SU Marketing Conference 2026
Programme
Welcome
We're delighted to welcome delegates from students' unions across the country for two days of ideas, insight, connection and collaboration. This conference is a chance to step away from the day to day, share what's working, explore the challenges we're facing, and celebrate the creativity and impact of comms and marketing teams across our movement.
Over the course of the programme, we hope you'll find plenty to inspire you, from practical sessions and fresh thinking to meaningful conversations with peers who understand the opportunities and pressures of working in student engagement.
A huge thank you to everyone who will be travelling to be here, to our speakers and contributors, and to all those who have helped bring this event together. We're so pleased to have you with us, and we hope you leave feeling energised, connected and full of ideas to take back to your own unions.
Enjoy the conference.
Hannah Mason, Director of Membership Voice
University of Lancashire Students' Union
Schedule
8:30
Breakfast
9:30
Registration
10:00
Welcome & Plenary Speaker
10:45
Break · 10 mins
10:55
Workshops · 10:55 – 11:35
Advocating for students: how do SUs market their students?
Steph Lomas, Iain Simpson, Marie Coombs
Insight and Influence Manager, Researchers
University of Lancashire SU
Flintoff Room
Your job is marketing, but the SU is there to make life better for students - so how do the two align and why should they? In this session, we will explore how you can advocate for your students through sharing their experiences and lives. Not only to make student lives better, but to support your organisation's strategic plans in a time of competing sector challenges. By looking at each stage of the process, from building initial trust through to advocating for change with students and for students, this session will explore practical ways to support student communities. This includes using marketing to communicate student experiences to different stakeholders, including the University, community and industry partners, sector stakeholders, and students themselves.
Brands are for life, not just freshers
Priya Gill & Ian Pain
Partnerships Manager & Consultant
Birmingham City SU & ID Compass
Park Room
This session explores building long-term partnerships with brands beyond Freshers, creating opportunities to generate income all year round through in-person engagement and strengthening partnerships internally. There will be open discussions around the challenges of selling, engagement, and working with the university, along with insights from ID Compass into how brands want to connect with students.
Building the case for change
Susie Palmer-Trew
Lampworks
Some days you just need a hand to get started, to take an idea and make it happen. So that’s what we'll do. This session will give you time to reflect, make plans and try out a few tools and ideas that will help you form your ideas, test your thinking and make the case for change. It’s perfect if you want to create change, are in the early stages of planning or getting stuff done.
From safe to spicy: rebranding student elections
Zuzana Irategeka
Interim Communications & Marketing Manager
Middlesex University's Students' Union
53° Club
This session breaks down how MDXSU redesigned its elections marketing strategy using bold and disruptive creative direction to transform how students engage with leadership, nominations, and voting.
Through the hot-themed campaign, we will explore how creative risk, strong narrative design, and strategic messaging ladders helped cut through noise, spark curiosity, and drive genuine student engagement. The session will cover:
Through the hot-themed campaign, we will explore how creative risk, strong narrative design, and strategic messaging ladders helped cut through noise, spark curiosity, and drive genuine student engagement. The session will cover:
- How to push creative boundaries safely
- How to justify bold campaigns to senior leadership
- How to manage risk, reputation, and tone in student-facing marketing
11:35
Break · 20 mins
11:55
Workshops · 11:55 – 12:35
Change comms that stick: a marketing approach to shifting student mindsets
Emma Bayes
Communications Manager
Exeter Students' Guild
53° Club
Let’s be real: big change is messy, especially when it's something students really care about. This workshop-style session explores how we communicated an overhaul of our representation model – the good, the bad and what we learned along the way.
You’ll leave with practical strategies to use in your own union, whether you're rethinking your democracy, launching a new service, or just managing a sensitive shift - even when the message is a hard sell.
You’ll leave with practical strategies to use in your own union, whether you're rethinking your democracy, launching a new service, or just managing a sensitive shift - even when the message is a hard sell.
Better conversations, better campaigns: collaborative communication for SU marketing
Sarah Ellis
Senior People & Development Consultant
Atkinson HR
Park Room
This session focuses on the communication skills usually used by leaders, that help marketers influence without authority, secure buy-in, and work more effectively with stakeholders. It's an adaptation of 'Collaborative Communication' training that has been delivered to leadership teams across the UK.
Insight to Income: Student Engagement to Sustainable Revenue
Paul Parkes & Nadine Mullan
UniStreet
Lampworks
This session introduces Rewards and how it helps students' unions strengthen engagement with their students while delivering relevant discounts and communications through a single platform.
We'll walk through how it supports increased student interaction, improves visibility of campaigns and activity, and creates an additional revenue stream for unions in a simple, managed way.
We'll walk through how it supports increased student interaction, improves visibility of campaigns and activity, and creates an additional revenue stream for unions in a simple, managed way.
Making a difference with EDI
Raveena Francis
Associate
Make Diversity Count
Flintoff Room
Inclusive practice is an essential part of how we make a difference. It is not extra work, sidelined to that one passionate employee. It needs to be embedded across departments, and marketing is not exempt. This session explores why inclusive practice matters in marketing, what gets in the way of embedding it, and how to apply it to your projects. You’ll get started on your plan for Black History Month, and reflect on how racism manifests to prevent cultural attunement. To wrap up, I’ll show you a few aspects we look at when your work goes under the microscope in an EDI review.
12:35
Break · 10 mins
12:45
Discussion Groups · 12:45 – 1:25
Social Media
Discussion group
53° Club
Web
Discussion group
Flintoff Room
Senior Managers
Discussion group
Lampworks
Design
Discussion group
Park Room
1:25
Lunch
2:35
Panel & Q&A · 2:35 – 3:20
University and SU: Making Partnership Work
Lance Plachciak, Hannah Mason, Louise Finch & Jennie Marsden
University of Lancashire SU & University of Lancashire
53° Venue
Partnership between the University and Students' Union can be key to delivering the best student experience. Both bring distinct strengths in engaging students, and while priorities or perspectives may sometimes differ, the shared commitment to students creates huge potential for collaboration.
This panel and Q&A will explore how the University and SU can work together effectively, honestly and constructively to make partnership work in practice.
This panel and Q&A will explore how the University and SU can work together effectively, honestly and constructively to make partnership work in practice.
3:20
Break · 10 mins
3:30
Workshops · 3:30 – 4:10
How to talk about real student problems without torching your uni relationship
Jim Dickinson
Associate Editor
Wonkhe
53° Club
Most SU comms defaults to "wins and work" – what the SU has achieved – rather than "people and issues" content about what's happening to students, because going negative feels like biting the hand that feeds you. "Positively pushy" is the alternative – using social proof, public commitments and hero-framing to generate real pressure for change while keeping (and often improving) your university relationship. We'll look at examples from SUs, local politicians and European student organisations, then workshop how to apply these techniques to your own campaigns.
Student content creators
Bettie Sodipo & Izzy Sfakianakis
Marketing and Communications Manager and Communications Co-ordinator
Brighton Students' Union
Park Room
This session explores how to hire, manage, and get the most out of student content creators. We will look at the benefits they bring to your marketing team, how to work alongside them to create authentic, student-focused content, and the practical side of managing the relationship from recruitment through to day-to-day collaboration.
Canva culture: building design systems that power collaboration
Luke Fitzgerald & Joel Fletcher
Lead Community Organiser (Identity) & Senior Brand Co-ordinator
University of Lancashire Students' Union
Flintoff Room
When designers get overwhelmed with work, it’s not just the comms team that feels the strain. In our case, all artwork, big and small, was delivered by comms, leaving designers overcommitted and forced to prioritise the biggest jobs. As a result, small briefs fell through the cracks, and colleagues who needed support were left feeling frustrated and unheard.
In this session, we’ll unpack how we transformed an exhausting workflow into a creative partnership. You’ll hear both sides of the story, presented by Joel (comms) and Luke (not comms). We’ll share how we rebuilt trust between teams and put design tools in the hands of colleagues. As the title suggests, Canva is at the heart of our solution. We’ll show you how we get the most from it, sharing all our tips and tricks. This is underpinned by our brand kit, our in-house design system that was the key to simplifying our visual identity, so colleagues could build artwork with confidence.
You can expect:
* Live demos walking you through our creative workflow.
* Insights on how we built a brand kit fit for the future that ensures consistency across multiple applications.
* Our secrets for making (nearly) unbreakable templates in Canva.
Hope to see you there!
In this session, we’ll unpack how we transformed an exhausting workflow into a creative partnership. You’ll hear both sides of the story, presented by Joel (comms) and Luke (not comms). We’ll share how we rebuilt trust between teams and put design tools in the hands of colleagues. As the title suggests, Canva is at the heart of our solution. We’ll show you how we get the most from it, sharing all our tips and tricks. This is underpinned by our brand kit, our in-house design system that was the key to simplifying our visual identity, so colleagues could build artwork with confidence.
You can expect:
* Live demos walking you through our creative workflow.
* Insights on how we built a brand kit fit for the future that ensures consistency across multiple applications.
* Our secrets for making (nearly) unbreakable templates in Canva.
Hope to see you there!
Lessons learned creating six brands in one year!
Sarah Stirton-Andrew
Head of Marketing & Communications
Edinburgh University Students' Association
Lampworks
This session will cover the process of commissioning, creating and rolling out new brands under your SU banner... or not! Food for thought on brands, when to use them and how to create them.
4:10
Break · 10 mins
4:20
Workshops · 4:20 – 5:00
What would Martin Lewis do with your SU's Instagram?
Jim Dickinson
Associate Editor (SUs)
Wonkhe
53° Club
OfS research shows half of students can't describe their rights and 42 per cent would look to their SU for help – but when we audited SU social media, less than 1 per cent of posts were about student rights. Martin Lewis (a former SU sabb) makes people feel powerful through repeatable content techniques any comms team can steal. This session will break them down and rework your content so it builds student power rather than just offering help.
Housing, accommodation and SUs - how to navigate partnerships with halls, PBSAs and accommodation platforms, to benefit students and to create income opportunities
Charlie Pearson, Laura Walker & Lloyd Cowburn
Media Sales Consultant
AMMA Media & PAD Group
Park Room
This session explores accommodation partnerships and how SUs can navigate them more effectively. Drawing on conversations with multiple SUs over the past 12 months, we will look at how others are working with accommodation providers, both exclusively and non-exclusively, the restrictions and risks involved, the opportunities available, what students actually want, and what accommodation platforms are out there. A useful session for anyone looking to better understand this space and learn from how others are approaching it.
From boredom to beandom: how we nearly doubled our survey participation record
Emma Winetrobe, Harriet Bradley, Barbara Simones De Almeida
Strategic Insight Coordinator, Social Media Coordinator, Creative Content Coordinator
University of Westminster Students' Union
Lampworks
Through the lens of their big student surveys, Westminster Students’ Union spill the beans on how they’ve used creativity and adaptability to gain higher engagement. Learn from both Insight and Communications perspectives on how they smashed survey participation records and how surveys don’t have to be boring.
From blank canvas to campaign: integrating AI into a freshers key visual without losing creative control
Precious Okorie
Graphic/Motion Designer
Kingston Students' Union
Flintoff Room
Freshers campaigns demand bold visuals, rapid turnaround, and the ability to respond quickly to stakeholder feedback. In this session, I will share how AI tools were integrated into the design process for the Kingston Freshers key visual, while maintaining full creative direction and brand control.
Rather than presenting AI as a shortcut, this session focuses on how it supported structured ideation, accelerated visual exploration, and helped test multiple creative directions before committing to final artwork. Attendees will see how early concepts were developed, refined, and translated into production-ready visuals within real campaign timelines.
The session will also highlight where traditional design skills remained essential, where AI added genuine value, and how creative teams can introduce AI into their workflow without sacrificing originality or visual consistency.
This is a practical case study designed to help Students' Union marketing and design teams use AI responsibly and strategically within real campaign environments.
Rather than presenting AI as a shortcut, this session focuses on how it supported structured ideation, accelerated visual exploration, and helped test multiple creative directions before committing to final artwork. Attendees will see how early concepts were developed, refined, and translated into production-ready visuals within real campaign timelines.
The session will also highlight where traditional design skills remained essential, where AI added genuine value, and how creative teams can introduce AI into their workflow without sacrificing originality or visual consistency.
This is a practical case study designed to help Students' Union marketing and design teams use AI responsibly and strategically within real campaign environments.
5:30
Evening Social
8:30
Breakfast
9:30
Registration
10:00
Welcome & Plenary Speakers
10:45
Break · 10 mins
10:55
Workshops · 10:55 – 11:35
Waving your magic wand: building a social strategy that lasts
Alex Jones
Marketing and Communications Manager
Liverpool Guild of Students
Flintoff Room
This session will try to dispel the rumour that creating successful social content is just waving a magic wand, and instead show how it comes from building and implementing a social strategy that lasts beyond team members and can be adapted to changes in the social landscape. It will cover:
- Choosing channels carefully
- Creating a brand tone of voice for social
- How to plan effectively
- Putting the fun back into social and content creation
- Success on Guild channels
Creative storytelling and the dichotomy of visual content
Jonah Willitts
Graduate Content Producer for Student Experience
University of Manchester Students' Union
Lampworks
This session explores the importance of two types of storytelling in accessing a uniquely segmented audience that SUs have.
It digs into the gap between relatable and highly produced content and how it is possible and essential to tap into both. Busting myths of both, explaining how high-quality content can be created on time and finance budgets, and why relatable down-to-earth content stories are actually more challenging than they might originally seem.
It digs into the gap between relatable and highly produced content and how it is possible and essential to tap into both. Busting myths of both, explaining how high-quality content can be created on time and finance budgets, and why relatable down-to-earth content stories are actually more challenging than they might originally seem.
What students think: using student insight to power SU communications
Joe Atkinson
Digital Campaigns Lead
NUS
53° Club
SUs collect valuable insight that can be used to power local and national campaigns that win. This interactive session explores how shared data and national insight from NUS's What Students Think platform can strengthen communications, campaigns and strategy across the sector. We’ll look at what students are telling us at a UK-wide level, how benchmarking and shared evidence can sharpen local messaging, and how SUs can collaborate more effectively around insight.
Leading people, not just projects
Hannah Mason
Director of Membership Voice
University of Lancashire Students' Union
Park Room
As communications professionals, we are often recognised and promoted for our ability to deliver campaigns, content, strategies, and results. But leadership requires a shift: from managing work to leading people, and from outputs to impact.
This session draws on my experience of a Students’ Union from multiple perspectives. Having lived the organisation as a student, a member/customer, elected officer, comms professional, and a senior leader, this session reflects on how proximity to students and frontline work can shape compassionate, effective leadership.
As responsibility increases, it becomes easier to feel distanced from both teams and members. This session explores how communications skills listening, empathy, and clarity can be used as leadership tools to motivate others, communicate through change, and support people to succeed without losing accountability or direction.
I'll talk through compassionate leadership in practice - developing others, letting go of “doing”, and bringing people with you rather than managing them from a distance.
This session draws on my experience of a Students’ Union from multiple perspectives. Having lived the organisation as a student, a member/customer, elected officer, comms professional, and a senior leader, this session reflects on how proximity to students and frontline work can shape compassionate, effective leadership.
As responsibility increases, it becomes easier to feel distanced from both teams and members. This session explores how communications skills listening, empathy, and clarity can be used as leadership tools to motivate others, communicate through change, and support people to succeed without losing accountability or direction.
I'll talk through compassionate leadership in practice - developing others, letting go of “doing”, and bringing people with you rather than managing them from a distance.
11:35
Break · 20 mins
11:55
Workshops · 11:55 – 12:35
Selling without the sell: balancing soft and hard content on students' union commercial Instagram
Elisa Amelia
Graduate Content Producer - Social Enterprise
University of Manchester Students' Union
Flintoff Room
This session explores practical strategies for balancing soft-selling and hard-selling content on Students' Union commercial Instagram accounts. Drawing on experience managing a corporate-style university social media presence within a Careers Service, and transitioning into overseeing Students' Union commercial outlets, the talk will examine how audience expectations differ between institutional and commercial contexts. The session will focus on the reality of managing a commercial channel where content needs can range from promoting events and LT+ (License Trading Plus) to showcasing in-house offers, while still maintaining a fun and relatable presence that student audiences are drawn to. It will explore how promotional messaging can be integrated into lighter, more entertaining content, and how this balance can support both audience engagement and commercial goals. Designed for Students' Union staff and marketers, this session will be particularly valuable for those responsible for commercial social media channels and looking to develop more intentional, audience-aware promotional strategies.
Engage your members with the 7 basic plots of storytelling
Simon Fairbanks
Head of Community Engagement
UniTasterDays
Lampworks
Stories are like a magic lamp. They have the power to make our wishes come true. A strong narrative can inspire our members to do anything: engage, attend, purchase, volunteer, vote, stand, campaign. We need compelling stories. But where do we start? Why not start with the basics? Every memorable story follows one of the 7 basic plots of storytelling: 1. Overcoming the monster 2. Rags to riches 3. The quest 4. Voyage and return 5. Comedy 6. Tragedy 7. Rebirth By understanding and embracing these 7 plots, we can craft stories that will excite, engage, and enlist our members (and our other audiences too).
Joined-up by design: reconnecting platforms, campaigns & the student experience
Gary Bryant & Ruby-Mae Wellman
MSL
53° Club
Many Students' Unions run effective campaigns across email, events and websites, but often through platforms that don't easily work together. This session explores what it means to design engagement joined-up by default: reconnecting platforms, data and decisions around the student experience. We will look at how a more integrated approach helps activity feel coherent, timely and relevant, for an enhanced student experience.
CIM: let's discuss
Sarah Stirton-Andrew
Head of Marketing & Communications
Edinburgh University Students' Association
Park Room
Having recently completed the CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional and Digital Marketing, with chartered status expected in early 2027, Sarah offers a candid look at the process, whether it's worth it, what's involved, and how it applies to working in SU comms and marketing.
12:35
Break · 10 mins
12:45
Workshops · 12:45 – 1:25
Who? Why? From Where? A non-techie's guide to tracking tech for comms & marketing
Jasper Hegarty-Ditton
Lead Consultant
Get Jasper Ltd
Flintoff Room
You don't need to be a developer to understand where your audience is coming from and what's actually working. This session cuts through the jargon and gives you a practical, non-techie introduction to tracking your online marketing effort across websites, email campaigns, social media and paid advertising. You'll pick up straightforward tips for getting more out of your website, learn how to use campaign tracking to measure what matters, and walk away with a handful of free digital tools you can start using straight away.
Creating simple comms plans simply
Ben Capper
Lead Consultant
Grey Fox
Lampworks
This session will teach you how to create a comms plan for any initiative, from a full organisational comms strategy right down to a quick campaign plan.
Insight to Income: Student Engagement to Sustainable Revenue
Paul Parkes & Nadine Mullan
UniStreet
53° Club
This session introduces Rewards and how it helps students' unions strengthen engagement with their students while delivering relevant discounts and communications through a single platform.
We'll walk through how it supports increased student interaction, improves visibility of campaigns and activity, and creates an additional revenue stream for unions in a simple, managed way.
We'll walk through how it supports increased student interaction, improves visibility of campaigns and activity, and creates an additional revenue stream for unions in a simple, managed way.
Wellbeing at work: how to protect your health and happiness during your busy seasons ❤️
Simon Fairbanks
Head of Community Engagement
UniTasterDays
Park Room
SU marketers are in high demand. Meeting with SU officers, presenting to senior leadership, creating and coordinating communications, hosting welcome week events, keeping a watchful eye on the website... And sometimes everything comes at once. It’s a lot. It’s no wonder we are vulnerable to illness, fatigue, burnout. Yet we must keep bringing our best selves to engage, inspire, and inform our members, our trustees, and our stakeholders. So, how can we protect our wellbeing? How can we remain upbeat, uplifted, and upstanding throughout our busy seasons? Take a breath. This session is here to help. You will gain valuable and actionable wellbeing advice based on the four pillars of health: sleep, food, movement, and mind. You will leave with new strategies to help you stay healthy and happy whenever you have an overwhelming SU marketing schedule.
1:25
Lunch
2:35
Workshops · 2:35 – 3:20
Speaking up in difficult times: supporting students through global events
Lance Plachciak
University of Lancashire SU
Flintoff Room
With large and diverse student communities, global events are rarely distant. At any time, something happening elsewhere in the world may be directly affecting your students, and your SU may be expected to respond. This session focuses on the basics: responding quickly, communicating clearly, and making sure students know where to access support. We will explore real examples and share practical tools to help you create clear communications when it matters most.
Understanding insights
Alex Bone
Marketing and Strategy Consultant
Freelance
53° Club
This session builds on previous work Alex has delivered exploring the role of insights in students' unions. This session will look at why insights are important and how they can help unions create value for both their members and the university.
In case of emergency break glass
Emma Pethybridge
Marketing Consultant
Freelance, previous experience at Bristol SU, Roehampton SU and University of Gloucestershire SU
Park Room
A practical, no-nonsense session for marketing teams navigating unexpected staff illness, sudden departures, or burnout at critical moments.
This session covers how to structure accessible team files, build transparent project plans, and reduce single points of failure before crisis hits. Attendees will learn what to do in the first few hours and days when someone goes off sick mid-campaign, how to prioritise under pressure, and how to line up and brief freelance or consultant support quickly and effectively.
The session is designed to provide clear crisis plans that help to alleviate pressure when there are last-minute impacts to team resource, but the SU wheels keep turning.
Attendees will leave with practical templates, checklists, and planning tools they can implement immediately.
This session covers how to structure accessible team files, build transparent project plans, and reduce single points of failure before crisis hits. Attendees will learn what to do in the first few hours and days when someone goes off sick mid-campaign, how to prioritise under pressure, and how to line up and brief freelance or consultant support quickly and effectively.
The session is designed to provide clear crisis plans that help to alleviate pressure when there are last-minute impacts to team resource, but the SU wheels keep turning.
Attendees will leave with practical templates, checklists, and planning tools they can implement immediately.
Fail Club
Jo Walters
Comms & Marketing Freelancer
25 Dots
Lampworks
At conferences like this it's easy to think everyone is always doing amazing things and yes they often are, but we all miss the mark, launch things that don't quite work or just make mistakes. Fail Club is a chance for people to share the things they've done that didn't work and get (literal) applause, plus a chance to share what they learned from their failure.
If we never fail, we might not be trying enough cool things, right? This was a very wholesome and uplifting session last year so we're excited to bring it back. Let's learn from each other's mistakes to get better at our jobs and to be reminded it's fine to get things wrong from time to time.
If we never fail, we might not be trying enough cool things, right? This was a very wholesome and uplifting session last year so we're excited to bring it back. Let's learn from each other's mistakes to get better at our jobs and to be reminded it's fine to get things wrong from time to time.
3:20
Break · 15 mins
3:35
Workshops · 3:35 – 4:10
Scrolling with intention: how to actually research TikTok trends
Beth Evans
Marketing Lead - Social Enterprise
University of Manchester Students' Union
53° Club
This session will explore practical approaches to researching and understanding social media trends, with a primary focus on TikTok and transferable insights for platforms such as Instagram. Drawing on professional experience at UMSU, as well as previous work managing social media for Hay Festival, the talk will demonstrate how to use these platforms strategically to reach and engage a target audience, even when you’re not part of that audience yourself. Designed for Students' Union staff and marketers, this session will be particularly valuable for those navigating the challenge of connecting with current students in an environment where trends evolve rapidly and expectations shift quickly.
More than a website: using your membership platform to drive better engagement
Ian Pain
ID Compass / Rubric
Flintoff Room
In our conversations with Students' Unions, the terms website and membership platform often get used interchangeably, but they should be far more than just static content pages.
Join Ian Pain from ID Compass, who oversees Rubric's UK growth, to explore how to transform your digital presence into a powerful engine for student engagement. This session will look at how to connect your marketing strategy and digital tools to unlock better data insights and deliver a more personalised experience for your membership.
Join Ian Pain from ID Compass, who oversees Rubric's UK growth, to explore how to transform your digital presence into a powerful engine for student engagement. This session will look at how to connect your marketing strategy and digital tools to unlock better data insights and deliver a more personalised experience for your membership.
I became the manager, now what? A Gen Z perspective
Sakshi Pandit
Marketing and Communications Manager
Kingston Students' Union
Park Room
I thought becoming a manager meant finally having answers. Instead, it meant learning how to ask better questions, out loud, in real time. The first time someone said, ‘I’ll wait for you to decide,’ I realised I wasn’t pretending to be a manager anymore, I was one.
This talk explores the experiences of being a Gen Z manager, highlighting moments of uncertainty, growth, and stepping out of the self-doubt box.
From managing former peers to navigating difficult conversations, it will add a spotlight on honest, real-time tips on leadership, teamwork, and still be able to bring your spark to work each day.
The talk will also encourage attendees to share their experiences and thoughts. The talk aims to resonate with current challenges of being a Gen Z manager, whilst feeling empowered and encouraged to make mistakes, learn each day, and find self-confidence in the role.
This talk explores the experiences of being a Gen Z manager, highlighting moments of uncertainty, growth, and stepping out of the self-doubt box.
From managing former peers to navigating difficult conversations, it will add a spotlight on honest, real-time tips on leadership, teamwork, and still be able to bring your spark to work each day.
The talk will also encourage attendees to share their experiences and thoughts. The talk aims to resonate with current challenges of being a Gen Z manager, whilst feeling empowered and encouraged to make mistakes, learn each day, and find self-confidence in the role.
Why don’t you like me? How can we address our own internal reputation
Jo Walters
Comms & Marketing Freelancer
25 Dots
Lampworks
It’s ironic that the department responsible for managing the union’s external reputation can often have a poor reputation internally. Even the loveliest colleagues might sometimes feel frustrated that their project isn’t getting the attention or airtime they’d like. We’ll look at how issues like workloads, internal politics, strategy and a lack of understanding of how communications and marketing work might lead to this and what we can do to address them. Come with problems, ideas, and grumbles. Leave with solutions and solidarity!
4:10
Break · 10 mins
4:20
Networking
How to Find Us
Here's everything you need to know about getting to us, parking, and finding your way around Preston.
Parking
If you're driving to the conference, you'll need a parking permit for Fylde Car Park, which is the nearest one to the venue. Drop us an email and we'll get one sorted for you.
Request a PermitExploring Preston
Students’ Union
Conference venue
SpudBros at Flag Market
Day 2 plenary speakers
Preston Rail Station
Around 10 minutes walk to venue
Fylde Car Park
Nearest parking to venue
Premier Inn
Hotel
Holiday Inn
Hotel
Travelodge
Hotel
Harris Museum
Free museum and gallery
Miller Park
Riverside park and gardens
Animate
Cinema, bowling and bars
Avenham Park
Riverside park and Japanese Garden
Winckley Square
Historic Georgian park
Preston Markets
Fresh food and independent stalls
Level
Multi-entertainment complex
Menu
Food and drink across both days of the conference. Allergens are listed against each dish — please speak to a member of the conference team about any dietary requirements.
Sponsors
A huge thank you to our sponsors for making the SU Marketing Conference 2026 possible. Make sure you come and meet them at their respective stands during the conference. They'd love to chat about how they can support your students' union.
UniStreet
UniStreet helps students' unions stay in control of their knowledge and grow new revenue streams. Their platforms include Connect, which brings all union data into one place to protect institutional knowledge, and Rewards, a fully managed student discount platform that generates income and student engagement.
Visit WebsiteMSL
At Membership Solutions Limited (MSL), they provide an all-in-one platform for student life, bringing together all the tools your student organisation needs to thrive into one easy-to-use place.
Visit WebsiteImpamark
Impamark is an award-winning, family-run business with more than 55 years of experience supplying high-quality branded merchandise. They have built long-standing partnerships with universities, students' unions, and student organisations across the UK.
Visit WebsiteRubric
Rubric is a comprehensive membership and engagement platform designed to simplify administration and enhance student life across campuses. With over 100 student organisations globally, Rubric is now expanding into the UK.
Visit WebsiteID Compass
ID Compass provide specialist consultancy and training dedicated to supporting Students’ Unions to thrive within the UK higher education landscape. Founded by sector experts, they combine deep operational insight with commercial and strategic expertise to help unions strengthen engagement, streamline operations and unlock opportunities for sustainable growth.
Visit WebsiteRed Oak University Wear
Red Oak University Wear is a family-run business established in 1989, with over 30 years' experience providing plain, printed and embroidered uniforms, workwear and promotional clothing. Their extensive range covers all your university needs, whether you're building a sense of community, demonstrating club, halls, team or society membership, or simply after an end-of-year leavers hoodie.
Visit WebsiteVenue Map
An overview of key locations at our Students' Union. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan.
Key Locations
1
Atrium
Registration area and luggage check-in
2
Flintoff Room
Session space
3
Quiet Room
A quiet space to take a break
4
Park Room
Session space
5
Café
Starbucks
6
Lampworks
Session space, bar, karaoke and evening entertainment
7
53° Club
Session space
8
53° Venue
Session space and evening dinner
9
Prayer Room
Prayer and reflection space
⬆
Lift
Two lifts available across the building
Join the conference attendee WhatsApp group
Chat to other attendees in the conference WhatsApp group and join groups for union comms and marketing, insight, and design people.
Sign upPreston Trivia
Think you've done your research on Preston? Put your knowledge to the test with this quick-fire quiz.
Fidget
Need a brain break? Pop away.
Host the 2027 Marketing Conference
The Marketing Conference is hosted by a different union each year and is looking for 2027 hosts. The event is flexible and can be shaped by the host union.
Find out more about hosting and how to submit a bid