CBI Conference 2012

Yesterday, for the second year running, I was lucky to be able to attend the annual CBI Conference at the Grosvenor House Hotel as a guest of Harvey Nash. It’s a curious affair, a million miles away from the sorts of events I more usually attend these days, but gives me my annual excuse to wear a suit and tie in lieu of any weddings this year.

The setup is a bit peculiar as, whilst ostensibly it’s a gathering of business people together to listen to ideas from others, it’s one of those events where politicians can make announcements that will get significant press coverage, almost an extension of parliament without any of that nasty process or accountability getting in the way. I find it a little odd that many business leaders and politicians spend so much energy saying how enterprise is the answer to our society’s woes, and yet most of the conference consists of those business leaders listening to the politicians.

As a result, the event, whilst interesting, tends to feel quite scripted, and in the case of Messrs Cameron, Miliband and Cable yesterday  everything they were saying was heavily trailed through PR channels in advance. The only moment that felt particularly “live” was when, shortly after the PM had concluded his address by comparing our current economic situation to Hitler, the German Ambassador stood up to ask a question… I wasn’t the only one wondering where his query was going to go…

Political speech-giving doesn’t seen to have changed that much since I first watched politicians speaking at events organised for A Level politics students at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. Tony Benn and the rest were maybe a little more static behind lecterns in the late 80s, and todays politicians have obviously between coached in delivery and body language, but the basic form remains the same. It feels very “debating society” in comparison to the great inspirational speakers that we see through initiatives like TED these days. It silk be interesting to see if there are new politicians who will break that mould.