Comment / HFMA reimagined

Many of you have asked about our conference centre at 110 Rochester Row in the wake of the pandemic. We have fully reopened it and members are most welcome to stop by if they’re in central London (please ring ahead).

The facility still gives us the opportunity to run events face-to-face and I’m delighted to see that staff are returning to London. We will be investing in equipment and developing the online streaming capabilities there in recognition of the new online world. We’ll also be upgrading what we have, given that the conference centre is nine years old in July.

Our policy on hub seminars and conferences will be to either run face-to-face or online, not both. Hybrid requires significant commitment, so we are saving this for the summer and annual conferences. We know time is important to members, so we have selected only a few hub events to take place face-to-face from September. Events such as the new year lunch will be face-to-face, but most of what we do will be online, reflecting the members’ desire for us to be flexible and adaptive to the new world.

We are excited to be running the summer conference at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London, with the key supporters dinner at the Science Museum, in July. I urge members to look at this programme as both online and face-to-face tickets are still available. It will be a great opportunity to network and learn together – just like old times – but organisations can also purchase a heavily discounted online experience.

The association is embarking on a new three-year strategy, currently being developed by staff and trustees. Equality and diversity lie at the centre of the strategy, underpinned by our decision to open up membership to bands two to six. This has helped create opportunities for those not previously involved.

But the association wants to do more, recognising the benefits of having a wider range of people around the table. The HFMA is keen to develop opportunities for all members to be involved in its services and activities.  Why not get involved in what we have to offer, either locally or nationally? 

We are also making a significant investment in a new website to be launched next year, together with a major redevelopment of our e-learning services, some of which are hosted on legacy platforms. In addition, our reformatted qualifications start in September –well worth a look for those interested in getting their experience recognised and accredited.

We hope that by developing new services we will be fulfilling our president Owen Harkin’s challenge of ‘re-imagining HFMA’. In this post-pandemic world we have a long way to go and we can only do it with your support. So a big thank you in advance!