Latest / The STA Clinician Podcast / Ep.278 'Why is Therapy Expo now Therapy Show?' with guest Liam Richardson, Content Manager

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Ep.278 'Why is Therapy Expo now Therapy Show?' with guest Liam Richardson, Content Manager · The STA Clinician Podcast

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You're listening to the STA Clinician Podcast, connecting clinicians across healthcare.
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And we're live. Hey people. Welcome to the STA Clinician Podcast,
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formerly known for the last five years or so as the Sports Therapy Association Podcast.
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My name is Matt Phillips, creator of runchatlive.com. And as always,
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this episode is being recorded live on the Sports Therapy Association YouTube
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channel and Facebook page at 8pm UK time on a Tuesday.
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In this episode, entitled Why Is Therapy Expo Now?
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Therapy Show, I'll be joined very shortly by my special guest,
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Liam Richardson, Content Director of Therapy Show.
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Liam is going to be giving us an insight into why Therapy Expo,
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after 13 years since it first started,
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has now been rebranded as Therapy Show, and also giving us a little sneak peek
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into what's in store for the expected 3,000 plus visitors who will be flocking
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to the NEC in Birmingham this November on Wednesday the 25th and Thursday the 26th.
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Before then, I must give a huge thanks to my last week's guest,
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Tim Allardyce, founder of Rehab My Patient, who in episode 277,
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How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing MSK Rehabilitation.
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He gave us a great insight into how AI is now able to save us so much time in
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clinic and deliver our patients and clients a significantly superior experience
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when it comes to exercise prescription.
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He took us through some exciting developments in Rehab My Patient exercise prescription
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software, which I know a lot of listeners have got, and helped us clear up some
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of the concerns that clinicians and patients typically show when it comes to using AI in clinic.
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Tim also mentioned, because he's such a nice guy, I'm giving him another plug for this.
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He also mentioned about his challenge starting April the 10th to climb Mount
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Everest, Island Peak and Lhotse to raise money for the Osteopathic Foundation, St.
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Dunstan's Education Group, the Sherpas and Guy's and St.
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Thomas's Charity. If you wish to donate to that, I think at the moment when
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I last checked early on this evening, it was on 7,010 and he's got a goal of 7,500.
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So you can make the difference if you listen to this. then our
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the just giving page is in the show notes for
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the podcast which you can find on all popular podcast apps but
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if you've got a good memory then i'll also put
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it up now and again during this for these people who are watching it live
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available as always on sports therapy association youtube channel and all popular
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podcast apps right then back to tonight's episode 278 why is therapy expo now
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therapy show let's bring up my special guest content director of the therapy show, Liam Richardson.
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Hey Liam, how are you? I'm very good, how are you? I say how you're doing,
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but I know how you're doing, I know you're a bit rough, so I appreciate,
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I double appreciate you being here this evening.
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No, thank you. Yeah, I haven't been ill the last couple of days.
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I haven't been up Everest, I'm afraid, so nothing as grand as that,
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unfortunately. Oh, it's not a competition, is it?
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And definitely don't ever compete with Tim Allardyce. No, no.
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But good to see you, man. I'm really glad that you made it this evening.
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And we might keep it a little bit short.
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But yeah, we'll see how it goes. We'll see how we go. And also,
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we should mention that Charlotte, as well, has got the dreaded Lurgy.
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Which means that, unfortunately, Charlotte Speer, show manager,
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can't be here this evening either, which gives us extra hassle, doesn't it?
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Because that is going to be 90% of the energy tonight.
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Yeah, I'm going to try and find as much energy as I possibly can to replace that.
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But we hope you get well soon, Charlotte. And I'm sure before November,
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we'll manage to get you on the show again and just let us know how things are
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hotting up, as I'm sure they are.
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So, Liam, if it's okay with you, for people who maybe don't even know what Therapy
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Expo is, which there are, I've spoken to quite a few people who...
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I think it'd be interesting for you to know. I know, first of all, it sounds shocking.
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But secondly, I have spoken to a few people who have heard of it now,
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but not quite sure that it is, which is good.
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I suppose it's getting out now somehow to people who don't know about it.
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But we do hope that there are some listeners out there who haven't heard of
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it, because otherwise this is all a bit of a waste of time.
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But yeah, for people who don't know what is Therapy Expo, and then how have
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you been involved in it? And then after that, maybe we'll look at the rebrand.
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So Therapy Expo began in Manchester 13 years ago, so 2013, and it was created
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as a multidisciplinary event. So it is for everyone within that therapy community,
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physios, sports therapists, osteos, chiropractors, it was for everyone.
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And it built up over many years. And then it was bought by Closer Still Media,
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I think just a little bit before the pandemic.
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And I got involved with it originally in 2021.
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So just after the pandemic and worked on it, those first sort of three years
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after that, in charge of all the content.
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So working with partners, people like yourself, and making sure we had all the
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right speakers, sessions, we created at the time a new advisory board.
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And that was the start of a new era then in 2021 for the Therapy Expo.
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I continued sort of working in the company, but not on the show the last three years.
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So I've come back to it this year after a bit of a break, again,
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working on all the content side of things and helping Charlotte and the team
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oversee this change, which is to Therapy Show from this year.
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Exactly. This is the exciting bit now. Thank you for that.
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Thank you for that breakdown. Nicky Mansfield actually has quite a few people
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who have been to many of these shows since its beginning.
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And Nicky Mansfield has just said, Eden Groover has been to Therapy Expo every year since 2016.
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Seen lots of change in that time. Very intrigued to hear more about the branding
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change and this year's offering. Thanks, Nicky.
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And that's a reminder, if you have joined us live, then do take this opportunity.
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Be a little bit more gentle, maybe, than you are normal.
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He's, you know, as if somebody who knows what man flu is like. Oh, it's terrible.
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So yes i don't hit with too many difficult questions hey please
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sarah jones at nikki mansfield and sir glenn murphy and other people in
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here but yeah so it's funny i was looking back it
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doesn't feel like that long ago but in in it was
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december because the therapy expo 2025 was the end of november so it really
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wasn't that long ago and i chatted with mike james the endurance physio who
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a lot of physicians will know who i feel to see is still very much involved
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this year speaking and sharing and both him and i have seen therapy expo grow
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very much from the beginning and And the STA has been involved there since, since Manchester 2013.
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And we did an episode 265, like I say, and we talked about it and it was all
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kind of celebrations and like, wow, this has felt really good this year.
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And then we discovered it's all being rebranded and changed.
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And so I'm really, we're really interested. You are now have the seat.
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What, what caused the rebrand?
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So I think we've been running for a long time, and the word expo sometimes doesn't
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have the best connotations.
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It's a little bit more of an old-fashioned term.
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It makes you think more about, and it isn't a bad thing, but it does make you
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think more about the exhibition, whereas we wanted to really refocus things
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more on the content, more on
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the speakers, but also on the experience of attendees. And we thought...
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A lot of people sat around a table and thought, well, what on earth could we
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do? And in the end, we changed one word, which was export to show.
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But we wanted to change the brand around it as well. So the name we've changed to Therapy Show.
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And that is, I guess, indicative of the fact that we want it to be more of an experience.
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People come to the show and they pay good money to hear some of the best people
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in the world speak. But we want it to be as good an experience as they possibly
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can have. And we want to make it a bit more fun as well this year.
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We want to do as much as we possibly can for attendees. so
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they really see that value for money and that's you
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know small things we're doing even the fact we're having a conversation
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now in the past we were prepping therapy expo
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in the past in sort of may june july and over summer whereas
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we brought it forward we started on it in december because
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we wanted to try and get as much information about our
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plans and what we're doing bit by bit so we
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you know the stuff that we're doing pretty much every month from now
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until the show with things that we can unveil and it's
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not just the program but there's everything else around it
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everything from i know we've had conversations matt if you're
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you know a first time attendee going to a massive
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hall in the nec with tons of you
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know thousands of people thousands of times it's quite overwhelming so
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we're looking at what we can do for first time attendees we're
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looking at what we can do for people that may
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be a neurodivergent so how can we make the show more accessible and
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inclusive we're also looking at yeah how
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we can make the show more fun as well so there's things we we got
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going on in the background that we're going to hopefully announce next month
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about what we're doing alongside all the educational content where people hopefully
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can come and enjoy themselves as much as possible and we can hopefully offer
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some more networking opportunities as well than we even had previously so we're
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putting more of the show into it i guess than anything else.
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That sounds great. No, it sounds very exciting. And yeah, I can appreciate now
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why you've changed the name from, yeah, Expo to Show to Take the Wait,
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because it's such, I do, my heart does go out to you guys, because I understand
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now, and I wouldn't have said this 10,
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definitely not 20 years ago, but I get that it's a business and you need the exhibitors.
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They pay for this incredible, massive place with floor span for 3,000 or more people to come in.
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And it's hard, but I really, I remember even at 2025 walking around and I bumped
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into definitely Charlotte and Molly and yourself walking around.
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And already you were talking about, oh, next year, we've got some plans for
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next year. You're already thinking about what's going to happen.
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I think even then the rebrand was kind of being mentioned. There was a little
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office showing the new colors and testing the water.
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But there's definitely been this year much more
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talk and chatter and development and consultation
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earlier on even just from january and february which is which is really encouraging
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for the people involved in it so it's exciting that's great no great to hear
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that you're thinking about first timers and yeah we're going to release some
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interesting news for neurodivergent community which would be great as well very exciting fantastic,
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Let's just have, I've grabbed a few screenshots. One thing I was really interested
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in, I'm just going to change the screen here to where we are.
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That just shows for people who are listening to the podcast,
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you can't see these screenshots. But if you go to the website.
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Therapyshow.isaco.uk, isn't it? Yeah.
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And you'll see the rebranding and it's all very, very much freshened up.
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But one thing I really did enjoy seeing, this wasn't on the website,
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I think it's on the PDF, but it talked about, I think it was really interesting
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for some listeners to see it.
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It talked about the breakdown, which you guys are really conscious of,
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of the attendees at Therapy Expo.
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And it was really interesting to see that although physiotherapy was like 42%
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of the total people who come through, sports therapists were there with 18%.
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Sports massage therapists, 7%. Soft tissue therapists, 5%. And when you add
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together all the podiatrists, chiropractors, all the PTs and things,
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58% of the people were not physios.
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And you guys were aware of that and that's something which i think people forget
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people i think i mean i think a lot of the time because sports therapists can
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be we've talked about this on the show before quite,
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paranoia is the wrong word because often we've got the right reason to feel
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a bit imposter syndrome and stuff but we we're very wary of how we are called
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physios a lot of the time wrongly and we're compared to physios just as we get
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over the fact we don't have to be physios somebody will say oh you're not a
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physio but you guys really are trying and this kind of chart shows it to make
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it multi-disciplinary that seems to be really high up in your priorities isn't it.
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Yeah, absolutely. So when we, you know, at the start of every event,
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we look at what happened the previous year, and that's in really granular detail,
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like that, you know, in terms of looking at this in terms of job roles, who you attended,
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but even down to what sessions people attended overall, so we can work out exactly
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who, you know, what was most popular, what people were most interested in and
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who those people were most interested in as well.
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So I think one of the big changes behind the scenes, even in the last year,
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and this is, you know, probably slightly boring point, but we've got so much more data now.
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So we can, you know, legitimately design a program that has a lot more science
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of underpinning it and how, you know, what we know is popular and what we know
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works based on what people have done before.
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Not just, and that isn't just even from the surveys and things like that we do.
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So that's how we're trying to look at it this year. We're trying to make sure
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we're catering for everyone and that we're involving everybody as well.
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When we talk about therapy show, we talk about the fact it's a really big tent.
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There's so many different people that come.
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And it does make it harder because it means, you know, it's very difficult to
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please everyone all the time.
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But our job is to try and do that as best we can. And I hope and I think that
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this year that's something we are going to achieve.
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I'm really excited about what we've got planned. And I think there's a lot more to come.
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I do think we've got some really good speakers already confirmed I think we've
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spoken about this before Matt,
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every year it's trying to get the right balance between some of the old favourites
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and the new faces and we've got some really good old favourites who are coming
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back some of them after maybe a couple of years not being involved so people like.
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Like Chris Norris, obviously, and John Gibbons, but even people like Uzo's back again, Uzo Aguiar.
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We've got people like Daniel Lawrence and Paul Corker who are back,
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who we know are always really popular.
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And then we've got new people that we've never had at the show before.
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So I know Ben Wybrow, you've been telling me for years we should get involved.
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I know he's been on the podcast a few times in the past, so we've never had
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him, and he's speaking on a couple of different sessions.
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We wanted Claire Robertson for years, and I don't think, well,
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certainly not in my time, we've had her speak and again
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that was someone we were really keen on getting again you've
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had her on the podcast in granja donnelly before again we've been wanting to
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get her involved for years and years and we haven't been able to make it work
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and this year we have so she's coming and doing a session so i think we've got
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a really good mix of yeah old favorites and new faces and i think what the challenge
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we've set to all of the speakers is.
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Is and this is what comes out of our advisory board and our
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education committee is how can we make things as practical
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and as relevant as possible so that you can use
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all this stuff on a monday morning and that's what our
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commitment is and this year we're going really hard when we're
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talking to speakers about making it as practical as possible we
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try to make people's session titles as clear and as simple as
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possible as well and we try to pay not going
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back to the science bit we're trying to pay a lot more attention to when we
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schedule stuff as well because i know in the past people get
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a bit overwhelmed with how much choice they have and they get really frustrated
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when good things are on opposite each other and they
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might say why do you got those two on at the same time when they'd
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actually complement each other so we're trying wherever we possibly can to make
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sure that we've got people on at the right time and complementary people aren't
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clashing and things like that as well great points no really cool yeah i'm looking
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forward to seeing i know So, I mean.
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Being on the education committee, I'm aware of some of the speakers and I know
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the program is going to be dripped in bit by bit, but it is a really exciting year.
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And I must admit, you have done a good job of keeping some of the old favorites,
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but going like Grenier, brilliant, fantastic, coming over, Ben, amazing.
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There's some really exciting, talent's the only word because it is talent,
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educators, some really good educators on the list this year. So really exciting.
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You did mention the advisory board. There's a little bit of an elephant in the
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room because I've had a few emails and I think Sarah's brought it up as well,
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which is good timing, Sarah, as always.
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You did, this year, there's an advisory board and there's an education committee.
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And the fact is you put the advisory board out first of all,
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and it was all it is, pretty much all physios apart from one.
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Now, we're a sensitive old bunch, the non-allied health professionals.
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And Sarah summed it up here, I think, nicely.
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Sarah said, I'd be interested to know why the advisory board is predominantly
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physios. I'm not sure I feel represented as a soft tissue therapist.
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Could you expand on that?
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And that's how a lot of people kind of felt, including myself and pretty much a lot of.
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But then, I'm not going to get your answer yet, but then, like last week,
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before you answer, we did have the education committee released.
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Now, whether that should have been done first or before is another thing.
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But on the education committee, it does kind of make it quite clear that you've
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got the STA there, you've got the Sports Massage Association,
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the SMA, you've got Basrat there, you've got myself there, Dr.
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Amanda Hensman-Crook, Dr.
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Shan Brodick-Chan. And so that's kind of the balance which people wanted.
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But it was unfortunate for people like Sarah when they did just see the advisory
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panel come out, first of all, and they're all physios.
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But what would you like to say, Liam? Once again, the floor is yours.
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No, I think it's a really good challenge and a good question.
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And I think when we looked at this year, we were very aware that we'd never
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changed the advisory board, really.
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It stayed pretty much the same for five years. So I came in and we'd not had one before.
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So when I came in in 2021, that was the first thing we did. and obviously we
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worked with great organisations and great people. When I came back in 2026,
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I looked around and I thought, this is exactly the same as what I'd left behind a few years earlier.
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So we thought it would be good to really change things up.
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And what I wanted to make sure is that not only did we have an advisory board,
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but we almost had another group where our most trusted partners could actually
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sit, which was our education committee.
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So the goal that we wanted was to have two groups that could,
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I guess test each other a bit and make sure we were getting the right information.
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Previously I had you know probably had a bit had the opposite
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challenge you work with all the various sports therapy
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association sports therapy groups but you don't really work with as many physios
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on the old advisory group so I guess we were trying to overcompensate for that
17:36
maybe a little bit as well but I guess the three things we were aiming to do
17:39
was to have more business owners involved we wanted to have a better gender
17:44
balance because that's something we did get criticised for a lot previously,
17:47
that that balance wasn't right with the old group.
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And we just wanted to make sure we had as many good people that were really
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sort of front-facing and clinician-focused.
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I think it's just the order of the communications. And that's,
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you know, being really honest, we said earlier, we're trying to do everything
18:02
months and months earlier.
18:04
And this year, we want to try and do everything. We had a list.
18:07
I know people always say, if you've got four or five things you want to do,
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maybe just do a couple of them and do them well.
18:12
This year, for us, we wanted, you know, we had 20, 30 things on our list.
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We want to do every single one of them. And it means we're probably at times
18:19
flying the plane while we're still building it.
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So it did mean that the education committee was due to come out a little bit
18:26
later. and we thought, oh, this is great, we can do this announcement and then
18:29
we can do this announcement and it means we've got something each month to keep
18:32
people interested and we've got other stuff to come in April, May, June, July.
18:37
And unfortunately, there were elements of it that maybe didn't land as well
18:39
as we could, but we're still obviously working with Matt, we're working with
18:43
all the other organisations and they have just as much of a say as they've ever
18:46
have done, if not more so,
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because they're also getting to hear and critique some of the views of other
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people involved as well and we're giving them access to, I guess,
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even more data and information than we've done previously as well.
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So if anything, everyone's even more in the tent than they were previously.
19:02
Yeah, that's a good answer. I mean, it was just a shock. I hope that helps Sarah.
19:06
Yeah, Sarah, come back if you like. But I mean, I think now,
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Sarah, I'm not sure if you've seen it, but now the education committee is out,
19:12
then we can see there is a balance there. It was just a bit of a surprise.
19:15
I think it's because we knew them all as well, and it was just physio,
19:18
physio, physio, physio, physio.
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All very nice people, by the way. And if anything, you know what?
19:23
If their job titles weren't under
19:25
their names, we'd be celebrating because they're all wonderful people.
19:28
Emma Brockwell, there's some great names down there. people who probably the
19:31
most multidisciplinary supporting physios i know
19:34
because there's kind of it goes hand in hand if you're
19:36
a good educator you're also going to embrace multidisciplinary care
19:39
because you know that that's what patients need so it was
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just that it was just the print of the physio and we wanted
19:46
good educators we wanted people not everybody but people
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who would join the show before and had spoken and again
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a lot of people that have been on this podcast
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and had been recommended before as speakers so
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we wanted to you know they they wanted were keen to do
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more with us and we were keen to work with them so people like steve and
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andrew and others you know i've been involved with
20:07
the show for a long time and and have you know you you're
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one of the key people that's helped make those sort of introductions and then
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people like we mentioned mike james the endurance physio he
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is still involved and he's that link between the
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the two eras as it were but yeah we've got we if
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anything we've got more support now in terms of the
20:24
two groups that we have and it just means I feel just really confident that
20:29
we're getting loads of really good suggestions and different suggestions on
20:33
who we should have speak and we encourage that whole group to be really honest
20:37
with us and tell us if we're on the right track or if we're on the wrong track
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hopefully this year I think the people we've got involved and the speakers.
20:45
Are really good we've got great people involved across the
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board and you know we're hoping it shapes up to be the best therapy
20:51
show we've ever had is it tricky
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to not say therapy expert have you got around that now or you're managing
20:57
to must slip out sometimes i feel like maybe
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when we're talking about in the office we all need to have maybe a little jar
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and put in a pound or something every time someone says it wrong maybe then
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it'll stop us from from ever doing it but yeah overall we're getting there with
21:10
it getting it right cool fantastic so other little changes where are we feeling
21:17
how are you feeling by the way i just want to check good yeah no still.
21:20
Yeah yeah you're gonna feel terrible once this is over the adrenaline is just
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gonna dump and you're just gonna flake it i hope you haven't got any commitments
21:26
after this other things just to mention for people to be aware of the therapy
21:31
show physically is no longer kind of co-located with the OT Occupational Therapy show,
21:36
is it, this year? So it's no wonder it's going to be the two.
21:39
Yeah, so they're still taking place at the same time on the 25th and 26th of
21:43
November, same venue, the NEC, but there's just basically a wall between the
21:49
two shows now. So it used to be completely one massive show floor.
21:54
This year, we've decided to properly separate it,
21:57
and that's, I guess, feedback we got from a number of
22:00
attendees and a number of exhibitors
22:04
as well and it just makes it a bit easier for us in terms of making sure
22:07
you know i know that one of the things in the past we haven't always got
22:10
100 right is the size of the theatres for example it
22:13
just makes it more challenging being able to have the
22:16
right number of people the right number of seats so
22:19
that's something where we're working on this year all the theatres are
22:22
a lot bigger for that reason as well so it means that you should be able to
22:26
be accommodated as well within within those spaces i think that's something
22:30
people listeners will like like to hear a little bit more about the size of
22:33
the theaters i mean you're never going to have a theater that's big enough there's
22:35
always going to be people who can't fit in it but how how have you managed to deal with that.
22:41
So it goes back to the, you know, we're really looking at all of our data,
22:45
how we're scheduling stuff, yeah, really going into it in as much detail as
22:50
possible, so that there's as much science, I guess, underpinning what we do.
22:55
I think we'll get it right this year. And I think it should be,
22:58
I think everyone should have a good experience. And we've got a good mix of theatres this year.
23:02
I think 2025 was a really good year for that last edition of Therapy Expo.
23:08
But i think the feedback we got and it
23:11
was i guess there were two main pieces one was people wanted
23:14
more interactive and practical content they felt
23:17
there was maybe a little few too many lectures and a
23:20
bit too much theory and then the second point was that we dipped our toe in
23:24
the water a bit more last year by doing more business content we had a business
23:28
advice clinic and people really lapped that up it was hugely popular and it
23:32
was oversubscribed throughout there were people like katie bell and celia champion
23:36
involved there who are back again this year and they were consistently,
23:41
you know if the if the theater was 50 seats it was double that throughout so
23:45
this year we've moved it to a much bigger theater a much bigger space i think
23:48
it's triple the size and we've got a lot more business content so i think the
23:51
good thing for us is that if you're interested in that.
23:54
Interactive and practical content there's two big spaces that
23:57
we're now covering that in which are on the show floor one of them i guess is
24:01
more assessment based and clinical reasoning based so it's more showing you
24:05
i guess the why clinicians are doing things the way that they're doing and And
24:09
then the other theatre is more of a huge open space in the round where people
24:14
are going to be showing how to do things as well,
24:16
so particularly things like manual therapies as well.
24:19
So they're two very distinct but interactive practical spaces.
24:22
And again, there's some great names involved there. We mentioned some of them
24:25
earlier, but people like Steve Miller, Chris Tiley, people like Paul Corker as well.
24:31
So lots of really good people involved in those spaces.
24:34
And Uzo, backed by popular demand, he was a huge draw last year.
24:38
So we were keen to get him back in early doors
24:41
this time around as well so they're two of the
24:44
big two of the big changes so a lot more practical interactive content
24:47
and the theatres are set up in the right way so people
24:50
people can probably get round as well and more business content covering everything
24:55
from things like profit and loss to growing your business to utilizing social
25:00
media and we managed to get 27 minutes in artificial intelligence as well so
25:05
we're going to be talking about AI and how that's utilised and what that looks like in therapy.
25:08
We've got a few ideas about how we can do that because there's so much noise about it.
25:13
So we've got some thoughts on how we could maybe do that in a useful way, hopefully, for people.
25:19
Fantastic. All sounds wonderful. Thank you for that. Sarah did come back with a comment.
25:25
Sarah, just your reply to that was, it was poorly timed. This is just talking
25:29
about the release of the advisory panel, which is predominantly physios.
25:32
It was poorly timed by the sounds of it. And there are some great names in there
25:34
who I respect and learn from. I'd still like to see that board tweet in future years.
25:40
Yeah, that's really fair. I think if it was poorly timed, I've got to take all
25:46
the blame for that rather than anyone else on the team, because I was the one who suggested we do
25:49
in that order and that's it and then no it's
25:52
true and then in terms of the board yeah we do want
25:55
to go back to a position where it's exactly the same for
25:58
five years we want to keep enhancing it changing it
26:01
so yeah we will be we will be looking again in 27 you know we'll still be working
26:05
you know i would hope with the majority of people but i think every year we
26:08
want to try and bring in some fresh voices and fresh perspectives just so we
26:12
can keep challenging ourselves and keep on improving so yeah absolutely we'll
26:16
carry on tweaking it a lot more than we had done previously,
26:19
fantastic and you never know Sarah maybe next year the educational committee
26:22
will be released first might happen just so in the same way make everyone's lives easier.
26:29
Fantastic right but what else we got oh we'll just talk about money a little bit,
26:34
starting from the close of 2025 i think
26:37
it was available until very recently you were
26:40
knocking out tickets at 49 pound you may as well be doing out the back of a
26:43
car it's so cheap really i'm not just saying that to pick you up but 49 pound
26:46
for this show is quite a steal and apparently i think talking to i can't remember
26:50
what it was now i think earlier on we had a meeting but quite a few people have
26:52
taken advantage of that the 49 pound deal yeah they have and i think again we were,
26:59
we were looking at what we were doing and you know look at
27:01
it we are a business at the end of the day and I think
27:04
my observation coming back to work
27:07
on the show and I know Charlotte was really adamant about
27:10
this as well because she's someone who is incredibly passionate
27:14
about the show passionate about that
27:17
community of people who she works with both attendees and exhibitors
27:20
and I think there was a feeling that maybe
27:23
the price had previously had gone a bit too high and I think you
27:26
know there's a lot of reasons for that we've been living in a time when inflation's been
27:29
really high our costs are obviously higher and I
27:32
think every business not just people putting on events but across the whole
27:36
country whether you're I don't know KFC or the petrol station are passing on
27:41
those costs often to their customers and I think we just looked at it and thought
27:45
to go alongside the rebrand we need to do a bit more to give back to the community and you.
27:54
So we wanted to look at that price and we wanted to make it really accessible
27:58
because I talk to a lot of people, so does Charlotte, and it's not only the
28:03
cost of a ticket, but it's the cost of getting a train or petrol in the car.
28:08
Or if you're staying for the two days, the cost of a hotel, there's stuff we
28:11
can do with some of that, you know, the hotels.
28:13
You know, there are deals that we can do and we can try and make sure there's
28:17
some discounts and things, but we don't control the price of things like that
28:22
or the cost of trains and things.
28:23
So the thing we could control was was it
28:27
was the price that we set so that's something we were really keen to do
28:29
so it was 49 pound plus vat from from
28:33
the minute that therapy show ended last year until very recently
28:36
but until the end of this month so two weeks today
28:39
31st of march for there is a special 49
28:42
pound plus vat rate for sta members and
28:45
that's because we are you know we worked with you for many years and we wanted to make
28:48
sure we were offering that that special price and then
28:51
in terms of non-STA members it's £129 plus
28:54
VAT and that's the price from now until the last day
28:57
of April so the 30th of April so yeah
29:00
we try and make it a lot more affordable and a lot more accessible and we want
29:03
to try and bring more people there and we want to ensure it's as busy and as
29:08
joyous and as educational as possible and like I said it's going back to the
29:12
point of it being a real show and something that people not only go to to get
29:16
a little bit of learning and a couple of nuggets but something where you think,
29:20
wow, that was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed myself.
29:22
That's important for us as well, more so than I think it ever has been.
29:26
Very cool. Very good to hear. It is tricky. I mean, some people just don't like committing that early.
29:32
They don't know what they're going to be doing then, but it's kind of, yeah.
29:36
I mean, it's good to know. STA members, yeah. I mean, if you listen to this
29:39
podcast, that's another reason why we're doing this podcast now,
29:42
just because people need reminders.
29:43
It's such a busy life. But if you listen to this, any of the 3,000 downloaders,
29:47
if you are an STA member, then you have got that till the end of the month.
29:50
You can still get your £49. Just check the STA members page or email myself
29:55
or Gary or somebody and we'll let you know what that is.
29:58
And anybody else is listening. I'm sure if you chat with your associations and
30:02
organisations, there's probably other deals and discounts out there.
30:05
Yeah. And if you call, there is. so if you get in touch with therapy show at
30:09
closerstillmedia.com you can talk if you're looking at making things like group
30:13
bookings or if you're inquiring about things like one day passes there is a
30:17
very nice american person called michaela who's part of the team and she'd be
30:21
able to help you and i've got her number here as well would you like.
30:26
At the risk of of you could say if you want just in case people do want to write it down it's 02086,
30:35
184 865 and Michaela will be able to sort you out with anything around groups
30:43
or one day passes as well.
30:45
Great, I'll make sure that goes in the show notes. So 02086 184 865 Michaela.
30:51
Yeah. A very nice American lady. Okay, fantastic. We'll make sure that goes in the show notes.
30:55
From New Hampshire in case anyone was wondering. There you go. Wow. Okay.
31:00
Far and wide. Yeah. No, a bit too much about it now.
31:04
Fantastic so the sta is going to have a stand there pretty much at the same
31:07
place at the back i think the numbers are slightly different now but we'll be
31:10
there as well anything else you can tell us about in terms of i know you want
31:14
to keep some surprises to yourself anything else which maybe could be a bombshell
31:18
or exclusive for this podcast which is going to be happening,
31:21
that's a oh wow that's a good question what have we what are you allowed to say okay.
31:28
This is how people in Marvel films must feel when they're on the Graham Norton
31:35
show or something. It's not quite as big as that.
31:39
We've got a lot more. I think we're wanting to do a lot more in terms of,
31:43
I think, going back to the experience.
31:45
So there will be a lot more networking things going on than we have had previously.
31:50
We are looking. Look out for that because we'll make a big splash with that when it does come out.
31:56
So that's going to be really exciting and
31:59
something that i know charlotte's been incredibly passionate about for a
32:02
long time about wanting to do because people have been
32:04
asking her to do more around that experience side of things everything from
32:09
having a drink to maybe even going for a run in the morning let's put it that
32:12
way so there's things like that that we're looking at and how we can schedule
32:15
in more activities and things so keep your eyes peeled for more on that the
32:21
other thing that we are doing which I guess I can,
32:23
talk about because we're a bit further on now we are going to be looking at doing more.
32:28
Discussion type sessions as well we've got a special space for that this year
32:32
and it's so we're looking at developing that at the minute and that's going
32:36
to be a lot more panel discussions and we're looking at what some of those themes
32:39
could be currently so that's what we're working with the education committee
32:42
on and the advisory board and.
32:44
But the area is also going to double up as a meet the speakers area.
32:47
So we're going to be able to probably a couple of points in each day.
32:51
Some of the speakers who are going to volunteer are going to be sat there for an hour.
32:55
A group of four of them probably at any one time. And people are going to be
32:59
able to ask them some very specific questions and get answers from them.
33:03
And they're also going to have, we're going to have a bookstore attached to it as well.
33:07
So people will be able to get more deals on books from some of those authors
33:11
who are also speaking as well.
33:13
I think what we find with Therapy Show is that sometimes people,
33:18
when they're in that audience of 300, 400 people, they might want to ask a question
33:22
and it's something that's beneficial to everyone.
33:25
But sometimes people are either too nervous to put their hand up or it might
33:29
be something incredibly specific or niche that they want to ask.
33:34
So we wanted to make sure that there's an environment for them as well to be
33:37
able to meet some of the speakers and some of them are huge names and be able
33:41
to have a little chat with them and ask their question there in a different environment as well.
33:46
So that's something we're quite excited about because we've never done that
33:48
before and it's going to give it a bit of a different feel, hopefully.
33:52
So yeah, there's going to be more activities, more panel discussions and an
33:56
opportunity to meet some of the speakers in a bit more of a slightly more intimate
34:00
environment than they've had previously.
34:03
Fantastic. Sounds good. sounds like a show that's the idea isn't it nikki's
34:07
got again we can't give away too much but there are things planned but nikki's
34:10
come up with a question here i'll read out for the podcast listener uh can you
34:13
talk about how you're making it more neurodivergent friendly this year because
34:16
i've heard promises made for the past two years but i've seen precisely another which is spanish.
34:23
Yeah what can we tell them liam what do we do well we are so there is something
34:27
that we're taking really seriously i think there's two things i think sometimes
34:30
there are things that we do and we're really bad at communicating them.
34:35
So in the past two years, we've had things like quiet rooms, for example,
34:39
But we might have only sent out one email about that. And obviously,
34:42
if you try to get across a message to people and explain to them what's happening,
34:46
you need to tell them in 500 different ways and repeat it as much as possible.
34:50
So that's one small thing that we're doing that we're going to talk more about.
34:54
But we are going to try and do, and we're working, well, I think we can say
34:57
I'm working with you, Matt, as well on how we can make things more accessible.
35:02
And I think we are looking at doing a video as well to sort of explain how things work,
35:09
you know, how things will unfold, how you can prepare for your trip and your
35:13
journey and break it down into each step.
35:15
And we're going to push that out everywhere because I think that's a big thing.
35:18
I think going back to what I said, if you're neurodivergent,
35:21
but equally, if it's your first time going, it's hugely overwhelming.
35:25
So we are going to do things like that, just about trying to send out a lot
35:29
more communication than we've ever done previously in different formats as well.
35:33
And some of it will be one of the best communicators we know,
35:36
Matt Phillips, who will be explaining some of that stuff that we've got in place
35:40
and why we're doing it as well.
35:42
So there's lots of things we're doing.
35:45
And some of the spaces where we're having the panel discussions and things like
35:50
that are going to be in quieter areas as well.
35:52
So they're slightly away from the main shore floor, so it's not going to be
35:55
quite as overstimulating and it'll be a slightly nicer environment.
36:00
So there's lots of things we're trying to look at and we're going to be shouting
36:03
about them throughout the run-up to the shore. from now onwards,
36:08
but there's going to be a lot more to come.
36:10
And we're listening to people like Matt and others in terms of what we can do
36:15
to make it as inclusive as possible.
36:17
But I think people previously had tried to do stuff, but this year we're sort
36:23
of putting our money where our mouth is and trying to make sure it's right.
36:27
And I get it. I'm looking at it from the point of view, I'm an event organizer.
36:32
And sometimes I have to remind myself that if I was in the shoes
36:35
of attendees i'm the sort of person who goes to
36:38
things like this and i do get quite overwhelmed and i do
36:40
find it quite difficult you know getting about
36:43
and doing things so i'm trying to put myself more in in my
36:46
own shoes if i was an attendee as well how i would actually find
36:49
it and if it's as easy as it could be is the layout right are we things like
36:54
the maps right we didn't have an app last year we had an event guide but we
36:57
didn't have an app so we're going to try and make sure that we have a lot more
36:59
information on the app as well so that people can understand what's happening
37:04
a lot more and it's better signposted.
37:07
I think some of it is really simple in its directional signage and being able to really.
37:11
Where they need to go in the clearest way we can because sometimes you are just
37:16
sort of wandering around thinking where where is stuff like i said we had we've
37:19
had a quiet room for the last,
37:21
two years at the show and but i don't think you know and again i don't want
37:25
to blame anyone previously i just don't think we talked about that enough and
37:29
we didn't indicate it enough i don't think it was even on the map if people
37:33
if we don't shout about it and say what we're doing.
37:36
Then it's no wonder that people come back and say to us what
37:39
are you doing so that's our a commitment that we need to talk about what we're
37:43
doing a lot more and we're going to be doing that in more interesting ways not
37:46
just an email it's going to be videos as well and it's going to be on social
37:50
media as well as as well as things on our website and elsewhere that's great
37:55
that sounds all really encouraging and it's a great question i think he makes a.
37:59
Point actually and this is something i've kind of thought for one we've
38:02
discussed i think there's no data to
38:05
support this but i think quite a large proportion of people who
38:07
work in healthcare which is often an altruistic kind
38:10
of empathic empathic kind of business model is
38:14
is probably on your divergence or maybe don't even realize they are
38:17
and if you can make it
38:20
more accessible to these people then yeah
38:23
you may well even find on a business model you'll get more
38:26
people signing up nikki has said here for example um let's
38:29
just bring this up nikki thanks for speaking this nikki nikki says the sooner you can
38:32
advertise what you're doing to help this massive proportion of the audience the more
38:35
peeps will oh just got dug up the more
38:38
people will sign up i can almost guarantee so it's
38:41
the good news is nikki as you know okay so i've got
38:44
the neurodivergent msk clinician facebook group
38:47
and we've got about nearly 200 people in there now so if you are listening
38:50
to podcast and you know and you are neurodivergent then join
38:53
up look at look it's a private group and they'll ask membership questions but if
38:56
you join up with the neurodivergent MSK
38:59
clinician group then you I'm working
39:02
very closely with Liam and the organizers and also it's a
39:05
chance for you to say what would be good for you we've had suggestions like
39:08
some people who are shorter and neurodivergent they cannot
39:11
watch a show if their feet are dangling off the.
39:14
Chair because they're like five foot one and it just really just does
39:17
their head in so we're looking into ways where we can have people
39:20
sitting on the floor sitting on a cushion just something as simple as that which
39:23
makes it totally accessible and looking at things like light and
39:26
noise and smells and just finding areas which
39:29
will reduce that sensitivity so so yeah don't worry
39:32
people out there if you are neurodivergent and
39:35
that doesn't mean you have to be diagnosed if you just identified neurodivergent
39:37
then come along to the facebook group and make your thoughts there and i will
39:41
pass them on to liam and co and we'll see what we can do you mentioned liam
39:45
you mentioned a load of good points in there the one thing i wanted before i
39:48
forget is how are you going to make an area slightly because that's a real challenge
39:51
how you can make an area slightly quieter how's that possible,
39:55
It's tough because when you've got thousands of people. Yeah.
39:58
But there is, we are looking at the map and we are finding an area that maybe isn't quite as busy.
40:05
So it's in the far sort of right corner.
40:08
And we, you know, looking at what's around it and what we can put there.
40:12
We think we can create a space that is a nicer area to do those sorts of discussions.
40:18
And it'll be a slightly more chilled space than some of the other areas as well.
40:22
So we're putting a lot into that just so that's just one thing that
40:25
we're doing okay it'll make it a bit more accessible and
40:28
enjoyable and we've got more opportunity you know more areas in little
40:31
sort of nooks and crowds i guess as well where people can network and
40:34
connect as well just sort of you know have a bit peace and quiet which
40:37
is what you know again it's just communication isn't it it's because
40:40
that's the whole thing you know if you're typical then you're not
40:43
going to realize it's a big thing that signs aren't quite pointing
40:46
the right way but so you just need somebody who will sign these
40:49
out to you and just say look this needs this doing this needs doing
40:52
and i think you're absolutely right as well that you
40:55
know across because we have events across pretty much
40:58
every area of health care you can think of and you
41:01
know these are the sort of questions we're getting asked a lot
41:03
more than we ever have previously and in terms of the content we're looking
41:07
at as well whether that's for gps people working in social care whether that's
41:11
people in secondary care pharmacists they're all asking for it so it is something
41:16
across the board that we're looking at and we're looking at what other events
41:19
that we have are doing and doing well as well.
41:21
So we're trying to make sure we're copying the good bits that other shows are doing.
41:24
So our care show, for example, has done some really good work in how it's just
41:28
tried to over-communicate some very simple stuff that we're doing.
41:33
So we want to try and learn from other people within our business as well who
41:37
are doing good so that we can make sure we're passing that knowledge on and
41:41
ensuring we do it for this community as well, for therapy show. Very cool.
41:46
The other great thing you said, which is so true and what we try and raise awareness
41:49
of is if you are keeping in mind the neurodivergent community,
41:54
then you're automatically going to provide a far more accessible kind of event
41:59
for people who may not be neurodivergent, but just first timers.
42:02
You know, it's not rocket science, you know, so it's really cool.
42:05
It's good questions, Nikki.
42:06
And Sarah's made a point here. Sarah says, agree with you, Nicky.
42:10
Actually, not sure I can make it, but if I don't have all the information,
42:14
I'm going to hold out. Then it gets too expensive, leaving it long to sign up.
42:16
Maybe we'll be able to work something out over that. Maybe if you're a member
42:19
of the MSK New Order Virgin Facebook group, we might be able to work something out. Who knows?
42:24
Because you can't give all the information out, can you, straight away?
42:28
It just can't be done like that.
42:30
There's a lot we can do, but I think it's just that it's such a massive undertaking
42:35
because it's such, you know, it's a huge space.
42:38
You know, we're talking about thousands of people. There's so many different
42:41
things that go on. I mean, I don't have to, you know, I'll be honest,
42:44
I don't have to do loads of that.
42:45
But our operations team, who are incredibly work behind the scenes every day,
42:49
they're dealing with, you know, hundreds of different contractors and suppliers
42:53
and exhibitors and everything else between and answering loads of emails and
42:58
working out how to do everything.
42:59
So it is a bit of a, you know, it is always one of those things that's a work
43:03
in progress. But, you know, I can assure everyone that, you know,
43:07
it's something we're taking seriously.
43:08
We're working closely with Matt. And obviously, because of the group that you're,
43:12
you know, sort of in charge of, we're taking advice from that as well and from
43:16
everything else we're doing.
43:17
So we should be able to share more that we're doing pretty imminently.
43:20
And I think if that's what people are telling us they want to hear from as quick
43:24
as possible, then that's something we'll, you know, we'll come away from this
43:27
and to get out certainly to the people that are on this as well.
43:32
Fantastic. Great questions. Thank you, people, for those. So we are nearing the end of the time.
43:38
I just want to make sure I get in social media accounts for people who are interested.
43:41
We've already said the website, therapyshow.co.uk.
43:44
Remember, you've got to move on now from Therapy Expo. Basically,
43:47
just change the Expo to show and you'll get to where you need to.
43:49
On Instagram, we've got Therapy Show, very simple.
43:52
On Facebook, just type in Therapy Show. So yeah, it couldn't be easier.
43:55
Just type in Therapy Show.
43:56
The only one which will catch you out if you're still using Twitter or Expo,
43:59
whatever it's called, then it is still Therapy Expo. but are people still using that?
44:04
I don't know, maybe. Probably not quite as much as they used to.
44:06
Not as much as they used to, but we just can't afford to leave it,
44:09
can we? I don't know, just in case something happens.
44:11
But anyway, so very exciting. Liam, really appreciate you giving us time to
44:15
talk about that. And it all sounds very encouraging.
44:18
I think the conclusion is just communication, people. If you've got questions, ask.
44:22
You've got lots of points of contact now where you can get questions through
44:26
to these guys. They're very acceptable. You've got myself.
44:30
Contact your organizations and associations there's lots of people
44:32
these people are working very closely with so if you let your association presenter
44:37
viewers know then they can pass it on these guys do react it's just about telling
44:41
them and getting things done so you you guys are very accessible you always
44:45
are at the end of an email even if you're if we're having a shout at you because
44:48
you don't like something you're just replying straight away so i commend you all for that,
44:52
A little shout out for Vern, I think. I had a nice chat with Vern the other day for an hour.
44:56
So if people don't know Vernon Smead, then Vern is, what's his job title?
45:01
It's still the same as previous years, is it?
45:03
Business development manager. So he works really closely with Charlotte, who's the show manager.
45:07
And they, you know, they're sort of the other key people who work on the show
45:11
and Charlotte leads the show.
45:13
And her role is to help put all this together. Not just, you know,
45:17
I look at it from the content side of things, but across the whole piece.
45:20
And they work really closely with the exhibitors as well, making sure
45:22
the right people are there in the room which hopefully they'll
45:25
they're doing again and are doing for this year as well definitely if
45:29
you're a listener and you are involved in wanting to exhibit already
45:31
exhibiting then yeah vernon speed is your man and
45:34
he's very active as well and we'll we'll um reply to any
45:37
issues you've got and we will get charlotte the one and only on the
45:40
show in the near future just so she can exude all
45:43
of that enthusiasm and passion that i know she's got which will
45:45
be amazing but we've still got eight months we've still got eight months to
45:48
go i know we're doing this so early aren't we yeah so it's everything
45:51
we're trying to do everything much much earlier so usually you would
45:54
hear anything that was going on probably till like may
45:57
time it's crazy um that and i can see
45:59
from some of the comments as well so we will be getting as
46:02
much out as we possibly can and i saw sarah's comment we
46:05
are about the hands-on hub obviously that isn't there that
46:08
was a very particular specific brand but we are with the
46:11
new interactive spaces and practical spaces i think
46:14
we're going to try and replicate as much of that experience as we possibly can
46:18
and it's going to be visually and in terms of the layout much much better as
46:23
well so that's something we've we've listened to all the feedback from previously
46:26
on things like that as well so i think that side of things you'll be really
46:29
impressed with fantastic.
46:32
Right then, the conversation about therapy show, I nearly said expo then,
46:37
is going to continue next week.
46:38
One thing that did happen in 2025 at the last, when it was therapy expo,
46:43
was a fantastic, rather monumental discussion on the stage with the STA was
46:48
on the same stage as the STO and the SST.
46:51
We had a chat about what is a sports therapist and about, what else did we talk about?
46:56
It was about standard, not standardization, about regulation.
47:00
Now the word's gone from my head now.
47:03
I think it was about things around regulation and about scope of practice,
47:08
things like that, wasn't it? Last year, I think, a little bit.
47:11
Yeah. But the main thing was we managed to get, thanks to TherapyX for providing
47:15
the space, we managed to get major stakeholders on the same stage together talking
47:20
to each other civilly, which was amazing because it is very difficult when you've
47:22
got such big players in this unregulated industry.
47:26
And so next week we're going to meet up again because we want to continue
47:29
that collaboration we're going to talk about how things
47:32
have changed if they have since we met in november at
47:35
the end of november last year we're going to talk about potentially any meetups we
47:38
could do this year as well to keep the collaboration going and just
47:41
talk about the future of sports therapy and basically
47:44
non-allied health professionals and that'll be next week
47:47
and we'll be talking about information which liam's kindly shared today and things
47:50
that will be going on at therapy show this november so
47:54
if you are listening to the podcast and you want to continue this conversation you've got
47:56
some comments then do join us live and next
48:00
tuesday which will be the 24th
48:03
at eight o'clock on either the sports therapy association youtube channel or
48:07
on facebook but for now i'll just say thank you once again to liam richardson
48:13
and content manager for therapy show thank you so much liam for joining us thank
48:17
you very much cheers matt thank you everyone and thank you everyone who joined
48:21
us live and asked your questions.
48:22
And thank you everyone listening to the podcast. If you have listened to the
48:25
podcast, if you enjoyed it and you found it informative, then do please leave a rating and a review.
48:28
It just helps the good word of our guests get out there on Google Hire.
48:32
But for now, thank you very much. Take care of yourselves and take care of each
48:36
other. We'll see you very soon.