Dear Diary, we went to the BAR Young Movers Conference!

The guys have been back out and about, meeting people from the removals world and learning more about the industry - all while having a good time and making new relationships within the industry. 

This time, it was a trip over to Belfast for the BAR Young Movers Conference for Marlon and Liam. Read on to find out what the guys wrote in their diaries at the end of each day...

Thursday 7^th October

Early start today, left the house at 4.30am but exciting times, off to the Young Movers Conference (YMC) in Belfast – first time in an airport in 2 years or so.

The airport was quite busy but sailed through security and first stop….Starbucks! An hour’s flight and a power nap later, and “we are now approaching Belfast”.

Hopped in a taxi to the hotel, dropped the bags off and then we made our way to meet the rest of the Young Movers gang….in a pub…at 10:30am *nervous smile*. We met the group in a pub, and immediately felt welcome. We all quickly agreed that the beer wasn’t so great and decided to move on, some walking in straight lines, others, not so much! As well as us trying to get to know people, people were really interested in us, what we did at TwentyCi, how the market is doing, and…..where was Matt Hawkins? LOL

An afternoon of ice breaking and chatting done, it was back to the hotel to check-in and attend the registration that was organised. It was pretty simple, the Young Movers team had planned every detail, gave us lanyards with our names and some free drinks tokens too!

We had a couple of hours to recharge before the next thing on the agenda, which was meeting for the evening on the rooftop bar, horsd’oeurves were plenty and not an empty glass in sight.

Was great to meet new people and meet people we’re familiar with but have never met in person, an immediate “oh hiiii nice to see you!”. Business intro’s became less and less as the evening went on and most went from Jim from X company, to just Jim – networking…complete.

The conversation and the drinks continued to flow. We ended the night sat talking to a real interesting gent who spoke like he had a masters in psychology, marketing, and whisky drinking! Funnily enough, he turned out to be the man with the little red balls (inside joke)…our guest speaker for the following day, Stephen May. Stephen, if you’re reading this, thanks for the wise words!

Late night, early morning, so it was time to call it a night, ready for tomorrow…

Friday 8^th October

Alarm went off at 7am to be down for breakfast for 8:30 so definitely tired, but, keen to get on with the day….and, 2mins walk from the hotel…Starbucks!

Breakfast, coffee, water (dehydration is real kids!) and we were on our way to kick start a full day of activities. After a short bus ride later, we arrived at the McGimpsey Facility.

What an impressive set-up and a warm and smiley welcome with more coffee/tea by the McGimpsey team – thank you!

Settling into our seats, we were treated to some brilliant guest speakers, including Campbell McGimpsey who gave a heartfelt talk about the business and how COVID affected them, Creative Thr3e - the power of social media, and of course, Stephen May - who definitely got us thinking outside of the box (how would you teach an alien to catch a (red) ball?).

POP UP BAR - what a great idea. We couldn’t come over to Ireland and not try a Guinness. Legend has it, if you asked for blackcurrant, you turn into a leprechaun!

Lunch – sponsored by TwentyCi, was really nice, and another opportunity to mingle some more and exchange stories from the night before.

Afternoon Tour of the McGimpsey Warehouse. This place is HUGE!

So much more goes into it than we’d imagined, so it was a real eye opener. It is so well organised, from the office staff to the warehouse, even to the tech that they use to clock in and out.

There was a fun little packing competition between the groups, packing up various items in the safest and fastest way (based on a demo video we had seen earlier). Great fun, and the removers in our team really did their trade justice.

After a couple more drinks at the bar, it was back on the coach back to the hotel to get the glad rags on and head over to the Titanic Quarter for dinner. It wasn’t quite the Titanic we were on (that would be impressive!) but instead, her little sister, the SS Nomadic.

We sat and ate with people we hadn’t spoken to before, so again, a great time to network and build relationships. The night flowed into more drinks, a live Irish band and some very…very lively dancing.

A long, but incredibly enjoyable and entertaining day! Next on the agenda? Sleep!

Saturday 9^th October

Today was the day we went to jail. You can read that again if you like. A tour of a jail that is, the Crumlin Road attraction, aka HMP Belfast, aka The Crum. Unfortunately, flight times overlapped so we had to experience that one vicariously through those that could make it…the pictures were pretty cool!

For us it was check-out, get lunch, taxi to the airport…aaand home!

Young Movers Conference 2022….we’ll see you there!