Most of us leave a conference with a notebook full of ideas and good intentions. With a little structure, the National Attractions Marketing Conference on 3 June can be much more than that — a full day of recordable, professionally‑recognised continuing professional development.
To show what we mean, we’ve mapped this year’s programme against the CIM Global Professional Marketing Framework (GPMF) — the framework the Chartered Institute of Marketing uses to define what good marketing practice looks like, from Aware through to Expert. NAMC isn’t a CIM‑accredited course; it’s self‑directed CPD that you log yourself. But because the day maps so cleanly to the framework, it’s unusually easy to plan, structure and record.
One framework, three pillars
The GPMF is built around three pillars — Direction (strategy, context and foresight), Capability (the applied skills that bring a plan to life) and Professionalism (the behaviours, ethics and accountability of a trusted marketer) — and eight technical capability areas beneath them. Here’s how the 2026 programme will speak to each pillar.
Direction
Bernard Donoghue OBE’s opening keynote, drawing on ALVA’s view of the visitor economy, will set the strategic scene. Simon Jones on the new visitor landscape, Christina Lister’s five audience trends for museum marketing, and the closing session on investment and accountability will all help you step back from delivery and plan with foresight.
Capability
This is where the day is richest. You’ll build genuinely applicable skills across content (Danielle Nicholls on halo versus hero content), paid media (Liz Dimes on why digital ads underperform), websites (Neil Lewin on evolving rather than rebuilding), owned channels (Rachel Wood on WhatsApp), and emerging tactics (gamification and the rise of organic, “invisible” advertising).
Professionalism
James Hobbs’ session on digital sustainability and the consent‑led, GDPR‑friendly thinking behind modern messaging channels both reflect the responsible side of the profession. Nik Wyness on measurement and accountability speaks to a marketer’s duty to demonstrate value — and the interactive table talks reward exactly the kind of peer exchange the framework prizes.
Plan your day around the eight capability areas
Use this as a planning aid: decide which two or three areas you most want to develop, then choose your seminars and table talks to match.
| GPMF capability area | Sessions to look out for |
|---|---|
| General marketing & communications | Halo versus Hero Content; the brand social and organic‑advertising table talks |
| Brand & reputation | Halo versus Hero Content; Invisible Ads; optimising brand social channels |
| Data & insight | Are Your Digital Ads Underperforming?; five audience trends; Measuring What Matters |
| Commercial | Getting the Best from your DMO; Direct Teacher Engagement; the accountability close |
| Proposition development | Direct Teacher Engagement; The Gamification of Marketing; The space in between |
| Customer experience | WhatsApp Channels; Websites — stop rebuilding, start evolving; the visitor landscape |
| Digital agility | Digital ads; digital sustainability; website evolution; messaging channels; gamification |
| Leadership | Threaded through the keynote, the DMO session and the accountability close — and a useful prompt to plan your wider leadership development |
Turn the day into recordable CPD in four steps
This is the part that makes the difference between a good day out and a logged piece of professional development:
- Before: pick the two or three GPMF areas you want to grow, and choose your seminar and table‑talk streams with those in mind.
- During: take notes against those areas — not just general ideas, but “what does this change about how I work?”
- After: write a short reflection — what you learned, and one thing you’ll do differently — and record your hours in your CPD log.
- Then: use that record to evidence your development at appraisal, or to make the case to your manager for next year’s place.
In a single focused day you’ll touch all three pillars of the framework and the majority of its capability areas — which is exactly what makes NAMC such an efficient anchor for your professional development plan, and so easy to evidence when it counts.
Join us on 3 June
Come with a plan, leave with recordable CPD.
