HPMA is a UK association and charity, and we are committed to bringing our conference to every nation in the UK, so that all members have access and opportunity to attend the annual event. This year, if you are based outside Northern Ireland you will, in all likelihood, need to take a plane to Belfast. We acknowledge that flying to a conference may require you to make more thorough assessments of the need and cost of taking a flight, and we too as an events team will be looking at how we can balance this impact.

We are looking at

1 How we can carbon offset the cost of the flights our UK  mainland delegates will make.

2 Our menus over the two event days, working with the venue to source local, seasonable and sustainable options – and making vegan and vegetarian options available and attractive to participants.

3 Whether, after the successful use of the Conference App in 2023, we can move to a paperless event.

4 Encouraging our exhibitors and sponsors to only give away useful freebies, not ones that delegates will throw away

5 Minimising food waste, recycling and using biodegradable products

6 How we can encourage delegates to use public transport and walk to the venue – and also how we can enable more
delegates to lift share (eg from the airport to the conference venue).