Past Conferences and Events
Happy has been hosting conferences dedicated to creating happy workplaces since 2013. Each of these events has allowed leaders from other organisations to share their experiences of creating workplaces based on trust, with lots of practical ideas that you can implement at your organisation.
Here you can find video footage, transcripts and PowerPoint presentations of all our past conferences and events.
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Speakers at previous events have represented some of the world's best workplaces, such as Twitter, Google, Innocent, WL Gore (makers of Goretex), the John Lewis Partnership, the National Trust, the National Audit Office, Foundation SP and Propellernet.
Each of our conferences are interactive and engaging, and focused on giving you practical tips and ideas that you can takeaway and implement at your own organisation.
2024 Happy Workplaces Conference
15th May
This year's conference was Happy's first hybrid event, hosted in the classroom at Happy's HQ in London and online via Zoom. We had a fantastic line up as always, with speakers including Isaac Getz, Michele Zanini, Caron Bradshaw OBE and Michelle Hill.
Creating Happy, Productive, Social Enterprises
20th September 2018
Happy and E3M united to create a one-day conference for leaders and senior team members in social enterprises. Including presentations from six industry speakers, the event was centered around techniques in creating a positive workplace culture.
2018 Happy Workplaces Conference
21st June 2018
Featuring talks from some of the world’s best workplaces, including the John Lewis Partnership, Kingfisher PLC and Propellernet, the 2018 Happy Workplaces Conference was the perfect place to learn about how to create a great workplace.
Creating Happy Workplaces in Charities and Social Enterprises
16th August 2018
Happy and ella Forums came together to host a one-day conference based around teaching why creating a happy workplace creates real benefits, featuring talks from leaders in the charity and social enterprise sectors.
2017 Happy Workplaces Conference
14th June 2017
Happy and engaged workplaces are more profitable, have a higher share growth, and lower costs. Teams have higher staff retention, less sickness and are more productive. But how can you create this happy workplace culture in your workplace?
Many guest speakers came together to discuss answers to this question in our 2017 conference.
2017 Happy Workplaces CEO Conference
18th October 2017
Featuring talks from representatives of Webmart, Happy and many more, the Happy Workplaces CEO Conference was for Chief Executives who wanted to get away from traditional top-down, hierarchical organisations, and instead shift their businesses into high-trust, high-autonomy and high-performance teams.
2017 Beyond Budgeting Conference
6th February 2017
This was Happy’s third Beyond Budgeting Conference in partnership with the Beyond Budgeting Institute, held at Happy’s training centre in Aldgate. Speakers included Anders Olesen of Beyond Budgeting Institute, Bjarte Bogsnes of Statoil, Mira Gvozdenovic of Coloplast, Chris Hannay and Kevin McCoy at Next Jump, and John Seddon of Vanguard Consulting.
2017 Creating Happy Workplaces in the Public Sector
22nd February 2017
At this one day conference, organised by Happy and hosted by the National Audit Office, attendees discovered about change coming to the public sector – and learnt how to create that culture in their organisation. With speakers from the National Audit Office, GCHQ, Government Digital Service and Monmouthshire County Council, they learnt how to implement ideas such as freedom within a framework, how to help staff to work to their strengths, and create workplaces based on trust to lead to better service for the public.
2016 Transforming the Public Sector
9th February 2016
This event was co-hosted with Epic CIC.
At this event we heard from June O’Sullivan with ideas about how to keep your staff happy, Brendan O’Keefe of Epic with advice on hiring for attitude and how to re-motivate staff, and lessons from the private sector from Dom Monkhouse of iomart. Rekha Mehr of MassChallenge UK and Dr Sally Howes of the NAO also spoke about the struggles of creating change in the public sector, and how they have sparked innovation and change within their respective organisations.
2016 Happy Workplaces Conference
11th May 2016
At Happy Workplaces 2016, we welcomed John Housego of WL Gore (makers of Goretex), who explained how Gore has created an award-winning international company through its trust-based leadership. Simon Perriton of Just IT, Philippa Ward of Global Action Plan and Valentina Culatti of UNIT9 each explained how they had used the principles of The Happy Manifesto to create their happy, successful workplaces, while Shannon Banks spoke about the importance of connection in the workplace. Finally, Tarun and Henry explained how Next Jump operates with a ‘no fire’ policy.
2015 Happy Workplaces Conference
13th May 2015
At this exciting event, our speakers shared how they have built and sustained happy workplace culture and practices, in line with the principles of the Happy Manifesto. Speakers included Simon Fowler, Board Director at John Lewis, Stuart Jones, Communications and Customer Service Director at CarillionAmey, Brendan O’Keefe, Managing Director at Epic CIC, and Shannon Banks, Director at Be Leadership and former HR Director at Microsoft.
2015 Beyond Budgeting Conference
4th November 2015
Held in partnership with the Beyond Budgeting Institute, this event demonstrated that the Beyond Budgeting philosophy is a holistic and coherent management model. Speakers included John Seddon, occupational psychologist, researcher and global authority on management change; Andy Copsey, Chief Operating Officer of Handelsbanken in the UK; Julian Birkinshaw from the London Business School; Jesper Kruger of AP Moller Maersk; and Ulrich Gammelgaard of Velux.
2014 Happy Workplaces Conference
14th May 2014
This interactive event was hosted at Google’s offices in London, and featured two speakers from Google – Jennifer Kelly, Global Head of Real Estate, and Yvonne Agyei, Head of Benefits. Other speakers included Julian Birkinshaw of the London Business School, Tansy Drake and Tim Dorsett of Innocent, and Kate Grimes, CEO of Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
2013 Happy Manifesto Conference
April 2013
This was our first ever Happy Workplaces Conference. The conference was hosted by Google at their London Victoria HQ with over 80 attendees. It featured speakers from Google, Cougar Software and Action for Happiness, as well as Marion Jenner, Nigel Paine and Dom Monkhouse.
Next Conference: 2025 Happy Workplaces Conference
Our Happy Workplaces Conference is our biggest event of the year, and we'd love for you to join us on Wednesday 25th June!
Our 2024 event was our first ever hybrid event, and so we hope to run next year's in the same way. We will host up to 50 people face-to-face at Happy's HQ in Aldgate, London, and we can host up to 200 people online via Zoom. However you choose to join, there will be interaction, discussion, space for reflection and opportunities to network with others.
Stay tuned for full details of our speakers for next year's event. As always, our speakers share practical, hands-on ideas that you can implement to create happy and engaged workplaces.