The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters. A global organisation known as a thought leader in the anti-slavery world, it strives to advance media freedom, raise awareness of human rights issues and foster more inclusive economies.

Hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the annual event brings together world-class speakers and a highly informed audience from over 50 countries.

The conference is held over two days at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and serves as a key platform for collaboration and thought leadership among experts at the forefront of global efforts to build free, fair and informed societies.

We were invited to pitch to the Trust’s new CEO in the summer of 2019 and having been notified of our success, had three months to deliver the conference which was staged in November 2019 at the QEII Centre in Westminster, delivering it annually since.

We were tasked to develop an inclusive environment in which to stage a powerful programme, addressing the creation of a fairer economic system and closing civil society space, with a special focus on media freedom, tech and human rights.

We start every project by exploring the legacy the event taking place will leave. The CEO shared his newly-defined focus, with three interconnected pillars of work: media freedom, inclusive economies and human rights. All elements of our proposal were designed with these pillars in mind.

With a mission to empower the right to speak and be heard, creating events and experiences that inspire positive change, we specialise and focus on producing events for organisations working for positive change.

Perhaps our greatest strength is our ability to combine creativity with our understanding of audiences, pushing organisers and attendees to think. It is vital that we bring an experienced team to the project who fully understand and invest in the event purpose.

Inventing the most impactful format for the messaging and cutting-edge visual presentation of keynotes, was key. But equally, creating an intimate and sensitive setting for speakers, including Uyghur activist Ferkat Jawdat and Taliban attack survivor Ahmad Nawaz, to share hard-hitting personal stories, was essential.