowed everyone to continue the day’s conversations and further connect with new colleagues.
My key takeaways from the day were:
- Working together on how to engage with the younger generation and the concerning statistics about mental health
- How youth engagement officers make 59% of referrals and now employ social media influencers to engage with the younger generation
- How wide City and Guilds reach within the UK is
- How and what the impact of loneliness is and how far reaching it is
- How to spot the signs and ways of making sure that the right support is offered
It was a great experience being at the event and I’m very much looking forward to seeing some now familiar faces at the IEP Summit on 12th June!
