PPC122 | EDITORIAL
As it’s the PestEx showguide edition, I’ve stolen this page from the editors to talk about all the amazing event-y things we’ve got coming up!
PestEx is BPCA’s flagship event and the biggest moment in the calendar for the pest management community. As Events Manager, I take the lead on the delivery of the show, and it felt only right to welcome you to this special edition. Sorry, Kat and Scott. Normal service will resume next issue.
Just when you thought we couldn’t possibly squeeze in any more events, 2026 is the year we’ve gone all in.
Across the BPCA events calendar, we’re doing more than ever to bring people together, share knowledge and support professionalism across the industry. Every month, we’re hosting a free webinar for members, covering technical updates, live debates, guest-hosted sessions and Meet the Member interviews. They’ve become a real fixture for many of you, and we’re proud of how engaged those sessions have become.
We’ve also built on our popular in-person Forums. Going forward, these will be Training Forums and this year we’re delivering eight full-day events across the UK, with free, hands-on practical training sessions included. These events are designed to give you something practical to take back to the job, not just notes and good intentions.
We kicked things off with Glasgow in January and Peterborough in February, and the feedback has been brilliant!
Alongside that, we’ve introduced our new online Keynote sessions. These longer-format events allow guest speakers to dig deeper into a topic, with sessions split between pest management and business.
One thing we’ve learned is that online events aren’t going anywhere. We wondered whether Digital Forums might lose momentum after Covid, but the opposite has happened. Attendance remains strong, engagement is high, and we’re back with four more Digital Forums in 2026, bringing our total to 40 since we started these in 2020!
And then there’s PestEx.
2026 is a PestEx year, and we’re bringing you the biggest and best pest management event in the UK to date, with more exhibitors, seminars, hands-on challenges and networking opportunities than ever before.
While we have no plans to scale back our growing online offering, there is still nothing quite like being in the room. Getting hands-on. Sitting down with a cuppa. Seeing products, techniques and people in real life. PestEx is where learning accelerates, and relationships form naturally.
Behind the scenes, PestEx is a huge project for the BPCA team. Our team starts work on the next show almost as soon as the current one ends. The scale of the work is significant, but nothing beats the buzz in the hall.
The show simply wouldn’t be possible without the exhibitors, speakers, panellists, sponsors, contractors and staff team, so I want to take this opportunity to say a genuine thank you to all of them.
PestEx takes time, effort and investment to deliver, but the money it generates is reinvested directly back into the Association. That supports work that benefits members and the wider industry, from lobbying the government to protect your toolkit, to providing member benefits such as CQMS, Quest and TrustMark, and much more besides.
So register online, come along, make the most of your time at PestEx, and we’ll see you on the show floor.
Lauren Day
BPCA Events Manager
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