eoa conference 2024 – our key takeaways
The JGA and Telos team on our eoa conference stand
‘Not just the biggest but by far the best one yet.’
This was the verdict of our MD Jeremy Gadd after a jam-packed two days focused on all things ‘employee ownership’ at the eoa conference 2024.
‘Both the team at JGA and our Telos Partners colleagues found this year’s eoa conference a really engaging event with so many thought-provoking discussions,’ says Jeremy.
The conference (held in Telford 26-27 November) was the first at which JGA and Telos had Platinum exhibited together, following our decision to merge and November’s launch of our new joint services offer for businesses that are employee-owned.
Sharing our experience of supporting successful EO
Our combined JGA and Telos team was kept busy, not only welcoming visitors to our stand but also running three interactive EO workshops on building and maintaining an effective EO culture, EO leadership behaviours and understanding your EO governance roles.
All topics are key to unlocking the opportunities created by being successfully employee-owned.
Telos’s Adam Campbell and Alex Bloom also hosted a breakout session on how to plan your EO leadership succession, with first-hand experience of the journey provided by Chris McDermott, CEO of The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan.
Plus our teams helped to facilitate other conference sessions and, like many others, enjoyed learning from the keynote speeches from guest speakers such as Javier Bajer and main stage addresses from the eoa’s James de le Vigne.
They also got into party mood – and their party outfits! – for the conference’s gala dinner which included the eoa’s UK Employee Ownership Awards 2024.
We were delighted that several of the employee-owned businesses that JGA and/or Telos have supported on their EO journey received awards, including Shaw Healthcare which was named Employee-owned Business of the Year 2024 plus Riverford Organics and Gripple.
Contributing to the buzz around employee ownership
JGA’s Lisa Fryer arrives at the conference
‘There was a good buzz over the two days, with the largest number of delegates to date (more than 850), a lot of new faces and some familiar specialists who have been providing services and support to the sector for a number of years,’ says JGA Associate Lisa Fryer.
‘It was great to see the mix and be part of the networking opportunities, as well as join Jeremy to deliver our workshop on understanding your EO governance roles.
‘And the venue was good, with everything over two floors making the delegates’ life easier and the transition between various sessions swift and easy.’
Forging new employee ownership connections
‘We had some wonderful conversations, excellently facilitated by the eoa whose team worked tirelessly to make this such a positive two days,’ Jeremy confirms.
‘We were also delighted to support the eoa with the launch of the EOQ tool.’
The EOQ tool is part of the Great EO Framework – developed by the eoa using insights from the EO Knowledge programme with the support of Telos. Read about the Great EO Framework here.
From left: Telos’s Coralie Hooper and Alex Bloom, with the eoa’s Yogita Johnston
‘The EOQ promises to be a game-changer for the employee-owned sector,’ Jeremy says.
Catching up with familiar faces while connecting with many who were new to employee ownership and/or at their first eoa conference was a particular highlight for our teams.
‘It was great to see so many new faces who were really committed to bringing employee ownership to life in the way that works best for them,’ Jeremy concludes.
‘We’re now looking forward to 2025 and continuing the conversations we started with so many people – supported by JGA and Telos’s new joint EO services offer, which we were excited to launch last month.’
Want to know how JGA and Telos can help you make EO work for your leaders, business, employee owners and trustees? Get in touch here.