Trade Extensions, a leader in Sourcing Optimization (and a sponsor of Sourcing Innovation), is having their annual user conference on October 7 (2015) in London. As pointed out yesterday by Mr. Smith in his invitation, this year they are opening it up to a small number of practitioners who want to learn more about advanced sourcing and sourcing optimization, and, Sourcing Innovation and Spend Matters UK readers in particular. (Outside of the Trade Extensions website, you won’t see this invitation anywhere else.)

Unlike some vendor conferences, that spend hours and hours demoing their new products and discussing where they are going and how great it will be for you as a customer, Trade Extensions keeps anything even remotely marketing related to an absolute minimum in their events, preferring to focus more on education and best practice then on sales. (Last year, except for a very brief “here’s what we did over the past year, here’s what we’re doing, and here’s a few screen shots of what the new capabilities look like“, the rest of the day was spent on presentations by experts and practitioners on best practices, process transformation, and advanced sourcing (including a presentation by yours truly on what comes next in sourcing optimization). (If you got in a bit late or left a bit early, you wouldn’t even know who was putting it on.)

This year, they want to cram even more education into a single day. With presentations by Sigi Osagie, who’s gonna tell you how to get your Procurement Mojo on, Mr. Peter Smith, who’s going to discuss the Future of Procurement (which, in the doctor‘s view is Doomed. Marooned. And ready to be Entombed.), and Sindbjerg Hemmingsen, a known thought leader on responsible procurement, the day is going to be jam packed with education and useful information. And if that’s not enough, it’s another opportunity to meet the elusive yours truly who will be there to …

Oops! Can’t tell you that … yet. Trade Extensions has a few surprises this year for its attendees beyond holding the event at Emirates Stadium (which is home of the Arsenal Football Club, and a known haunt of many Premiere League legends who seem to get lost in the halls and never leave) and the dinner at the British Library. Let’s just say that even the gift bag might knock your socks off.

So, if you are a practitioner (or a consultant practitioner who is not locked into an exclusive engagement with a provider) who would like to learn more about sourcing best practices and advanced sourcing, this could be your lucky day. But you need to book here quickly. When the seats are gone, the seats are gone. And this is one event you don’t want to be left out of.