ukactive has today (6 December) announced the agenda and first speakers for Active Uprising 2024, with the sector’s flagship conference kicking off the year by heading to London for the first time.
The event will take place at the QEII Centre in Westminster, on Thursday 1 February and the first round of speakers to be revealed include Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sport and Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen, Kim Leadbeater, sport psychologist and leadership coach, Dean Leak and ukactive Chair, Mike Farrar.
Active Uprising began in Manchester in 2018, where it was hosted again in 2019, before moving to Birmingham in 2022. In 2024, ukactive will bring together more than 700 leaders from across the worlds of health, fitness, leisure, sport, politics, and business in London, as Westminster gears up for the expected General Election.
Mike Farrar will kick-off proceedings by reflecting on the sector’s progress alongside the wider health landscape, drawing upon 13 years of CEO experience, to outline the sector’s opportunity to support the national health agenda.
Kim Leadbeater, who has been a Labour MP since 2021, will chair the first panel session of the day, titled, ‘The NHS and the fitness and leisure sector: what do we need from each other?’
Kim is a huge supporter of ukactive’s work and this year worked with the Fabian society to author the report, ‘Healthy Britain: A new approach to health and wellbeing’. As well as her political expertise, Kim is also a qualified personal trainer and a lecturer.
The first confirmed keynote speaker for the day is Dean Leak, a high-performance senior leader and coach with over 10 years of experience working in elite sport, supporting gold medal winning Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Dean’s talk will draw on his inspirational work and winning mindset to explain how the health of the nation and the health of your organisation, starts with you.
Leading representatives are also expected from the Government and the Opposition, to be announced shortly.
The afternoon’s breakout sessions include a focus on ‘Operational excellence and resilience’, with delegates hearing about the latest sector insights based on consumer research; the role of equality, diversity and inclusion in leveraging the Commonwealth Games; and a spotlight on ukactive’s Sustainable Futures programme to support the sector’s journey to net zero.
Another breakout session, titled ‘Growth and sector development’, will explore emerging opportunities for growth, from harnessing digital strategies and artificial intelligence to new collaborations and partnerships, as well as key areas of risk and standards.
Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, said: “Bringing together expertise from across the sector to discuss the national health agenda and how our sector can lead the way, will be a perfect opportunity to start the year and showcase the real value of our physical activity sector to key decision makers.
“We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the QEII Centre in what promises to be a packed day filled with fresh inspiration, unmissable insights, and new partnerships.
“2024 is going to be a crucial year for our nation’s future and Active Uprising will help to set the agenda and unite our sectors in our mission to get more people active.”
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