Events
Annual Members Meeting 2024
The buying group was joined on Monday 10th June by 29 suppliers to create the largest ever exhibition at a KBBG Annual Members’ Meeting. The exhibitors were set amongst the galleries in the National Space Centre, which provided an exciting atmosphere for KBBG members to explore the opportunities available.
“It’s been our aim for the past five years to turn the Annual Members’ Meeting into a mini exhibition, as well as a conference. We want our members to not only benefit from the insights and takeaways shared during the keynote speeches, but also to discuss the new deals and opportunities available directly with our suppliers, to make the day spent out of their showrooms even more worthwhile. We had great success with this at Silverstone in 2023 and being able to outclass this and host 28 suppliers this year is a new milestone that we are very proud of”, says Bill Miller, Managing Director, KBBG.
During the conference, Bill Miller revealed a new supplier: one of the UK’s largest kitchen manufacturers, Omega PLC. "We continually endeavour to broaden our offering and I am sure our members will benefit from the products that each of these brands bring to the market”, adds Bill.
A brand new, unique partnership between KBBG and the Kbsa was also announced at the Annual Members’ Meeting. Bill also explained the advances being made to the mykitchenspecialist.co.uk website, which was created to support KBBG members achieve more consumer leads. mykitchenspecialist.co.uk brings KBBG members together to form the UK’s leading network of independent kitchen specialists, to help consumers who are planning a kitchen renovation. The process in which leads are delivered to KBBG members is being enhanced whereby enquiries will be followed up by the mykitchenspecialist.co.uk team in the first instance. Individual sales briefs will then be created and forwarded onto the customer’s local mykitchenspecialist.co.uk retailer for immediate follow-up. This will ensure that only serious enquiries are filtered through meaning that the retailer can focus their attention on quality leads only.
In addition, the audience had the opportunity to hear from guest speakers during the conference. Alex Rollinger and Neil Metcalf represented event sponsor, ArtiCAD and delivered a presentation on its latest innovations, highlighting the transformative potential of AI. Anthony Sant from Swift provided an update on the latest WEEE regulations. Finally, Social Media Expert, Will Francis guided the audience through social media trends, tips and tools, plus how to use video and AI to enhance a business.
Bill concludes: “We chose the National Space Centre as this year’s venue as we wanted the event to focus on the theme of moving forward. The centre certainly exceeded our expectations and we have received wonderful feedback from our members with many posing the question ‘how will you top that next year?’. A huge thank you goes to our sponsor ArtiCAD, our exhibiting suppliers and our speakers for making the day so memorable. Thank you to all of our members that attended too. We look forward to another successful 12 months for the KBBG.”
The KBBG exhibits at KBB 2024 at the NEC
When KBBG first launched in the UK over 10 years ago, it only had a small presence at kbb Birmingham. The buying group’s profile at the exhibition has grown throughout the years, thanks to the support of its suppliers; KBBG usually partners with one of its suppliers on a co-branded stand. Now, in 2024, KBBG will be the primary exhibitor, presenting the many benefits of KBBG membership, while displaying elements from several of its suppliers, to bring the space to life. A key benefit of joining the KBBG is the ‘guaranteed savings’ that being part of a buying group brings. This advantage will be highlighted on the stand and used as a tagline to show visitors one of the main rewards of becoming a KBBG member. One zone of the KBBG stand will be an area dedicated to mykitchenspecialist.co.uk. This is another first for KBBG at kbb Birmingham. KBBG launched the consumer-facing website mykitchenspecialist.co.uk over a year ago; and it will be a major focus for the company at kbb 2024. mykitchenspecialist.co.uk brings KBBG members together to form the UK’s leading network of independent kitchen specialists, to help consumers who are planning a kitchen renovation. Visitors to the stand at kbb Birmingham will be able to interact with the website first-hand, to experience how joining the mykitchenspecialist.co.uk network could benefit their business, including resulting in new leads.
ANNUAL KBBG MEMBERS MEETING 2023
Our 8th UK Annual Members Meeting was held on Monday 12th June 2023, in celebration of the buying group’s 10 year anniversary. The event was sponsored by kitchen, bedroom and bathroom furniture manufacturer, JJO Plc, and took place at the prestigious Silverstone Wing Building; the home of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix in Northamptonshire. The venue offered space to double last year’s Annual Members’ Meeting attendance, as well as host the event’s largest ever ‘Suppliers’ Display Area’. Guests could also enjoy fantastic views of the Silverstone Circuit, overlooking the famous start/finish line. Bill Miller, Managing Director, KBBG, comments:
“As 2023 marks 10 years since we launched the KBBG in the UK, we wanted this year’s Annual Members’ Meeting to be a true reflection on how far we have come as a group. The event was an opportunity for our members to meet with suppliers and benefit from exclusive offers, as well as to network with other members and celebrate our milestone. The Silverstone Wing provided us with the space to create an exhibition area, allowing our suppliers to highlight and showcase their products.”
The Annual Members’ Meeting also provided KBBG members with updates, insights and key takeaways for their businesses with respective presentations throughout the day. The conference began with a reflection, by Bill Miller, on the past 10 years and information on the KBBG’s latest initiatives. The audience was then addressed by Ralph Leimbach, DER KREIS, Systemverbund Holding (Germany), followed by a presentation from Jon Thelwell, JJO Plc on the latest trends in the kitchen market.
The conference ended with a final word from Bill Miller, inviting guests to visit the Silverstone Museum, which truly made the day one to remember. Bill concludes: “It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since we brought the DER KREIS buying group to the UK as the KBBG. We enjoyed bringing our members together to mark the occasion and would like to thank our event sponsor, JJO Plc, our exhibiting suppliers and the staff at Silverstone for such an outstanding day.”
ANNUAL KBBG MEMBERS MEETING 2022
We held our 7th UK Annual Members Meeting at the excellent MTC in Coventry on Monday 13th June. This year's event was sponsored by De Dietrich premium appliances. Our guest speakers were Vanessa Brady OBE, the founder of the UK & International Federation of Interior Design and Steve Nesbitt from MTC, who presented the business implications of the UK's move towards net zero. In the afternoon we ran four workshop sessions. The feedback from members and suppliers has been excellent.
Here is a short video of the event produced by our service provider Simon Acres Group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXAHJU2CoZg
Please look out for news of our 2023 event.
kbb 2022 6 - 9 March 2022
We were pleased to exhibit at the kbb show at the NEC 6th to 9th March. We partnered with a UK furniture manufacturer for the first time, Getley who presented their Alku kitchen, bedroom and Living Room furniture ranges. Our stand was our most ambitious and largest yet. We also show-cased De Dietrich appliances and the new Vto Hot Spot Titanium boiling water tap. Members were able to register for many exclusive show offers from our suppliers.
ANNUAL KBBG MEMBERS' MEETING 11th OCTOBER 2021
We know how much work goes into these events and you are all to be complimented on the organisation. Jim & Sue Gettings JS House of Design
After a cancellation and a postponement, we were so pleased to finally be able to hold our Seventh Annual Members Meeting at the Williams F1 Experience Centre near Oxford on Monday 11th October. It was a great venue, with large grounds, wonderful meeting areas and a large screen theatre. It was so nice to be able to meet so many members and suppliers once again in person. During the day there were presentations covering diverse subjects such as changing consumer buying habits, how to manage your online reputation plus presentations from our event co-sponsors, Novy and Caple. After lunch we held a panel discussion about the increasing importance of smart appliances. Many suppliers supported the meeting with special on the day offers for members.