It was, of course, the ADINJC & Intelligent Instructor Conference & Expo in association with Marmalade Network, and it took place in the middle of the country at Coventry’s Heart of England and Exhibition Centre.

This was a great venue full of character and warmth, not to mention packed full of entertainment, information, training and industry-based product and service providers.

Suzy Walsh, Marmalade Network Manager said “It was an amazing opportunity to be headline sponsor at this first event of its kind.  Such a fantastic day, it was really buzzing and what a great networking opportunity!  We’ll be there again next year for sure, it’s too valuable an event to miss!”

With more than fifty exhibitor stands, there was everything from training vehicles and training aids, to franchises and hi-tech facilitators to talk to and discuss the needs of your business and making it ever more successful and efficient in the years ahead. You could event grab a coffee on the RED Driving School stand from their Landrover Defender and pop over to see Hitachi Capital’s for a freshly made, delicious crepe too!

Amy Lawrence, Marketing Manager at Hitachi Capital said “It was very worthwhile attending such a well organised event. It is important to let people in the industry know who we are as some people were still unaware what we did but the majority had heard of us and we had some good feedback. Anyone within the industry should definitely attend next year’s event as we will be!”

There were 30+ seminars, talks and debates to improve your theory and practice, and stimulate into making the most of the sphere of training you currently enjoy, as well as discover new areas of work and thinking when it comes to producing drivers who will make the roads safer and cope with the ever-changing world of technology. Rob Cooling discussed electric vehicles, Lynne Barrie covered standards checks, Lou Walsh talked mock tests and John Sheridan and Jacqui Turland gave a DVSA update – there was definitely something for everyone.

Simon Johnston, Managing Director of AcciDON’T Driving School said “We are extremely proud to have been a gold sponsor, an exhibitor and speaker. We were non-stop from the off, a constant stream of visitors to our stand, all keen to chat and find out more.

“The whole event was buzzing from set up until the early hours, and with so many, good quality, exhibitors it was a bit of a challenge to get round them all in a day.”

Over 700 ADIs came through the doors, enjoying a packed day of discoveries, while networking and meeting up with colleagues in a friendly and upbeat atmosphere. And it wasn’t just confined to an indoor world of adventure, outside there was an array of training vehicles to test drive thanks to Dualdrive, not to mention a selection of electric cars too along with owners willing to talk through what it’s really like to live and work with one.

Lynne Barrie, Chairman of ADINJC, said “In my opinion this was the best conference that the ADINJC have been involved in, I’m so thrilled with the event and the feedback we are receiving. It was a change for us from our usual format but working with II on this event has been a pleasure and the results speak for themselves. All the hard work on making this event happen has been well worthwhile and my memories of the day will be the smiling faces, the friendly atmosphere and the buzz in the rooms throughout the day. A fantastic event and I’m looking forward to next year already.”

Upon speaking with Emma Bagnall, Head of Brand at Driving Test Success, she had these kind words “The Intelligent Instructor Conference & Expo was without a doubt the most well planned and executed trade show that I have attended, and it was great to see so many exhibitors and instructors supporting the event.

There was such a relaxed, yet professional atmosphere throughout both the day and evening event, and it was great to catch up with so many familiar faces and meet lots of new ones too.

For anyone that didn’t manage to head along this year, then I’d most definitely recommend you get the date in your diary for next year!”

There was even a giant Scalextric, with people tasked with posting the fastest lap, with money raised for our chosen charity – Speed of Sight! Bill Plant Driving School, who sponsored the track, made a very kind and generous donation to top the final amount up to £1,000!

Chris Bishop, Consultant for Bill Plant Driving School commented on the success of the day “Rather than just have a typical event stand or hand coffee out we wanted to really engage with the visitors and put a smile on the faces of everyone at the Intelligent Instructor Conference and boy did we! The stand was busy throughout the day with a mixture of those looking to train to become a driving instructor with Bill Plant Driving School alongside those wanting to enquire more about our award-winning franchise.

“Throughout the conference and awards drink reception we have over a hundred races using our Limited Edition Bill Plant Driving School VW Scalectrix Fleet around our track. False starts, crashes, pit lane chaos, cheating, tears – and that was just the “friendly” race between the teams at Bill Plant Driving School and Intelligent Instructor! Social media was awash with photos and videos of the track and the great and the good of the ADI Industry had so much fun throughout the day whilst we raised donations for the Speed of Sight charity.

“Alongside the ADINJC we were delighted to raise a total of £1,000 for the Speed of Sight. They are doing fantastic things and it was our honour to help generate donations and awareness of the charity to those who visited our stand and raced around the Bill Plant Driving School arena!”

Lynne Barrie commented on the money raised “We are delighted to have raised £1,000 for Speed of Sight during this year and at the expo. Thanks must go to Bill Plant Driving School for their part in helping to sponsor the Scalextric and free laps on the day of the expo. The money is certainly going to a wonderful charity and ADINJC are proud to be involved in helping them.”

John Galloway, Co-Founder of Speed of Sight was delighted with the money raised! “We thought the Scalextric  was a great idea and a fantastic way of  getting people to interact.  It was a lot of fun and very engaging.  We thank Bill Plant for sponsoring,  and paying for the Scalextric.

“We work tirelessly all year to fundraise so that we can provide life-changing driving experiences for people with disabilities. £1000 will enable us to provide 10 experiences.”