Active Kent & Medway Conference 2024

Active Kent & Medway’s 2024 Conference took place on Wednesday 16 October 2024 at the Kent Event Centre, Detling. We welcomed over 160 representatives from across health, leisure, local council, voluntary, sport and activity sectors who share our vision to get more people, more active, more often. Continuing our support of the county’s strategy for sport and physical activity Move Together, which was launched in 2023, the theme of this year’s conference was ‘Move Together to promote equality, value diversity, support inclusion’. 

Liz Davidson, our Director and Graham Razey, our Active Partnership Chair, welcomed delegates to the conference and shared an update of our progress over the last 12 months.

Keynote Speaker

Donna Fraser OBE, 4x Olympian and former 400m sprinter for Great Britain, leader in equality, diversity and inclusion delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking keynote, sharing details of her Olympic career along with some useful insight into her experiences and learning in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Donna Fraser OBE OLY Presentation (Download PDF, 1 MB)

Sharing Stories Q&A Sessions

Delegates heard from representatives from across the sport and physical activity sector as they take part in two Q&A panel sessions with conference host Rob Smith, former BBC South East presenter.

Panel 1 – Guest speakers from Ashford Sensory Football Club, Sense Active and Punjab United FC Gravesend.

Panel 2 – Guest speakers from Dartford Borough Council and Places Leisure (Fairfield).

Briefing Sessions

A range of partners hosted a series of short briefing sessions.  Each session lasted 30 minutes, giving speakers an opportunity to share their information and resources and answer any questions.

Follow this link to view the list of Briefing Sessions and Presentations

Networking Wall

Back for 2024! Following the success of this feature in 2023, organisations names and logos were displayed on our networking wall. Attendees were then tasked with placing their names on their organisational tile. The wall showed the breadth of organisations in attendance and encouraged collaboration and networking throughout the day.

Environmental Pledge Tree

“To offset the carbon footprint of this year’s conference, we pledge to plant a tree for every delegate in attendance.” Liz Davidson, Active Partnership Director

New for 2024! Along with our own pledge, delegates had the opportunity to share their own environmental pledges by adding them to our environmental pledge tree. The team are looking forward to supporting Kent Tree Plan on 15 November 2024 to plant 180 trees in Northfleet Urban Country Park, Gravesend.

Delegate Feedback

“The day brought together a great mix of people all working towards the same goal.”

“It was a combination of what is not only inspiring but also what can be used practically.”

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our speakers and delegates for making the event such a great success. We look forward to working with you all so we can continue to move together to promote equality, value diversity, support inclusion.