From the Centenary Lighting Summit through to a ‘How to be brilliant’ social evening and the Executive Board’s strategy ‘awayday’, it has been a busy summer for ILP President Perry Hazell.
June’s Centenary Lighting Summit saw the official Presidential handover from Rebecca Hatch to me take place. I have to say I was quite disappointed to find there is no secret book of the Institution’s secrets over the past 100 years. Or is there?!
That evening before the Summit, I made the final tweaks to my speech and the nerves started to kick in. I wanted to try and make it a fun start to the day and hope I did, with the quirky presidential address video.
I can’t believe that’s now on socials, but hey you only live once! So, thank you to all who were involved helping film it as well as edit it (lots of airbrushing took place, I’m sure).
The first day flew by; I sat as part of a panel on discussions around EV provisions – and look out in the October edition for more on this.
I absolutely loved seeing new and old faces and that theme went through the day into the evening for the celebration dinner. Where I was honoured to present three awards to very well-deserved winners.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
My proudest moment of the Summit, however, was having students attend from the London Design & Engineering University Technical College.
The exhibition stands were buzzing; the students were brilliant, engaging with members and exhibitors.
I can’t thank the chaperones enough for giving up their time to host a small group. I’ve had unbelievable feedback from attendees and hope this is a common theme in all our events to come.
Some very generous exhibitors put on activities for the students to engage with and offered out prizes. I am hoping to award these prizes to the college later in the year, where we will launch a new lighting project, which the students will be completing. Watch this (hopefully well-lit) space!
The Summit, obviously, was the main event of the summer but it was by no means the only one. During July I really enjoyed attending a reception celebrating our ‘How to be brilliant’ (HTBB) speakers.
The small low-key event was focused on celebrating the past speakers from the previous 62 HTBB lectures. It was also my first visit to Optelma’s showroom in Clerkenwell, which generously hosted the event.
It was also very refreshing re-engaging with the architectural sector, as this is not something I’m normally involved in day to day.
BOARD ‘AWAYDAY’
The ILP Executive Board each year also has a strategy ‘awayday’ held over two days during the summer.
It gives the Board an opportunity to come together and completely focus on strategy or key areas we think need further discussion and development. There’s even a subject to discuss over dinner!
As much as it is a long two days, it is such a great way to step away from our normal working lives and really give our focus to the Institution and fine-tuning the hard work the staff and volunteers have been putting in throughout the year.
It’s also great to have a real spread of personalities and experiences now within Board and it creates a great environment for some healthy debate. Thankfully, we were able to build on the great work previously carried out on the Strategy 2026.
- This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the September edition of Lighting Journal. Click on the link to the edition to read the full article.
