Over 170 members and guests enjoyed a day in the glamorous surroundings of London's Hurlingham Club, where the AGM and members' questions were followed by a three-course lunch with a talk by renowned broadcaster John Humphrys.
In its fourth year as a combined AGM and Member Lunch, and its third at the Hurlingham Club, the event has grown into a major fixture on members' calendars and the growing demand for places means PLASA will almost certainly move to a larger, but equally special, venue for next year.
Members now see this as a prime opportunity to celebrate being part of an organisation that is moving the industry forward and to network with other members in relaxed surroundings. The AGM itself saw presentations from PLASA's chairman Rob Lingfield, treasurer David Hopkins and chief executive Matthew Griffiths, following a packed year of initiatives that have included major successes in the PLASA-funded fight against the sell-off by Ofcom of vital radio frequencies, the granting of Awarding Body Status to PLASA, the launch of the PLASA Focus event format and a complete restructure of the Association's membership.
"We were very pleased to be able to present really meaningful progress on so many fronts," says Griffiths, whose speech also covered the increasingly critical topic of sustainability, "and to announce plans for continuing the momentum we have been building, not only for the next 12 months but for the next five years.
"The whole team has worked tremendously hard not only to deliver even better value services to the membership, but to communicate those benefits to ensure that companies and individuals know how to make full use of them.
"The perceived status and networking value of the AGM and lunch has grown as the Association has grown, and what we all found tremendously positive was the number of members who came for the first time this year, and the extent and depth of the questions that were asked from the floor - it was a good, healthy debate in a forum that has really taken off for both the membership and PLASA itself."
