There’s never a good time for a cancer diagnosis but in your 20s, 30s or 40s, there are particular challenges to navigate, like work, dating, fertility and parenting. That’s why every year since 2015, we’ve partnered with Shine Cancer Support to stage a life-affirming conference for their community of young adults with cancer. Despite the serious subject matter, this flagship event is always uplifting, inspiring, engaging and educational… and this year, it was hybrid, too!
Shine Cancer Support is the UK’s only non-profit dedicated to supporting young adults before, during and beyond cancer diagnosis and treatment through an empowered community.
‘Shine Connect’ started life in 2015 as a one-day, national, in-person conference, open to any young adult with cancer, their family or partner, carers (“Plus Ones”) and healthcare professionals. We co-created the event with Shine to give participants an annual opportunity to meet and share their stories, hear from experts in a range of fields, and join in with informative and inspiring discussions, workshops and experiences.
Since 2020, due to the pandemic and the ongoing need for clinically vulnerable people to shield, the conference has been online-only. TTA’s Shine Connect champions, C&IT A-Lister Project Director, Kelley Walker, and Sustainability Lead, Andy King, led the evolution of the format into a six-day virtual festival of topics and ideas, maintaining the power of live connection and spirit of the event.
This year, we were excited for Shine Connect to return in hybrid form, around the heartening theme of “Reasons to be Hopeful”. We devised a programme combining the best of both worlds – kicking off with a one-day, in-person event in London, followed by five days of online workshops.
As in previous years, we made creative use of a very modest budget to secure all the elements needed to deliver an impactful in-person event, and donated our time and expertise to Shine as our charity partner.
An inclusive and accommodating venue
After three years wholly online, it was difficult to anticipate demand for a return to an in-person format. We chose WallaceSpace in Clerkenwell Green to provide a flexible, appealing venue. Conveniently located near Farringdon’s railway and tube station, the building has been thoughtfully converted for accessibility and flexibility. It boasts floor-to-ceiling glass walls throughout, bathing the spaces in natural daylight and offering views of iconic London landmarks including The Shard. With truly all-inclusive pricing, it made budgeting predictable for our charity partner, working on a shoestring. It ticked all our boxes from a technical perspective, too, with high-specification cameras and projectors and excellent connectivity to support livestreaming.
The venue’s action-oriented sustainability ethos impressed Andy, who has been recognised in the events industry for championing sustainability. WallaceSpace employs energy-saving facilities, eco-friendly cleaning products and clever recycling and composting initiatives, and is phasing out the use of plastics. The menus prioritise seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients, incorporating “wonky” vegetables and certified, traceable meat and fish, with any surplus food donated to local charities.
Unlimited hot and cold drinks and healthy snacks are made available on a “help yourself” basis throughout the building. This would mean people could grab refreshments at their convenience without the formality of scheduled breaks, allowing them to engage with one another and the content seamlessly.
Engagement-boosting event tech
When designing the registration site, we were keen to convert interest into attendance – particularly for the virtual sessions. The perceived value of an event can be enhanced when there’s a nominal charge, as it often leads to greater appreciation and engagement, so we took the decision to make the programme ticketed.
Entry to the London conference was £25 and, as money should never be a reason not to come, we offered early bird discounts, and bursary places for eligible non-working participants. For those who couldn’t join us in London, virtual sessions were individually ticketed, allowing participants to curate their own agenda across all six days. Prices varied from free of charge up to £8 for the interactive workshops.
We used Cvent’s Attendee Hub as a tried-and-tested engagement engine for the hybrid delivery. It offers a range of features to encourage attendees to interact with session content, speakers and one another.
A professional videographer was on hand throughout the day to capture the experience; with live-streaming of the plenary sessions. Spotlight sessions were made available on demand via the Cvent platform across the week and can subsequently be uploaded to Shine’s YouTube channel to create a lasting legacy of high-value content.
A compelling and inspiring programme
The in-person agenda opened with its customary fun beach ball ice-breaker and welcoming address from Co-CEOs, Ceinwen Giles and Emma Willis. The plenary programme featured a young adult cancer panel, with members of Shine’s community talking candidly about their diagnosis and treatment, and a keynote from Professor Gerard Evan of the Francis Crick Institute on transformative research into cancer genes that spoke to the umbrella theme of “Reasons to Be Hopeful”. Both sessions were interactive, allowing the audience at home to chat and pose questions live. Participants were able to share their own reasons to be hopeful on a virtual wall that served as the backdrop to Professor Evan’s enlightening talk.
Workshops ranged from music therapy and managing fear and anxiety, to self-advocacy and a body-calming session with a yoga expert. Lunchtime not only offered rest and replenishment but also a chance to chill out with the ever-popular therapy dogs.
The “den” area hosted a Plus Ones roundtable discussion for partners and supporters, and participants remarked on how the informal, cosy setting encouraged them to contribute more freely and openly. Throughout the rest of the programme, it provided a calm environment for neurodivergent participants or indeed anyone looking to take a quiet moment out of the day. Sponsors, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, and Shine-adjacent non-profit, Youth Cancer Trust, showcased their advocacy and advisory resources in the exhibition space.
The five-day virtual programme that followed included sessions on reclaiming experiences through storytelling, sex and intimacy after cancer, and balancing work, life and health. The “Processing Cancer Baggage” interactive session explored the use of CBT techniques to understand and work through trauma. In “Shine Spotlights”, members of the community shared insights from their personal journeys through diagnosis and treatment.
Our first hybrid Shine Connect was a great success, with actual registrations exceeding our projections by 38%. The event drew 107 attendees in total, the majority of whom were young adults with cancer. Participants also included Plus Ones and Health Care Professionals – the latter gaining valuable, experiential insights not typically found in medical literature that can contribute towards their continuous professional development.
Of the 36 sessions delivered across the whole week, among the most popular were those tackling some otherwise rarely discussed topics – processing difficult emotions, managing work/life balance, and navigating intimate relations with cancer. The practical workshops were enthusiastically received, especially the loud and liberating collaborative music-making session with Joseph Jezard from music therapy charity, Nordoff and Robbins.
The drinks reception wrapping up the in-person conference provided a great opportunity for attendees to mingle in a relaxed setting and enjoy the spirit of empowered community that Shine works tirelessly to foster.
Participants rated the in-person event 4.9/5, with the keynote presentation deemed “excellent” (92%) or “very good” (8%). The online workshops were rated 4.6/5. But as much as we like to measure success in metrics, the most profound endorsement is always hearing from Shine’s community on what Shine Connect means to them.
“The conference was amazing as usual.... But this year was the best so far with the hybrid. This way, people like myself can attend more sessions and it's a really good variety.”
“Having cancer is a very lonely disease and the last thing you want to do is actively go make friends. If anything, you shut down and alienate yourself from everyone because no one can really relate. Shine puts you in touch with a network of people all around the country facing different types of cancers and sufferings related to it. It’s the friend you never knew you needed.”
“[Shine Connect] is the best thing that’s happened to me since my diagnosis.”
“Returning to an in-person Shine Connect after a three year hiatus felt a bit daunting - we needed a different venue and to find an approach that would work for everyone, whether they could join us in London or online. TTA were amazing at helping us through this process, from finding a venue which was absolutely perfect, to ensuring that the tech worked well enough that those online didn't miss out. It's a testament to the hard work of everyone at TTA and Shine that the Shine Connect this year felt truly special - a way for old friends to meet up and for new friends to be made.”
Ceinwen Giles, Co-CEO
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