The UK Chapter of the IIAR saw an unprecedented 130 guests attend Tuesday’s annual Summer Party and Networking Event held in London, making it the most successful event ever held in the IIAR’s seven-year history.
The evening, sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS, the global Big Four IT services company) saw 95 analysts attend, representing 30 different firms including Forrester, Gartner, IDC and Ovum. Other analysts in attendance included from 451 Research, ABI Research, Aite Group, Analysys Mason, Celent, Creative Intellect Consulting, Current Analysis, EuroLAN Research, Freeform Dynamics, IDATE, Informa, Nelson Hall, PAC, TechMarketView amongst others. From the AR side, around 35 guests representing multinational organisations and SMEs attended. There were also a few CMOs as well as CEOs.
“Surveys like the Edelman Trust Barometer point towards the rising trust deficit in business and government leaders in today’s environment. The media is also having its own share of controversies. Hence, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find someone one could trust. In times like these, the role of the analysts has become more important than probably ever before in history. It is a privilege for TCS to be working closely with the IIAR and the analyst community and it was an obvious decision for TCS to partner with the IIAR for this event,” said Yash Khanna, Director, Analyst Relations & Strategic Marketing, TCS in his welcome speech.
Yash, who is also a co-Lead of IIAR UK Chapter, added, “The IIAR is proud to be working with the best analysts in the business and to have some of the best AR professionals as its members. We look forward to making the IIAR even more relevant for all its members.” He also also thanked his fellow Chapter Leads David Rossiter (Sunesis), Hannah Kirkman (Richmond Green), Henrietta Lacey-Gutsell (Freelancer), Simon Levin (The Skills Connection) for putting together a brilliant event.
Everyone enjoyed the party atmosphere and opportunity of speaking with their peers in the industry as well as their analyst friends in a relaxed setting. As drinks and food flowed, guests were able to mingle in a Mediterranean like setting, enjoying the summer evening while sipping Pimms and taking in the fantastic views across London from the Penthouse SkyBar.
One analyst said, “This is like LinkedIn in person – if LinkedIn could do this they’d be on to a winner!” To quote another one, “This is the best networking event I have been to in a long time. I am already looking forward to next year’s party.”
A big thanks to all those who were able to make it, we sure had a great time!
All attendees would be receiving an email containing the link to all other pictures (~ 200) of the event. Owing to limited space, we have included just a handful of picture here :-
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