London Mayor Boris Johnson will welcome a powerful line-up of conference speakers from business and sport during the 2011 SportAccord Convention in London. Confirmed participants announced today include Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP and Daniel Frigo, Executive VP/General Manager of Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios EMEA, who will be speaking on “Why Sport Matters to the Entertainment Industry.” The SportAccord Convention will take place from April 3-8, 2011 at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel.
Lord Digby Jones, Chairman of HSBC’s International Business Advisory Board, will take part in a panel on “What Sport Can Learn from the Banking Crisis” along with Judith Griggs, Chief Operating Officer of Allsport Management.
One year ahead of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, London Organising Committee Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe will be joined on the programme by LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton.
Moderators for the conference sessions will include David Eades of BBC and event emcee Gregg Moss of KUSA/NBC Denver. The names of more top-level speakers will be announced shortly.
Previous editions of the annual event have been sold out and delegates and press are encouraged to register early on the SportAccord Convention website at http://www.sportaccordconvention.com.
Held in a different city every year, the SportAccord Convention features top-level conference sessions and a dynamic exhibition as well as the annual general meetings of governing bodies of world sport. The Convention attracts over 1,500 leading representatives of international sport.
2011 marks the first time the UK has ever hosted SportAccord and is a key milestone in delivering the UK capital’s long-term aim to position London as the world’s leading city in the business of sport. With the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games around the corner, the convention is a unique opportunity for the capital and the UK to showcase its expertise and increase its market share in the US$111 billion global sports business industry.
The organisation of the 2011 SportAccord Convention is being co-ordinated by the Events for London team at Visit London and has been heavily supported and funded by a number of the UK’s sporting and business bodies including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UKSport, the Greater London Authority, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG),UK Trade & Investment and the London Development Agency (LDA) and VisitBritain.
