Agency Folk - Autumn Gathering - 6th November 2025
As one attendee said...
“The sort of event you really want to attend: great people, good conversations, and useful connections. Highly recommended.” 🤩
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Event Themes: Growth / Profitability / Operations
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A day of real talk, real insights, and real connections for agency leaders who want to do things better.
Running an agency is a wild ride and as you grow, so do the challenges:
🚀 Bigger clients, tighter margins, more pressure to deliver
🧩 More moving parts, more people, more process
📈 And an ever-growing need to run things smarter, not just harder
That’s where this mini-conference comes in. Join a brilliant group of agency leaders for a full day of knowledge-sharing, honest conversation, and practical ideas you can actually use.
We’ll explore:
- Optimising operations for scale and sanity
- Winning (and keeping) the right clients
- Hiring well and building culture that lasts
- Boosting profitability without burning out your team
- …and anything else you want to throw into the room
You’ll hear from experienced leaders, share your own stories, and walk away with new ideas, fresh connections, and renewed energy.
💬 One attendee said: “The events are very well orchestrated! Ideal mix of learning, connections and actions.”
(And 94% of past attendees give us a thumbs up, so we must be doing something right!)
This is a purposefully intimate event with limited spots. So if you're the kind of leader who wants to grow your agency and enjoy the ride, grab your place now.
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Key Details:
🎯 Focus: Practical sessions on agency operations and sustainable business growth — designed to help you streamline your processes, boost profits, and build a better-run agency. (Scroll down for the full agenda.)
📍 Venue: The Parlour at The Betjeman Arms - our private space for discussions and relaxed networking.
📫 Address: Inside St Pancras International, Floor 2, Euston Road, London, N1C 4QL (map)
🚇 Nearest Stations: King’s Cross St. Pancras, Euston, Russell Square
🧑💼 Guests: Up to 25 agency leaders (directors and decision-makers with 5+ team members)
🎟️ Price: From £100 + VAT (plus booking fee)
What’s included:
- Exclusive access to the private Parlour space
- 12.5% service charge and dedicated venue staff
- Guided sessions
- Food & drinks throughout the day
- Free access to the Story Cube framework (worth £250)
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🍽️ Menu
Breakfast: Fresh pastries and fruit platters
Lunch: Sandwich platter, triple-cooked chips and seasonal salads
Drinks: Tea, coffee, fruit juice & water (throughout the day)Additional drinks and snacks are available to purchase at the main bar.
⚠️ Dietary Requirements: Please share any dietary needs when booking and inform venue staff on the day too.
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Agenda:
10:00am - Breakfast Networking
10:45am - Welcome and Introduction to the Day
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11:00am - Session 1 - TBC
An interactive session to help your agency grow. More details to follow soon.
11:45am - Session 2 - Paul Barnes, Founder of MAP Accountants
Financial Confidence for Digital Agencies: If you want to grow your profits, to be confident about your cashflow and ultimately to scale successfully, you need to become financially mature. And the bigger you become, the more this matters. But what does good financial management look like for your agency? You have a distinctive vision for your business, which means you need a distinctive financial plan and benchmarks to get you there. And that means making finance a core part of your business, not a support function. Stop comparing yourself to other businesses, start getting clear on what results you want and confident about how to get them. Paul Barnes has been helping digital agencies achieve this for years: discover his simple methodology and scorecard, and start your own journey to financial maturity.
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12:30pm - Lunch Networking
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13:30pm - Lightning Talk 1: Max Whicher, Co-Founder of Spin Brands
"How we won 600 clients and £20m in revenue (without being d*cks)" - a fast paced session from Max, a successful agency leader with over 80 team members at Spin Brands. He'll talk about sales, chemistry, and what he's learnt about earning trust, one coffee at a time.
13:50pm - Lightning Talk 2: Hannah Springett, Founder of HLabs
"Five automations to increase efficiency and sales."- HLabs are a creative strategy agency with a team of 40+ who love designing bespoke interactive experiences, solving problems, inspiring teams, streamlining processes, and most importantly, always driving creative excellence.
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14:10pm - Short Break
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14:20pm - Lightning Talk 3: Jonathan Ford, Founding Partner at Pearlfisher
"Nirvana or Nightmare: the £Multimillion pursuit and Other Truths About Growth"Every independent agency dreams of hitting £20M in revenue and double digit profit. After 33 years running one of the world’s top independent brand design agencies, Jonathan will tell us why chasing that dream can also make you wake up with the sweats. A wry and candid account of what you can gain, risk, lose, and how to keep your independence (plus soul and sanity) intact as the advisors talk and the gut shouts. Pearlfisher has shaped the identities of some of the world’s most recognisable brands - including McDonald’s, Sipsmith, Kahlúa, and Havana Club. In this fast-paced lightning talk, he’ll share lessons learned, stories from the trenches, and the insights that have stood the test of time.
14:40pm - Lightning Talk 4: Laura Smales, Client Services Director at Rise at Seven
A fast paced session to help your agency grow. More details to follow soon.
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15:00pm - Workshop - Manish Kapur and Michael Murdoch - Recap discussion in groups to define our "action and ask" to take forward.
15:30pm - Afternoon Networking
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16:00pm - After Party! Head off or continue chatting in the bar.
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Why join us?
Our events regularly sell out and we’ve earned an overall 92%+ approval rating since 2022, so we must be doing something right! 🤩
Still on the fence? Here’s what you’ll get out of the day:
🧠 Fresh thinking – Join curated, interactive sessions packed with ideas you can actually use.
💬 Genuine connections – Meet other ambitious agency leaders over great food and relaxed conversation.
💡 Real solutions – Bring your challenges and leave with practical advice and peer support.
🤝 Collaboration opportunities – Discover ways to support (and be supported by) your fellow agency folk.
🚀 Momentum – Get inspired, get clarity, and get moving towards your agency goals.
