Comedy International Conference asks for promoters to declare interest

The organisers of the Comedy International Conference & Showcase are asking live comedy promoters, agents and other interesting parties to declare whether they'd be interested in attending a conference pencilled for February 2020.

To date, there have been eight Comedy International Conference events. The last was in 2017. Traditionally held in London, the conference aims to bring together comedy promoters from around the world, to discuss industry topics, network and make plans.

The organisers are now working out if there'd be enough interest in a 9th event. In an email to their mailing list, they explained: "After taking a break in 2018 we would like to update you on the next Comedy International Conference & Showcase. We are planning a slight change in format, to include more UK comedy industry and are also looking at a new date, ideally early February 2020.

"It is important for us to know what you want, to make sure we produce an event that is relevant and valuable to those attending. Please let us know if you intend to attend by completing the survey on the registration page of our website comedyinternational.org before May 2019."

Citing examples of promoters who have set up successful tours and festivals around Europe after attending the conference, the organisers add: "We feel that we have reached part of our goals by offering international promoters who were relatively new to booking international comedians a platform and a chance to build a network and contacts with the UK Comedy Industry. CIC played a small step in the huge development of the international live Comedy market but the results are enormous.

"There is much more to do and discuss in addition to the development of the international live comedy market. Those who attended the 2017 conference will surely remember how the 15 minute keynote Looking after the industry, An Introduction to Mental Health in Comedy by Louise Grainger from Equity / ArtsMinds.co.uk turned into a 45 minute open discussion about the need for support of mental health challenges for everyone in this industry.

"This alone would be a valid reason to continue with the Comedy International Conference on an annual basis, add to that the requests for bringing more panels about 360 talent management, TV and radio into the mix and we have plenty to discuss. However, we do need your support and input on the event to make this happen so please fill out this 5 minute survey today to help us decide how to continue."

More details about the conference can be found on comedyinternational.org. Those wishing to express an interest in attending the next conference, and/or to provide feedback to the organisers on the shape the conference should take, are asked to promptly fill in the survey