On 18 November, in just about six weeks’ time, I will walk on to the Forum stage at the Amsterdam RAI to welcome the 600-plus industry leaders to the new format of the industry’s leading and most long-standing conference – The Superyacht Forum.

For those who missed the announcement back in the Spring – that the Forum is now managed by the team at METSTRADE – it’s going to be an interesting and important shift.

An intense two-day programme allows delegates to better engage with METSTRADE’s Superyacht Pavilion, and an industry programme committee formed of the market’s leading sector associations – SYBAss / PYA / MYBA / IAMI / ICOMIA and others – ensures that all topics are screened and developed by the industry for the industry. Many other tweaks and upgrades have been designed to ensure that everyone gets the most out of this year’s Forum.

I, for one, am excited to get the Eurostar to Centraal Station (the most comfortable and efficient way to get there if travelling from London) and to be able to walk into the event without the distraction of logistics and catering, knowing my team have arrived refreshed and energised and not been working until beyond midnight dealing with last-minute registrations or special requests. And knowing full well that we can spend the next two days listening, engaging and networking with the market’s most powerful peer group.

However, even though I’m still getting lots of messages and requests from my network re. tickets and speaking opportunities, which I share with the team at the RAI, this event is still my baby and I’m looking forward to being a key part of the proceedings.

I’ll take the stage for the opening keynote, something I’m really excited to be part of, a CEO debate similar to the one hosted with Henk De Vries and Peter Lürssen in 2022, but this time with two future-focused heavyweights who have been part of the industry succession plans and are both running two of the biggest industrial players in our sector – Damen Yachting and Azimut Benetti. This session will be serious debate on the future, where both Rose Damen and Giovanna Vitelli will share their insights, opinions and visions for our industry, following the Forum’s three core themes: Future Technologies, Driving Sustainability and Improving Our Industry’s Image.

As in previous years, I will drop into various workshops and brainstorms to keep the conversation alive and relevant. I look forward to sitting in the audience and asking questions from the floor and generally being the superyacht observer that I have adopted as my Instagram handle.

On Day Two, I will enthusiastically moderate the next opening Keynote focused on the Superyacht Industry Road Map and how we can reduce our impact and achieve a regenerative approach over the next couple of decades. This heavyweight panel of designers, brokers, builders, repairers and sustainability experts promises to be a powerful session that will shape our market’s future.

At the end of the day, the programme will deliver an interesting exchange of ideas and opportunities for our industry to think ahead and change the way we do things, as this has always been our mission with The Superyacht Forum. But we have to remember that the good stuff always comes out of the social interaction, the networking and the after-dark activities and this year I will be able to enjoy them without worrying about the next day too much. It’s going to be an exciting couple of days and I look forward to seeing the hundreds of familiar faces and many new ones, but in a whole new light, without the stress of the several months of planning and managing the event.

If you haven’t yet registered, follow this link and I’ll see you in Amsterdam.

When it comes to beyond TSF 2024, this is where it gets really interesting as the RAI and METSTRADE have a huge expansion plan for the Superyacht Pavilion and a whole new programme of events, meetings, workshops and other activities in and around the show. Therefore it is my expectation that 2025 will create the most important and biggest business to business network in the superyacht calendar, bigger than it already is. Watch this space.

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