Blog: Six things to look out for at the Biba Conference in 2015

Here are my predictions. Please add your own below...

1) Who has got the nicest gardens?

There will be some notable absences from the Biba conference this year, many linked with the ongoing fallout of the Ross, Deakin, Brown et al defection from Arthur J Gallagher to Towergate.

With Stuart Reid the latest person to be caught up in the aftermath, as he prepares for his new role at AJG, I suspect that Biba 2015 will include plenty of speculation about who will be moving on next with former Towergate broking arm CEO Michael Rea a name that has already been linked with Gallaghers.

At least as I write this the weather is good (I daresay it is greyer in Manchester) if the 'gardening leave gang' want to mow their lawns, prune their rose bushes or simply kick back and think of Manchester.

2) Who is going to step into the acquisition breach?

Over the last six months we have already seen some significant money private equity money flood into the broking sector with Stackhouse Poland (Synova Capital), RFIB (Calera Capital) and most recently Aston Scott (Bowmark Capital) benefitting.

With Towergate waiting for its management team to come onboard and Gallaghers taking stock having had its acquisition plans made public in court papers, one question will be who will leading the next tranche of M&A activity?

With another former AJG boss Peter Blanc now at Aston Scott they will no doubt be a name on many tongues, whilst Gallaghers loss in terms of Autonet is predicted to be Brightside's gain.

Especially they have their own PE funded warchest care of Anacap and a new boss in the shape of Mark Cliff, who was wise enough to end his gardening leave stint in time for Biba 2015.

3) Has William Hague had to change his speech?

This time last week the expectation was that we would probably be in a period of political flux as Labour and the Conservatives ran around trying to put together a majority to form a government.

As such key note speaker William Hague might have expected to deliver a very different speech to the one he will deliver this week, with the Conservatives surprising the pollsters and coming home comfortably with a majority.

It will certainly be interesting to hear his insights into how he thinks Prime Minister David Cameron may operate now shorn of Nick Clegg to look over his shoulder.

4) Is Andrew Strauss on the right panel?

You have to hand it to the organisers of Biba 2015 for booking former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss the week he landed the job as the country's director of cricket and got embroiled in a media row for telling Kevin Pietersen he has no international future.

Given he is due to speak on a panel called 'Building a Winning Team' some may believe there is an irony in that Stauss is actually being thick-skinned and in dereliction of his duty by ignoring Pietersen.

Others may believe he is right to look forward and remove someone who has allegedly been a destabilising character in the past.

What is for certain is that if he turns up on Thursday, this will be a very interesting way to nurse that hangover.

5) What will be this year's purple hats ...

No matter how many promises you may make to yourself that you are going to ignore all the freebies on the stand and be sensible, there is an inevitability that you will end up cramming stuff you never knew you wanted into your suitcase on your way back from Manchester.

Last year among the most desirable freebies were foam swords and shields and pillows featuring cult eighties arcade characters.

But I think the winner of the best giveaway was Schemeserve and their purple top hats that proved such a surprise hit with the delegates, rumour is that they had to send for another van load to fulfil demand on the second day.

6) ... and what have Markerstudy got up their sleeves?

Kevin Spencer, Gary Humphreys and their team can always be relied upon to turn on the style when it comes to their Biba stand.

Last year's Rise of the Empire was the winner of the Best Large stand and knowing the competitive streak among the Markerstudy team they will be reluctant to give up the mantle.

So it will be with baited breath that many enter the conference hall tomorrow to see what they have come up with in 2015.

I am lucky enough to have been given a sneak preview, but am sworn to secrecy.

But it sounds like they have upped the ante again. And no, it is not a Butlins holiday camp...

So there you have it. My prediction for the six hot talking points for you all ahead of the 2015 Biba Conference. Have a good time and remember, Biba is only for two nights a year, not a lifetime. Thank goodness.