We’re so excited to announce that we’re launching Up North – a brand-new marketing festival in the heart of Manchester at Victoria Warehouse on June 22, 2023.
connective3’s heritage in marketing events
We attend, plan, and host an array of digital marketing events and it’s something we are so passionate about. Over the years we’ve been to hundreds of marketing events, and we’ve run everything from conferences for thousands of people to small seminars, breakfast events, marketing meet-ups, and everything in between. Shout out to those who remember SearchLeeds or Leeds Loves Search, hosted by Charlie and me.
In 2022 we hosted a Marketing Mixer with Don’t Panic and three Digital Bites’ events across Leeds and Manchester, creating a community of over 500 marketers and welcoming 21 new speakers to the stage.
SearchLeeds 2018 stage and audience hosted by connective3’s Charlie Harris & Frankie Bisi
Our first Digital Bites event in Manchester, September 2022
A one-of-a-kind digital marketing festival
We felt there was a gap in the market for a northern marketing event that’s both informative and inspirational, too. We wanted to create something different, something that brings together leading marketers, inspirational thinkers, and entrepreneurs for a one-of-a-kind event with inspiring and innovative content that not only helps you with your day-to-day but inspires you for your next five years. And that’s where the concept for Up North was born.
What to expect
Up North is not your average marketing event. Up North is a full day marketing festival with 24 speakers and 2 stages with content on all things digital marketing, business strategy and personal development. Talks that will help you think bigger, work smarter and inspire you to get more from your marketing strategies.
We’re working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring our vision for this event to life and are curating a killer speaker line-up and can’t wait to reveal more for what we have planned for the day.
Event details
Now the important part, the event will be taking place on Thursday 22nd June at Victoria Warehouse. Victoria Warehouse is a truly stunning venue and we knew it was the venue to host Up North from the moment we walked through the doors. Set a stone’s throw away from Old Trafford, the former cotton store is a uniquely designed event spaces, perfect for a gathering of Northern marketers. Expect plenty of exposed brick and dramatic lighting – throw in a few stages and 400 digital marketers, and we’re sure to have one hell of a day.
And the best part? Tickets are completely free. Register your interest here.
Site visit to Victoria Warehouse
Championing events in the north
Attending in-person events offers a valuable opportunity for marketers to share thought leadership and connect with peers which in turns helps the industry grow and flourish. Historically and still today, when looking for events to send our team to in the north, and particularly Manchester, we noticed there isn’t always a great deal of choice. Ticket prices and traveling down south can provide a barrier for people attending marketing events outside of London, so we wanted to change that.
We chose to host this event in Manchester, as we’re passionate believers in the value of uniting the digital community in the north. We have our second largest connective3 office here, have built our Digital Bites networking events here and felt that this city had to be the home for Up North.
Pitch to speak
While we’re busy curating a special speaker line-up, we welcome and encourage speaker pitches and want to hear from you whether you’ve spoken at 0 or 20 events before.
We’re particularly interested in hearing from diverse viewpoints, community builders, best-selling authors, agency superstars, entrepreneurs etc,.
Pitch to speak here.
Meet the Up North Organisers
Put simply, Up North is a passion project, created by the connective3 marketing team. With over 8 years of events experience under our belts, myself (Frankie Bisi) and Charlie Harris came into 2023 with an ambition to bring back a big marketing event to the north.
Career wise, SearchLeeds was an incredible shared experience, that allowed us to bring together over 2000+ marketers across the north for a day of networking and sharing. We both loved it, and we miss it.
Up North was born out of the same passions and motivations that made SearchLeeds so great. We have been to 100s of marketing events across the world, and we’re excited to take our collective experiences and use these to build what we hope will be our best event yet.
We are so excited to host this event, and we have so many great things planned that we can’t wait to share with you over the next few months. If you don’t already, make sure you’re following us on LinkedIn for the latest updates.
