IHWO and IH study abroad schools spent the weekend at ST Alphe UK in London. The three-day, in-person conference is a fantastic opportunity for language schools to network intensively with quality, reference-checked agents. We had a great time catching up with many agents and meeting lots of new ones too.
It was fantastic to see so many IH schools attending the conference. The majority were from Europe, but Tim Eckenfels and Ravel Brandao Taveres made the trip all the way from Sydney and Gavin Eyre came all the way from Cape Town. IH schools were in a specially designated area on the first floor, alongside IALC schools. This setup was a great success, making the “IH village” a destination for many agents who wanted to chat with more than one IH school and enjoy a calm haven away from the Alphe noise.
IHWO had a packed schedule of meetings with a variety of study abroad agents, all wanting to know more about the benefits of working with an IH school. The conference was a chance to debut our new and improved Valued Partner Scheme which aims to recognize those agents who value and support the IH brand by working with several of our schools. Along with interest in the new scheme, we were also promoting our IH Study Abroad Newsletter. This is a bi-monthly digital publication to keep agents up to date with all the wonderful things IH study abroad schools are doing and to get priority access to new photos and courses.
IH World sponsored the stairs at ST Alphe 2023 and our rainbow-splashed design added a joyful atmosphere to the conference. They were a great way to direct agents upstairs to the IH area. It was lovely to see many agents and schools taking photos with the IH branding as their backdrop.
On Saturday night, Study Travel held its Star Awards ceremony. It was a fabulous evening at the Grosvenor House in London and the glitz and glamour of the disco theme was fully embraced by all the guests. The International House attendees were delighted when CLIC International House won their category as ST Star Spanish Language School. They were a much-deserved winner and we are very happy to celebrate their recognised success.
A particular highlight of the weekend was the IH 70th Anniversary Celebratory Lunch for IH schools and agents. On Sunday, after a morning of meetings, our guests were welcomed with a cocktail, made by our very own Duanes Santos da Silva, Director of IH Belfast. The event was an opportunity to celebrate our organisation’s milestone year as well as providing a networking event for both agents and IH schools.
All in all, it was a great conference. It was satisfying to see a strong IH presence and an important chance to develop more professional relationships with key agents from around the world.
