With the pandemic continuing to play havoc with our lives, The Stagecoach Annual Conference became a digital event in 2021 and was appropriately themed Regroup and Rebuild.

With 1,116 tickets sold, franchisees from all over the world including Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia and Malta took part in the live webinars.  

The event welcomed two keynote speakers; Richard Gerver and Julia Clements. Richard – who gave the opening keynote speech – has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation and is an award-winning speaker, bestselling author and world-renowned thinker. Educational Psychologist Julia from children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, spoke about children, their mental health, how to support them and the importance of looking after your own mental wellbeing. TE’s CFO & Business Development Director and Chairperson of Stagecoach, Helen Enright, also spoke at the conference and introduced Richard Gerver.

The webinars were hosted by staff from Stagecoach and covered a variety of different topics to help franchisees with rebuilding their Stagecoach businesses back up as we come out of Covid.

In his closing comments from the conference, Peter Brayshaw, said: “It’s not the conference format any of us envisaged a year ago and we all crave the day when we can be together in person to raise a glass or three. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the whole head office team for their hard work over the last couple of months pulling this week together.

“As we look to the future we know we’re not completely out of the woods with likely different challenges faced from country to country and even at an individual territory level within countries. We are committed to continue to proactively monitor the progress and government guidance across all territories offering support and flexibility to navigate the challenges ahead.

“However, we believe we can look at August, September and beyond with a real sense of optimism. We have seen a Summer term recruitment window in the UK like no other with families desperate to find opportunities for children and we don’t anticipate that demand will be reduced in the coming months in the UK or in other countries as they emerge from lockdown.

“We at Stagecoach are ideally positioned to respond to this demand offering a world of freedom for students to explore their creative courage in a fun and safe environment few others can match. Together we have come through this, have regrouped and are rebuilding for a stronger tomorrow.”