WMCA Event Joining Instructions

Thank you for registering for our event. Here is some infomation for the day including the venue and transport options


This page contains all the necessary information to help plan your journey to the conference and your time at the venue enjoyable.


The WMCA Events Team will be present throughout the day to answer any questions you may have, or to resolve any issues that arise/


Please be advised that although we've made every effort to provide accurate details the program may be subject to change without notice. Any amendments should they occur will be highlighted as soon as they become apparent.


In the meantime if you have any questions about the conference please do noy hesitate to contact us vis events@wmca.care or 01384 943000 (opt2)

Autumn Providers Conference and AGM

2 October 2025

9.30am - 3.00pm


Registration open from 9.00am

Portway Lifestyle Centre

Newbury Lane

Oldbury

B69 1HE

Agenda

9:30am – 10:00am: 

Registration

Meet exhibitors

Coffee catch up & networking


Plenary Sessionsss

10:00am – 10:15am

Keiron Broadbent, Chief Executive, West Midlands Care Association 
Shirley Way, Head of Area, Skills For Care

Welcome and what does Effective mean?


10:15am – 11:00am

Keynote

Lindsay Rees RGN

Head of Product Content

Quality Compliance Systems

How to instill a culture of continuous improvement


11.00am - 11.45am

Richard Law Capacity Tracker Regional Delivery Manager North of England Care System Support

Why is benchmarking important and how to effectively benchmark your organisation


11.45am - 12.00pm

Break


After lunch we will split the conference into separate home care and care home streams

12.45pm - 1.45pm

Lunch

2.45pm - 3.00pm

Raffle and Conference Close

Getting to the Conference


Venue:


Multipurpose Hall

The Portway Lifestyle Centre

Newbury Lane

Oldbury

B69 1HE


Phone: 0300 012 0121



Car Parking


There is plenty of free parking to the rear of the venue, accessible  by the driveway to the right of the building.

Disabled parking spaces are immediately to the left and right of the driveway down the side of the building


By Train

The nearest train stations and Sandwell and Dudley (which has intercity services) and Rowley Regis.  Both are around a 10 minute taxi ride.

By Bus

There are bus stops in newbury in front of the venue

Services 3 3A and 20 run to West Bromwich.  There are buses directly to BIrmingham and Wolverhampton (service 126) just around the corner on Wolverhampton Road.

Hotels

If you need hotel accomodation. the nearest hotels are the Travelodge Birmingham Oldbury (just around the corner) and the Premier Inn Birmingham Oldbbury (Jct 2 M5) which is about 5 minutes walk.  There is also the Holiday Inn Express Birmingham Oldbury which is 10 minutes away or alternatively the Village Hotel Dudley is a short car journey to the Venue

Venue on Google Maps

Exhibitors Information

Access to the venue will be available from 7.30am and a WMCA member of staff will be on hand to direct you to your allocated exhibition space. (We will let you know if access is available the day before but it is not normally at Portway)


Please refer to the Acess and Accessibility section below on how you can access the venue


There is a loading bay by reception. Reception is then accessed by stairs or an access ramp.  The multipurpose hall is quite a distance from reception so we recommend bringing a trolley if you have one.  Once your equipment has been unloaded you will need to move your car to the car park at the rear of the building


You will be allocated a space measuring approximately 3m x 2m containing a table and chairs. Each exhibitor will need to provide their own display boards/exhibition stand to position behind the table. There are power points throughout the exhibiton area but we cannot guarantee specific availability . As a precaution, please ensure your devices are fully charged before attending the event. 


You should not exceed your allocated 3m space. This is in line with the venue’s health and safety policy but also out of respect to fellow exhibitors.


Wifi is available throughout the building but we have found from experience that it is not particularly reliable


We ask all exhibitors to have completed their set up 30 minutes before opening of registration.


Stand breakdown Information

Due to health and safety regulations, exhibitors must not start the breakdown of their stands before the end of the event. We understand that you may have a distance to travel, but we must ensure all exhibitors stay until the end of the event. As well as having safety implications, it can be very frustrating for attendees if an exhibitor they wish to see has left early.

 

WMCA & Portway risk assessments will be emailed to you ahead of the event. It is recommended that you also have your own risk assessment for your stand and staffing team


Access and Accessibility


Access to the venue is through reception at the front of the building.  The venue is one level and fully accessible.  The Multipurpose Hall is on the left towards the end of the long access corridor.  There will be plenty of WMCA branding to guide you.


Should you have any  accessibility or additional requirements that you did not make us aware of when you booked, please contact us by emailing  events@wmca.care as soon as possible so that we can accommodate your needs.

Registration


Upon arrival you will need to register at the Registration Desk.  This is the third entrance to the hall towards the end of the access corridor


Registration will be open from 9.00am


At the desk we will issue you with a delegate badge


The WMCA team will be present throughout the day to answer any questions you may have or if you need assistance

Refreshments and Food


Refreshments are included and will be served in the Exhibition area


If there are any special dietary requirements that you did not make us aware of when you booked, please let us know by emailing  events@wmca.care as soon as possible


Security


Venue and WMCA staff will be present at all times and the general public are not allowed to access the conference areas.  There may however be other events going on unconnected to the conference.


WMCA advises all attandees to ensure that their possessions are safeguarded at all times, In the event of any damage or loss you should report this to a member of WMCA staff with details.  WMCA cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to the attendees property.


Should you have any lost property to hand in, please visit the registration desk where a WMCA staff member will be happy to help.

Conference Photography


Photographs/video will be taken of all aspects of the conference for use online, on social media and printed documents.


If you do not wish your photograph to be used following the conference please make a member of the WMCA registration staff aware when you collect your badge./.

Cancellation


If you should need to cancel your booking, please let the association know as soon as possible by emailing events@wmca.care


As the association incurs event costs based on the numbers attending, we reserve the right to charge a £10 administration fee for nonattendance on the day without prior notification to the Association.


For chargeable events, please click here to see our event terms and conditions and refund policy.


Data Protection


Data collected during the booking process is only used by WMCA for event organisation purposes.  We do not share this data with third parties (including the conference exhibitors) or store it beyond a reasonable time. 


Our data privacy policy can be found at www.wmca.care/privacy



Anything Else


If you have any other queries about the event them please contact us on:


Email: events@wmca.care


Phone: 01384 934000 (opt2)


The WMCA offices are normally open Monday - Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm