ABConnexions was established as a not-for-profit social enterprise over 15 years ago to connect, support and promote ethnic and wider communities.

Since then, we have led on a number of activities and initiatives including hosting the largest inclusive, and fun, annual awards ceremony each year, developing various employability workshops and successfully supporting the delivery of a number of large scale European Funded programmes. Our primary focus has always been on promoting the positive aspects of inclusion and inclusive communities, by bringing people together.

In 2020 we launched the #InclusionByDefault campaign to help the North East become the most inclusive region in the UK by 2025!

Whilst we have engaged and supported a wide range of initiatives and activities focused on Inclusion, Inclusive Growth and Inclusive Productivity, we now need your assistance to help us to unlock the barriers to success. As we cannot achieve this ambition alone.

Are you struggling to create an inclusive culture in your organisation?

Are you tired of trying to comply with inclusion tick boxes that don’t really mean anything?

Are you struggling to reach a more diverse customer or potential staff base?

Do you want to help co-create the inclusion strategy for the most inclusive region in the UK?

Do you want to lead by example and represent the change we want to see in the North East?

Do you want to move forward from the standard tick box approach and really make an impact?

If the answer to some or all of these questions is yes, then you need to join us at the Inclusion By Default Conference for an engaging, entertaining and educational day that will lead you in developing an inclusion strategy for your organisation with other strategic partners.

Join us for an exciting day of learning, networking, and celebrating diversity. Get ready to engage with thought-provoking speakers, interactive workshops, and lively discussions.

The day will include a series of workshops and exercises that will leave you with a validated action plan to accelerate your JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) powers and move away from a traditional, sometimes ineffective approach to inclusion.

Every year, more evidence emerges that inclusive workplaces are not only great for employees but are great for business too. Inclusive businesses achieve up to 8x better business outcomes, according to Deloitte, and Forbes has shown that an inclusive process can help teams make decisions twice as quickly and with fewer meetings.

However, did you also know that 27% of adults in the North East report experiencing discrimination at work? Not only this, but the North East region has significant health inequalities, low ethnic diversity and has a low employment rate, with older, disabled, ethnic minority and female workers most likely to be unemployed.

But, creating an effectively inclusive workplace is not always as easy as simply hiring more diversely and writing a DEI policy. A truly inclusive workplace is a place where people feel belonging, openness and equality (McKinsey's 3 indicators of inclusion).

But how can you create this culture in your organisation?

ABC has been championing and supporting inclusion for the last fifteen years and our chairman, Ammar Mirza CBE, has been doing so for over 25 years. We want to make the North East the most inclusive region in the UK by 2025.

Join us to co-create the inclusion strategy to make this possible and build inclusive growth for our region, raising ambitions and aspirations.

Whether you're an advocate, professional, or simply interested in inclusion, this conference is for you. Come and be part of a community that believes in making inclusivity the norm. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn, connect, and contribute to a more inclusive world. See you there!