World Quality Day 2008
The CQI World Quality Day conference 2008 proved to be a great success.
How was it celebrated?
The CQI’s first World Quality Day conference took place on 13 November 2008 at the Imarsat Conference Centre in London and proved to be the forum for innovation, inspiration and creative ideas that it had promised to be.
Quality professionals from industry sectors all over the world, from as far as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, came together seeking ideas on how to improve performance, adopt innovative approaches and share good business practice, as well as identify innovation resources that will support them.
An array of innovation leaders gave insightful presentations about how quality professionals can make a definitive impact on business and help organizations to survive the economic downturn.
The CQI’s annual Loxham lecture provided the perfect conclusion to the event with a thought provoking session on business breakthrough techniques presented by the internationally-renowned Professor Shoji Shiba.
Sessions
Main session speakers, including John Seddon, Paul Sloane, and Olivier Mythodrama, spoke about the importance of innovation for businesses. This is what we learnt:
- You can't just improve - you need a system for encouraging creativity and turning it into innovation
- It's all about people - how to engage staff, customers and stakeholders in innovation ranging from the Dragon's Den approach to suggestion schemes
- You need stability - it's no good looking to innovate if you haven't got the basics right
- Targets can be destructive - targets often deflect people from achieving the real purpose of their work and from doing it better
- Leadership - quality professionals are stepping up to provide the leadership as well as the improvement techniques needed to facilitate change and innovation
Speakers at the events included:
What we achieved in 2008
During 2008 organizations submitted information about initiatives, projects, awards and events that they organized to raise the profile of World Quality Day. The CQI received more than 400 case studies, profiles and expressions of interest from organizations that value quality and wanted to be involved in celebrating the occasion.
- 300 companies signed up
- 200 delegates attended the London conference
- Five other organizations (1,050 attendees) with CQI support held their own World Quality Day events that included various speakers and promotions from the CQI
World Quality Day events included:
- Submarine Industry Quality Conference
- Sellafield Centre - Quality Forum
- BAE Systems - Quality Conference
- Network Rail: Thameslink Programme - Quality Briefing
- Society of British Aerospace Companies