The UK’s Garden Centre Association (GCA) members will hear from an adventurer, serial entrepreneur and former Chief Finance Officer on how to ‘Be More Human’ at its 2024 annual conference in the Cotswolds between 28-31 January, 2024.
Caspar Craven, who has sailed around the world twice and is a prominent expert on leadership and the role of high-performance teamwork, is back for a second year as keynote speaker.
Chairman Elect for 2024/25, Will Blake, explains: “It’s wonderful to have Caspar with us again for our 2024 conference. He was a great success at our last conference and was a popular request as a returning speaker, so we’re delighted to welcome him back. He understands firsthand the importance of putting people first and has learnt from both his mistakes and successes along the way, so he definitely knows what he’s talking about.
“This stems from his experience, which spans more than 30 years in a wide variety of environments with businesses of all sizes, including selling a tech firm for a seven-figure sum, working as a Chief Finance Officer and spending five years with KMPG. He’s one of the country’s top authorities on leadership and the role of teamwork. Caspar’s talk is entitled ‘Be More Human’ – so this spans several of our key conference topics and is very pertinent to us all.”
Caspar is also a Bloomsbury bestselling author and his presentation will be based on his most recent book ‘Be More Human – Rethinking the Rules of High-Performance Teamwork’. It explains the 20 principles behind achieving his famous ‘big bold goals’, which attendees heard about at this year’s GCA conference in January.
GCA CEO Peter Burks says: “Caspar isn’t just a performance guru who can talk-the-talk, he has lived experience of teamwork in some high-octane environments, having sailed around the world, not once, but twice! Once as a team leader on a trophy winning yacht in the BT Global Challenge in 2000/1 and then with his wife and three young children, all aged under 10, who circumnavigated the world together in 2014/16.
“Several years ago, I saw Caspar speak about sailing around the world with his family and the planning that went into the expedition, as well as the learning points and experience they all got from the adventure. It was a truly inspirational story and our members last year benefited hugely from hearing it, so much so, many requested he returned this year as our motivational keynote speaker, so we’re delighted to have him back.”
Caspar has built and led teams in global corporations, start-ups, businesses, struggling businesses and high growth companies.
Peter adds: “Caspar will be joining us on the Tuesday, January 30. We look forward to hearing about his unique mix of experiences and believe our members will leave feeling energised and ready to engage with their teams in the best way possible to achieve their goals.”
For those who would like to know more, then the conference pages on GCA’s website members’ section include speaker details. There is also a dedicated email for any queries members, and those wishing to book, may have: conference@gca.org.uk
If non-members would like to join us, so they can attend, please email the organiser via info@gca.org.uk
The GCA represents more than 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.
Its 2024 annual conference will be held at the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel near Cirencester, Gloucestershire from January 28 until 31, 2024 and places can be booked via the organisation’s website www.gca.org.uk
