Written by This month we sat down with Ross, the Managing Director of IQPC Research and Development to reflect on his career at IQPC. Ross shared some valuable and inspiring insights that are a testament to the wonderful journey that you can go on at IQPC. Ross’ role evolved from working in our Sales departments to Production, taking him to the other side of the world (Australia!), and today is running IQPC Research and Development, our newest innovation business. Here’s what he had to say…
Please could you share some insight into your background and what made you join IQPC?
I studied Politics and Economics at university. When my time came to leave, I was paralysed by a lack of clarity on my place in the world. Everyone else seemed to know what they wanted to do next, but I had no idea. I found IQPC by accident rather than by design, but when I did, I saw somewhere that would satisfy my natural curiosity, push me to be a better version of myself, and enable me to have a good time while doing it.
Please could you share some insights into your career journey at IQPC? Including details of where you started, the job roles that you have had, and where you are now?
I feel like my career is a good example of the journey you can go on at IQPC. I’ve been lucky enough to change roles about every two years, which means I’ve tried most of the roles across the business over my seventeen years. I started in delegate sales, had a short and not-so-successful stint in sponsorship sales, before finding my groove in the production department.
Then I got the chance to move to Australia, where I spent eight amazing years working across our full event portfolio. I arrived as a producer and left as the Deputy Managing Director. I got to run everything from conferences and exhibitions to exchanges, covering topics as varied as customer experience, mining, healthcare, technology, infrastructure, and shared services.
When I returned home, I took on the MD role for our UK Digital business where our goal was to increase revenue from digital channels. This happened right as the pandemic hit, so a key part of the role became helping the wider business pivot to digital channels.
Coming out of the pandemic, it was clear we needed a business unit focused on launching new conference topics to keep serving the needs of the industries we work with. I put my hand up to lead the charge as the MD of IQPC R+D. To date, we have had a lot of fun launching a series of conferences that in many instances have been global firsts.
What does your current job entail?
In terms of the R+D business unit, our goal is to find new conference topics – which means spending our time reading, speaking to leaders in their respective industries, and trying to identify needs that are not being served by existing events.
Once we have the idea – then we approach it like a start-up. We need to develop the product (the event, speakers, and copy), decide on our ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), develop our marketing and sales strategy, take it to market (do the actual selling), and then finally see the fruits of our labour when we go on site to run the conference.
If the launch is successful, then it is all about scaling it into a large-scale event. That means developing a vision for the conference and throwing the appropriate level of resources at it to make it happen.
As the MD of the business unit, my role is to make sure we have the right team for the job, set the cultural norms, take the lead on identifying the next generation of conference topics, and provide a framework for the rest of the team to be successful in their roles.
Is there something you could tell us that most people wouldn’t know about your role?
Externally, people think working in conferences is just about organising the operational side of a conference – the venue, timings, food, etc. That is a critical part of what we do, but they often overlook the work that goes into the business side of the conference. Each conference is essentially a mini business, with its own budget, growth strategy, and resourcing plan – and playing with those variables to deliver the most successful outcome is my favourite part of the role. It is also the part that most of the team work on.
Internally, I don’t think many people realise just how well the attributes of a good conference producer translate to being an MD. All the skills you learn taking products to market and navigating their inevitable ups and downs are the same ones you will apply to a wider business, just on a different scale. Similarly, the skills I developed as a delegate sales rep all those years ago still form the foundation of what I do – it taught me how to speak to senior business people, demonstrate value, and the work rate required to be successful.
How would you describe your team dynamics?
I am lucky to work with an incredibly talented team who make work a lot of fun. We have a diverse set of backgrounds, but what unites us is our desire to deliver products that are unique and that deliver value to our customers.
We operate on the principle of ‘freedom within a framework’ – everyone has autonomy in their role to make decisions and be creative, provided they are delivering what the business needs. If not, we need to be able to go back to first principles to identify any issues we need to address to get back on track.
We also have a culture which is based on ownership, where if something doesn’t go to plan, everyone is encouraged to focus on what they could do better rather than pointing the finger at others.
Finally, we are a meritocracy. It doesn’t matter how long you have been in the business, opportunity and progression will be given to the person in the team who is the most deserving of it (and that doesn’t just mean the person bringing in the most revenue, attitude and behaviours are essential as well as results).
Have you had a strong mentor at IQPC? What have you learned from them?
I have been fortunate enough to have lots of great mentors in my time at IQPC – but the person who had the biggest impact on my career was my MD in Australia, Noel McDermott. He saw potential in me that I maybe didn’t quite see in myself. He taught me how to develop a vision for what a conference could be rather than what it currently is, the importance of developing a culture based on ownership rather than blame, the need to have a work-life balance, and allowed me to be myself at work which meant a lot.
What skills do you think are most crucial for someone to succeed at IQPC?
I don’t think skills are particularly important – because we can teach anyone the skills necessary to be successful. Instead, I think there are key attributes of great employees – resilience, self-awareness, selflessness, and optimism.
Resilience because our role is about testing and learning which means you should expect rejection and failure along the way, self-awareness because getting better at your craft involves knowing and working on your weaknesses, selflessness because the people who do the best tend to be those that think about the needs of the business and team rather than themselves, and optimism because no matter how challenging a situation might seem, there is always a way out if you are solution-focused.
Embody those traits and you will be unstoppable.