OK let us first start off with an apology. It’s been three months since our last blog post.

Now our confession is out of the way lets talk shop. Plan has been fortunate enough to be involved with the Leeds Digital Festival, which took place from 1 – 12 October. In it’s fifth year, the Festival celebrates all things digital in the region and hosts a number of events throughout the two-week period.

Plan was contacted a few months ago about an idea for a one-day conference which would round out this years Festival, covering a huge range of digital topics including Digital Strategy, Design, SEO, Mobile, Data, Content Marketing and Blogging, amongst many others.

That’s perfect we thought. We already do quite a few things around the digital sector, so it was right up our street.

The Leeds Digital Conference 2012 was born.

After finding the perfect venue, Leeds City Museum (simply stunning, you must go if you ever get the chance – just check the pictures out below), the next task was to get the most relevant speakers to discuss what they do and what the future holds for Leeds.

The team worked their socks off to secure top-name speakers from top-name organisations. With over 40 speaking slots to fill this was no small task but the idea for the conference was so strong we literally had speakers begging to join us, and even some flying in from Sweden (hello Andy Smith from Spotify). Along with Andy we had speakers from Sky Sports, IBM, Asda and the BBC, along with leading agencies from around the region.

The format was to split into four 90-minute sessions, with three sessions running simultaneously to allow for delegates to choose the most relevant subject to them.

Despite some logistical challenges with the Museum, which we were very aware of, the day ran like clockwork. And with over 250 delegates in attendance it really goes to show what a serious contender Leeds is in the Digital sector. Comments such as ‘Leeds has needed an event like this for a long time’ and ‘we should have events like this where we live’ did make us smile.

All of the above wouldn’t have been achieved without the hard work and support of a number of individuals and organisations, so here we go:

The organisations behind the conference; Marketing Leeds, Bloom, Blueclaw, homejames, and Stickyeyes.

Our fantastic sponsors; Hiscox Insurance, homejames, and Manual Link Building.

Leeds City Museum for their hard work on the day.

Kirstie McNulty Photography for the amazing pictures.

And finally, the Leeds Digital Conference speakers who without we wouldn’t have had a conference.

What’s next for Plan? Well, we have a great new event coming up in London, preparing for another conference in Leeds and something else in the very early planning stages. We like to keep ourselves busy.