The Pet Industry Federation has announced details of two of its key events for 2019, part of a dynamic re-structuring of its event portfolio to better reflect the evolving needs and expectations of PIF membership and the UK pet industry as a whole.
An exciting new dog grooming competition to determine the 2019 Groomer of the Year will take place in October, instead of this year’s British Dog Grooming Championship. The event, entitled ‘Groomer of the Year – The Masterclass’, is an invitational competition and will take place on Sunday 13 October at Warwick Conferences’ beautiful new venue, The Slate.
The competition will be by invite only with up to 15 competitors drawn from the current Guild of Master Groomer members, former Groomer of the Year winners and PIF Higher Diploma candidates. A limited number of tickets will be available for spectators to watch and learn from the highest calibre of dog groomers in the UK today and will include refreshments and lunch. A panel of prestigious judges will score each competitors’ dogs in order to determine the day’s winner.
Later in November, and following from the success of the event in 2015, a ‘Meet the Buyers’ event will take place giving an opportunity for UK manufactures to meet a number of high profile buyers from the UK, Europe and beyond, including China. The ‘Meet the Buyers’ event provides an ideal platform for new and established brands to meet buyers in a structured daytime environment, with plenty of time for networking later into the evening through ice-breaker events and dinner. Whilst the event will be open to all manufacturers, priority and lower registration costs will be available to PIF members.
The event is likely to take place in Surrey in early November, at a new type of venue with great transport links. Watch this space!
Nigel Baker, PIF chief executive, explained: "As the UK trade association for all pet businesses, we felt it was important to refresh our events over the next 18 months. Our ‘Groomer of the Year – The Masterclass’ and ‘Meet the Buyers’ are great examples of events which put our members at the heart of what we do, to give them fantastic opportunities to learn, raise their game and press their commercial advantage. We have secured different and unusual venues to add prestige and something novel to these events and are looking forward to sharing more details as they become confirmed.
"If you’re wondering what has happened to the PIF Awards, the British Dog Grooming Championship and the PIF Forum though, don’t worry! Our exciting event plans still take these popular shows into consideration and we’ll be announcing details shortly about the future shape of these events."
To register your interest in attending or taking part in either of the events detailed above, email Daniel Everett, PIF Event Co-ordinator, Daniel.everett@petfederation.co.uk or telephone 01234 273933.
