It was wonderful to welcome over 125 delegates to Madrid for the 2022 IH Directors’ Conference!
After three very challenging years apart it was so important to bring the community together again in person. We were delighted that so many IH directors, sponsors and guests could attend, and so happy to see old friends and new come together. Our slogan on participants’ notebooks at the conference was ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ and the IH network has truly pulled together as a team during the challenges of the pandemic.
Our conference hosts, International House Madrid, recently celebrated their 40th anniversary and so it was particularly special to be holding the conference in their city after such an important milestone. A special thank you to Daniel Saron and Debbie Rimmer, for their help and support in organising the conference and to all the IH Madrid team for their work during the event. 
The conference had to be organised very quickly due to the uncertainty caused by Covid and they were extremely helpful and supportive. A special thank you also to all the IHWO team who worked so hard to make the event successful. 
Our key topics during the conference were Leadership and Responding to Change, Digital Transformation, Business Diversification, the Future of Work and Sustainability. There were several workshop sessions to provide attendees with the opportunities to discuss and share together. Thank you to our wonderful guest speakers! Nicola Lutz (No Fluff) who led a workshop on Customer Experience with Beccy Wigglesworth (IHWO). And, Line Hostmalingen, an expert from IH Madrid’s Educational Marketing company, Kapta Estrategias, who delivered a 90 minute workshop on sales processes and digital marketing.
Our thoughts at this conference were particularly with our colleagues and friends from Ukraine, we are very grateful that Tanya Oratovska (IH Kyiv) and her daughter Dasha were able to join us in Madrid. In the past couple of months, the IH network has worked together to provide support and help for our colleagues and all the people of Ukraine. The IH World Foundation held a special event on Monday evening at the conference to raise money for this important cause.
Throughout the conference, delegates were able to liaise with representatives from key International House partners. A huge thank you to our partner Guard Me for their ongoing support and for providing us with a fantastic plenary speaker, Christina Furtado, who delivered a session on Mindful Leadership. Thank you also to Cambridge English who very kindly sponsored our welcome dinner and delivered a plenary on Leading Change. We are grateful to all our sponsors for their continued support of the event – Cambridge English, GEL (Guided E-Learning), IDP, LanguageCert, Macmillan Education, Pearson, SwooshTransfer, Trinity College London and Zoom.
In conclusion, it was a very busy and enjoyable few days and the team is looking forward to the 2023 conference, hosted by IH London, where we will celebrate IH’s 70th anniversary.
Lucy Horsefield, Managing Director IHWO.