Whitehouse Webinar: How to harness the power of a trade association

Tuesday 9th June 10.30am BST – Zoom

 

 

Trade associations have become regular contributors to the news cycle since COVID-19 burst onto the scene. Every day, sector representatives appear to raise their concerns to the top of the agenda or highlight their work with government to tackle the pandemic and support the economic recovery.

There is a reason for this. In times like these, when government attention is so narrowly focussed and capacity for conversation limited, a reputable trade association may be the only way to speak directly to people making decisions and achieve cut through for a sector’s interests.

Following on from Whitehouse’s acclaimed webinar on ‘Crisis Communications and How to Cut Through the Noise’, we are hosting ‘How Trade Associations Can Help Your Campaign’ on Tuesday 9th June at 10.30am BST to interrogate the power of trade association in the political arena and understand why some trade associations succeed where others fail.

David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, the representative body for independent providers to the NHS and Richard Phillips, Director (Policy and Communications) of the Association of British HealthTech Industries, will join Chris Whitehouse, chair of the Urology Trade Association and the Local Improvement Finance Trust Council to share their top tips on how to unify the voice of a sector and persuasively present priorities to government and public.

Chris, David and Richard have a wealth of experience of forming and running trade associations and an expert insight into how to bring together individual organisations behind a clear set of policy goals.

The discussion will be chaired by Laura McCarthy, Account Manager at Whitehouse, and experienced manager of trade association secretariats in health and education.

Speakers:

  • David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network – biography
  • Richard Phillips, Director (Policy and Communications) of the Association of British HealthTech Industries – biography
  • Chris Whitehouse, Chairman of The Whitehouse Consultancy, Chair of the Urology Trade Association and the Local Improvement Finance Trust Council – biography

The webinar will ask:

  • Why form a trade association when you can lobby alone?
  • How can you practically work with competitors and how can you keep all members engaged and committed?
  • How can a well-run trade association boost an industry profile beyond Westminster and Whitehall, and how campaigns can shape public thinking?
  • What challenges do trade associations face during the Covid-19 crisis and how can they act quickly to position their sector for a swift recovery?

The highlights of the previous webinar, ‘Crisis Communications and How to Cut Through the Noise’, can be found here.