After all the planning and logistics, finding exciting speakers and celebrities to join us and designing a fantastic two days to support the care sector, the big moment is here!

We’re excited to see the thousands of you who have your tickets at the NEC – but if you haven’t got your FREE TICKET yet, here are five reasons to do so:

1. Become a better manager 

You’re a skilled professional and you should have the opportunity to build on your skills and take pride in your career development.

Managers have told us they’d most like to improve their leadership skills, so we’ve designed a free CPD programme to help build your confidence and expertise.

Learn how to create a culture of safety among your staff, how to have difficult conversations with employees, residents and relatives, and how to support your team’s mental health (therefore also improving retention). We also have sessions on introducing new digital systems to your home, and how a ‘compassionate leadership’ approach can concretely benefit your people.

And if you’re a home care manager, check out our dedicated Home Care Theatre with sessions on recruitment and retention, rostering, and leading a remote team.

2. Davina McCall

Need we say more? A queen of television, a champion of charitable causes, and most recently an ambassador for women’s health and the menopause, our fabulous host is an inspirational figure. 

Davina will be imparting her wisdom and energy from the Entertainment Stage throughout the show, including handing out awards and interviewing care managers.

3. Prioritise your wellbeing

Many care managers tell us they’re often so busy looking after everybody else – their residents, staff, and families at home – that they barely get a second for themselves. Well, that needs to change. You deserve to prioritise your own health, happiness and wellbeing – and you can start here.

Come to our Wellbeing Theatre to learn how to make the most of your budget during the cost of living crisis and discover the impact of looking after yourself during the menopause.

Meanwhile, if you’re recently bereaved, you might find our session on how to manage grief comforting and useful. And finally, come along to our chair yoga class to stretch out and learn some easy exercises to do at your desk (no lycra required!)

4. Be inspired

When you’ve got a million things on your to-do list, it’s not always easy to think about the bigger picture – what your care service could look like in 10 years’ time, or how to make your home more environmentally friendly. 

But it can be really valuable and energising to talk about the exciting things going on in the wider sector – big changes and big ideas.   

Come to our Care Operational Excellence theatre for sessions on sustainability and CQC’s new assessment process. Then join us to unleash your creativity, embracing your imagination with the help of one of the UK’s most outside-the-box care managers. 

Finally, come and discuss the ‘moral maze’; tricky questions you can face as a manager, from mediating between a resident and their family, to honouring people’s sexuality and religion in complex situations.

Also check out our Technology theatre, which includes a fascinating talk on how to use lighting to improve wellbeing. And if you still use paper or Excel for your admin, join the NHS for a session aimed at technophobes far and wide. You’ll leave armed with knowledge and more confident to take the first step towards digitising.

5.    Boogie to Boyzlife

Let’s face it: you work really, really hard. So let off some steam with a good old dance to Boyzlife (for those who don’t know, Brian McFadden from Westlife and Keith Duffy from Boyzone).

Just imagine dancing to Flying without wings and Love me for a reason with thousands of your fellow care managers – the definition of a feel-good experience!