The IAAF’s third Industry Briefing Session took place on the 18th of October at the ECCO Safety group (ESG) in Leeds.

Members were welcomed by Marium Ali, Director of Marketing and Product Management EMEA, before proceedings got underway by Head of Membership Development Mike Smallbone, who brought delegates up to date with a review of IAAF’s recent lobbying activity including Type Approval and the long-awaited Third EU Mobility package, plus the latest developments on Autonomous Vehicles and the ‘Your Car Your Choice’ campaign.

The session then continued with the main guest speaker, Julian Lloyd from industry training providers ProVQ, who kick-started the main thrust of the day’s itinerary, demonstrating the power of its latest Virtual Classroom technology with a live ‘augmented reality’ training session that linked up to the company’s Shrewsbury HQ. The cutting-edge training technology, developed by ProVQ, enables live course integration, bringing trainers into trainees’ homes or places of work via computer or tablet.

Joel Combes of Lawgistics followed, sharing with attendees the new IAAF membership benefit HR Manager Lite, a free service available to members, designed to assist employers with legal matters relating to Employment Law, HR, Health & Safety and Data Protection.

Smallbone then wrapped up the morning’s proceedings with an overview of aftermarket threats, opportunities and what the future holds for the industry.

Following the session’s close at 1.00 pm, there was the opportunity for members to network over lunch, before embarking on a tour of ESG’s facilities. Here, they were given insight into its products which are manufactured and tested to meet the “The ECCO Standard”, as well as its safety solutions for the aftermarket, including a range of products under the Code 3 brand for Emergency systems.

The next briefing will take place on 15 November, where members will be given a taste of the premier league when the venue will be Watford F.C. Jointly organised by IAAF and Johnson Controls Batteries Limited, the agenda will include the latest IAAF news as well as an update from Train 4 Auto Consultancy’s Steve Carter on Hybrid, PHEV and Hydrogen Fuel Celled vehicles.