Meet and greet

Led by industry, Aerolink events offer the opportunity to engage directly with colleagues in an environment where everyone is looking to work for mutual benefit. Dan Thorley, director of event organiser, Strategic Marketing reports.

Aerolink events have been taking place annually in Wales since 2004, and in more recent years have expanded to cover an event each year in Farnborough and Scotland too. The aims of the event today are the same as when they first began – to uncover new business opportunities for companies in the aerospace & defence industry through exploring new relationships. The themes and focus of the events have however, changed significantly over the last nine years. Back in 2004 the event was a straightforward ‘meet the buyer' event, and the intervening years have seen the events change towards a more innovation, collaboration and technology-led focus, while still offering the chance to meet buyers in major aerospace OEMs. This combination of being able to discuss current requirements with ‘buyers' as well as future and technology needs with technical delegates offers the UK supply chain visibility and understanding of as many opportunities as possible. At a time when many companies extol the virtues of working together for the greater good, and we are bombarded with messages about the UK supply chain needing to collaborate for success, this type of event is a crucial conduit for forming real, mutually beneficial relationships. A huge amount of work can be in done in this modern age at distance - via social networks, email and the internet, but there will never be a complete replacement for meeting face-to-face when relationships need to be formed. Since the start we have encouraged our attendees to not only look upwards in the supply chain for opportunities, but to look sideways, downwards and diagonally too! Our experience with these events suggests that opportunities that arise through conversations with academia, research companies and fellow suppliers can be just as valuable as those with a buyer looking to place a package of work. Recent years and worldwide financial woes have seen visitor numbers level off, and a slightly worrying trend for companies to be a little reluctant to take time out of the office to talk to each other. From what we have seen this can only be a mistake, and companies who are still out there and engaging with each other are reaping the benefits of doing so. Aerolink events have always been led by the industry. We work collaboratively on the three respective events with the Aerospace Wales Forum, West of England Aerospace Forum, Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, Scottish Enterprise, UKTI and member organisations such as the GTMA, NAMTEC and others in order to provide a one day event that delivers real results for attendees.  The most recent event – Aerolink Wales & West 2012 – took place back in April and saw just over 100 delegates attend to discuss new projects. In nine years and 13 events, there have been more than 3,200 one-to-one meetings take place between over 600 different organisations – figures that the team are very proud of. Aerolink has never been - and never will be - intended as an alternative, or as competition to the major aerospace exhibitions. Instead they offer the opportunity to engage directly with 100-150 of your colleagues, in an environment where everyone is looking to work for mutual benefit. This targeted approach to meeting with new suppliers, customers or partners is what has always formed the basis of these events, and that will not change. By the time this goes to press, we will have just completed the second Aerolink Scotland, and will be looking forward to Aerolink Farnborough 2012 in November. We would be very happy to see you there! www.aerolinkwales.co.uk