By Lesley Foottit - 15th October 2009
Bingo nights and speed dating could be on the agenda at the next Conservative conference, following on from the success of this year's innovative retail mall.
ePolitix.com spoke to Scott Seaman-Digby, the party's commercial director and driving force behind the modernisation, about bringing the high street to the conference centre.
"We're moving the conference forward to make the delegates' experience much wider and deeper," he said.
"So while there are the very important speeches, policy announcements and fringes which happen every day, we wanted to add things to conference which make the experience even more enjoyable."
A fringe event at this year's conference saw discussion on other ideas for the conference.
"They wrote ideas on Post-it Notes which they stuck on a wall, like speed dating, bingo nights and sports events, so we are going to pick it up for next year," he told ePolitix.com.
The changes aim to address a feeling that the conferences of the past have not been as interesting as they could be.
"When I went to conference last year I thought it was missing something and I came up with the idea of a retail mall," Seaman-Digby said.
"We tried to make sure we had a balance of retailers so from Harvey Nicks to Tesco and Marks & Spencer. We covered the whole spectrum and not just the top end."
The mall also featured small independent retailers, including a self-representing artist and a small soup-making company.
Seaman-Digby said: "The response was fantastic. It has been an outstanding success."
Including the party shop, 14 retailers took part in the retail mall.
And the majority of participants have already signed up for Birmingham next year.
The party's stall was also a hit, with 'Next prime minister' babygrows and 'Time for change' mugs selling well.
This year's conference also featured parties in the evening, a pub quiz and gay pride night, all of which attracted hundreds of delegates.
Seaman-Digby said the Conservative conference left other political parties trailing in the entertainment stakes.
"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and I'm sure we would be delighted if they copy us," he suggested.
However, the commercial director is already planning ideas and improvements, such as sports events, for both the spring forum and the next autumn conference.
Seaman-Digby joined the party at the age of 18. He is a cabinet member on Hillingdon council and has been the Conservatives commercial director since July last year.
Feedback on this year's conference can be emailed to Scott.Seaman-Digby@Conservatives.com.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd