120 of the most influential people from Nottingham’s education, health and sport sectors attended the inaugural Nottingham Event Ambassador Dinner at St James Hotel.

Hosted by Marketing NG, the dinner brought together many of the region’s most influential bodies to highlight the potential to help drive the visitor economy by attracting events and conferences, targeting £10m worth of events in next five years.

Speakers included, Professor Carole Perry from Nottingham Trent University, Sandeep Mahal, Director, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature and a keynote speech from Professor Shearer West from the University of Nottingham.

Speaking of the event, Brendan Moffett, Chief Executive of Marketing NG, said: “We believe it’s possible to add £10m to the local economy over the next five years by harnessing the profile and know-how of our high-profile institutions.

“It’s our role at Marketing NG to raise the profile and reputation of the region and it was hugely inspiring to hear so much positivity about the direction of travel for us all.”

The audience listened to a powerful case study from Steven McCulley, a leading plastic surgeon based at Nottingham City Hospital who established Oncoplastic & Reconstructive Breast Surgery Meetings (ORBS) and hosted a high-profile meeting in the city this year.

300 surgeons from 35 countries came together in Nottingham to discuss and hear insights into this revolutionary form of reconstructive breast surgery over three days.

Professor Carole Perry from Nottingham Trent University described the cutting-edge research in science and technology currently being undertaken by her research group at the university.

Professor Perry said: “It was a pleasure to speak at this inaugural event and to have the chance to share with this audience the important work being carried out by my research group. There was a real sense of shared responsibility between all who attended and it was inspiring to hear from the other speakers.”

Alex Miles from the University of Nottingham spoke of the city’s strong collaborative spirt and partnership working which created the hugely successful Nottingham in Parliament Day initiative last year.

Sandeep Mahal, Director at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, described Nottingham as a young and diverse city bursting with ideas and talked about her plans as an Events Ambassador for bringing an international meeting of other UNESCO cities of literature to Nottingham.

Keynote speaker, University of Nottingham Vice Chancellor, Professor Shearer West concluded the evening by reinforcing the opportunity for all the city’s institutions to collaborate to put Nottingham in the spotlight.