Last week marked another successful IR Global Annual Conference. This time, we returned to the wonderful city of Amsterdam, choosing the luxurious 5-star Hotel Okura as our setting.
Thank you to our headline sponsors:
Everest Law – partners Stéphane Bertouille, Valentine Pacco, Frédérique Gillet, and Kevin Bertouille were in attendance.
HYS & Co. Advocaten – represented by Gerbrand Osinga, Ronald Hogewind, Rob van Duivenboden and Barbara Schuijlenburg
Sanli Pastore & Hill – sending Nevin Sanli, Forrest Vickery & Genco Sanli to enjoy the activities.
Wade Clarke Mulcahy – partners Robert Cosgrove and Georgia Coats attended.
Sunday 10th September
Drop-In & Speed Networking
We kicked off Sunday with our IR Global ‘drop-in’ session, where attending members had the opportunity to meet with our team. This was followed by two busy speed networking sessions in the afternoon, giving first-time attendees the opportunity to meet our long-term members and allowing for new connections to be made. After all, that’s what our conferences are all about!
Opening Drinks
Opening drinks, sponsored by Thomas H. Curran Associates and HLG, were hosted at the world-famous Stedelijk Museum, and we were able to privately experience two incredible art exhibitions. Thanks to Thomas H. Curran and Gerard de Gooijer MSc RA – IR Global for a wonderful evening. There was also a separate Sinchi cocktail bar, serving an exclusive rainforest-inspired cocktail, sponsored by The Burton Law Firm.
Our Rising Stars also enjoyed their own event prior to this at the House of Bols.
Monday 11th September
Presentations & Networking
On Monday, we got down to business. Attendees enjoyed presentations from IR Global founder Tom Wheeler and Business Development Director Ross Nicholls, as well as inspiring keynote speeches from Marc Lammers and Rutger Bregman, and a Q&A with our membership sponsor, John Wolfs of Wolfs Advocaten.
They were also given two opportunities to network with one another in between presentations, with a table swap mid-way through the day.
Member Of The Year
After a record number of votes, we announced the winner of our prestigious Member of the Year award. A huge congratulations to Paul Beare, our IR Global Member of the Year for 2023!
Luxury Networking Dinner
The Hotel Okura is famous for its fine dining, so it was the perfect location for our luxury networking dinner, sponsored by L J Soldinger Associates and Wong Fleming. Attendees and their guests enjoyed three courses of a culinary fusion of Eastern and Western influences, followed by dessert canapes to allow greater opportunity for networking, closing the night with spectacular entertainment from The Elements.
Tuesday 12th September
Breakout Sessions
Our final day began with practice area based breakout sessions, allowing attendees to connect with other members in their field. This included room sponsorships from GDLSK, Agio Legal and Snoeker Advocatuur and two offsite sessions for the Real Estate and Disputes groups.
Workshops
Attending members spent the afternoon in a workshop of their choice. Our Rising Stars enjoyed a business etiquette and manners masterclass with Jan Jaap van Weering. Other workshops included practice management; AI technology; crypto; dealing with transgressive behaviour in a corporate setting; and the art of impactful storytelling.
Closing Drinks
The conference was rounded off by closing drinks in the Hotel Okura Foyer, sponsored by Paul Beare Ltd, with music from Danny Kuttner (daughter of long standing member Shai Kuttner).
You can find all of our photos from Amsterdam on our Facebook page, linked here.
We hope you enjoyed your time in Amsterdam with us as much as we did!
Our next conference will be our ‘On-the-Road’ conference in Dubai in February 2024. We’ll be releasing tickets in the coming weeks, so make sure you’re following us on our socials (LinkedIn and Instagram) and stay tuned. 😉