Digital & Communications

With the online event market growing by around 20% year on year, it’s estimated to be worth around $297.16 billion by 2030. Today, online conferences are becoming increasingly popular due to their flexibility, accessibility and cost-effectiveness. Both in-person and online conferences offer their own benefits and challenges, and the debate around which format delivers the most value has never been more relevant.

The disadvantages women often face at work after childbirth are often overshadowed by other workplace challenges. However, research from The Open University clearly shows that motherhood can have a significant impact on a woman's career and is an ingrained societal problem that needs urgently addressing. The Open University's Dr Wenjin Dai and Kendal Wright delivered an impactful keynote session at our Race at Work Conference on "Tackling the Motherhood Penalty For Diverse Mothers". Through our events we continue to inspire employers to take action to further equality at work. This session reinforced the need for an intersectional approach for progress, examining gender, parenthood and race together.

Natalie Travis works as the Director of Operations at Turning Point, a national organisation that helped support over 200,000 people last year. Turning Point works in learning disabilities, mental health, sexual health and drug and alcohol services, which is what brought Nat to our Drugs and Substance Misuse Conference 2026, one of our busiest and most anticipated conferences every year.

Conferences are great opportunities to learn, collaborate and network with like-minded individuals. These events can be excellent resources for understanding topics, making industry connections and bringing business to your company. Going to the conference is the first step and shows great initiative in learning, but there are some simple shifts in mindset and planning that can transform what you walk away with at your next conference.

Technology changes rapidly, making it essential that we stay on top of online safety to keep the internet a safe and positive place for children. We recently hosted the Online Safety Conference 2026 and it was a massive success. We had over 100 people attend and a collection of brilliant speakers. One of these was Will Gardner OBE, the CEO of Childnet International with 26 years of experience at the children’s charity. He is also the co-director of the UK Safer Internet Centre. Will delivered an insightful keynote about protecting children and young people from online harm with a specific focus on children and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We’ve recapped his session below, believing that there’s a lot of value here.

The public sector is undergoing fundamental change. Rising demand, workforce shortages, and rapid digital transformation are reshaping how organisations operate - and how they must evolve heading into the 2030s. Each of these challenges is an opportunity for organisations to evolve into more effective, innovative operations, leading to a healthier and more impactful public sector.

Jonathan Ellwood, Head of Cyber Incident Exercising and Cyber Incident Response for IASME, delivered a seminar on cyber incident exercising at The Public Sector Cyber Security Conference 2026 this February. Jonathan used his seminar session to highlight the benefits of cyber incident exercising - how it can transform the response strategy and actual implementation of a cyber response plan in organisations both big and small, resulting in a more effective and prepared operation, if an incident occurs.

The Public Sector Cyber Security Conference 2026 took place on Thursday 05 February at the QEII Centre in London and welcomed senior cyber, digital, security, risk and public service leaders from across government and wider national sectors to the QEII Centre in Westminster, London, for what proved to be our largest and most impactful event to date. “The event is always one of the most informative and useful conferences of the year. It has interesting speakers covering topics that are an issue today as well as topics that will be an issue to be addressed in the future.” - Crown Prosecution Service