UK
The Textile Services Association (TSA) National Congress is due to commence Wednesday, 10 November, at the Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club in the West Midlands, where the TSA aims to bring together the senior decision makers from within our industry. The event is targeted at owners, CEOs and senior directors of the association’s membership.

TSA National Congress, a smaller, more condensed event than September’s TSA National Conference with high quality papers on industry themes as well as slightly longer breaks and networking time with an evening gala dinner to finish.

The keynote speaker this year is Michael Portillo – one of the UK’s most well-known former Members of Parliament. Since leaving politics, Portillo has established himself as a respected journalist, broadcaster and political commentator, pursuing his media interests to present and participate in a wide range of television and radio programmes.

There will also be presentations on key TSA project work with Professor Katie Laird discussing the global impact of the two-year project on the efficacy of microbial test methodologies. A top CBI Economist will be presenting an economic update and TSA is delighted to welcome Kate Nicholls (CEO of UK Hospitality) to discuss the impact the year has had on the hospitality industry and the outlook for 2022.

Finally, Congress wraps up with a brief look at the industry’s first-ever Diversity and Culture index with Adrian Walcott. Walcott is co-founder of multi award winning social enterprise BAME2020, and author and keynote speaker on People and Culture. While the programme is impressive, TSA stresses that the aim is not to ‘over-do’ the business element as it wants to utilise time for discussions and networking.

• LCN will be reporting on events, so watch this space!