Attending as this year’s keynote speaker at the Institute’s largest, free UK hospitality careers exhibition and conference for students, graduates and apprentices, his motivational and inspiring message, which was also streamed live on the Institute’s LinkedIn account was simple; Go for it.
Ranked as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People with a Disability, Aaron won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for Wheelchair rugby and was the First Disabled Person to Scale Mount Kilimanjaro Unassisted on his hands and knees and has raised over £250K for charity.
This year P4H ended with record numbers attending; over 500 attendees arrived from all over the UK and overseas, with 9 coachloads arriving thanks to IoH funding secured from The Savoy Educational Trust.
Opening and closing the day, IoH CEO Robert Richardson FIH MI said: “It has been an incredible day, full of interactive events, over 50 career exhibitors and our largest audience of young people to date.
He continued: “Students, apprentices and graduates are the future of this incredible industry, and it is our privilege, at the Institute, to help support and inspire them as they start and pursue a hospitality travel or tourism career. Thanks to Aaron, members of our IoH Youth Council and all those who assisted with our workshops and presentations today, it has been an incredible day of inspiration and learning. To see so many young people having fun and leaving so motivated is a testament to everyone involved.”
Best Student Paper winner
For the first time, P4H was on the hunt to find the Best Student Paper sponsored by Preferred Hotels. Open to all hospitality students, the inaugural award winner was Omar Kaysoon, who received his prize on stage from IoH CEO Robert Richardson FIH MI, Howard Field FIH from the Savoy Educational Trust, Lorna Wang SFHEA, FIH, FHOSPA, Co-Director, Centre for Research on Ageing and Generations at Surrey University and Rachel Louis, Commercial, Sales and Marketing Specialist at Preferred Hotels & Resorts. The runner-up was Aryan Dularamini and the shortlisted finalists were Zhicong Ding and Britney Ossentjuk.
A copy of the winning paper will be published in the Institute of Hospitality’s Magazine in 2024.
HOTS game-winner
The popular and demanding HOTS (Hotel, Operations, Tactics and Strategy) Business Game was a hard-fought competition again this year. Organised and run by Peter Russell FIH ISHC, COO & CTO at Russell Partnership Technology the winners for 2023 were Cardiff Metropolitan University (Team 1), in 2nd place were NHL Stenden and in 3rd place were Greenwich University.
Educational membership
Since P4H was launched in 2011 it has welcomed 1000s of young, talented hospitality students, apprentices and graduates from universities and colleges from across the world.
All as part of the Institute’s Educational Membership Scheme, the IoH has over 5000 students and apprentices in membership, helping to bridge the gap between education and work through events, online CPD resources, mentoring and tools that assist lifelong learning.
Sarah Peters FIH IoH Head of Events and Head of Commercial commented: “Every year, P4H gets better and better, partly because we listen to the attendees and act on their suggestions and ideas. This makes P4H a very agile and exciting event, and one which we are immensely proud of. I am delighted that this year’s programme of employment workshops, job talks, interview practice, and CV surgery which made the event tremendously enjoyable for all involved.
“Along with Aaron’s incredible contribution, our amazing speakers and a careers exhibition second to none, I feel we achieved our aim by helping to instil a passion for the hospitality industry and a wealth of invaluable lifelong connections,” she said.
A huge thank you to all our supporters and sponsors who are fundamental in allowing us to deliver P4H, alongside many other events and activities; Novotel London West, The Savoy Educational Trust, IPW1, CHME, BELU and Preferred Hotels and Resorts.
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