Ben Smith on The Agency Growth Forum 2025 speaker list

PRmoment founder Ben Smith is interviewed by Eilizabeth Giles about the speaker line up for PR Masterclass series The Agency Growth Forum and why it has become a bit of a personal challenge.

What PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum covers in one day is incredible.You get to hear the real experts talk about how to overcome the key challenges that PR firm owners are having right now when it comes to growth.

These are people Ben has met and interviewed. They have a track record in what they're talking about. There are no bluffers.

As always with our PR Masterclass series, there are absolutely no sponsors. We don't believe in charging delegates for a ticket and then filling the program with sponsored slots.

When, Where: Wednesday 26th November 2025

Virtual tickets from £230 +VAT. Face-to-face from £460 +VAT, buy your ticket before 10/10/25 to get these early bird rates.

Here’s a run down of what Ben and Elizabeth talk about on the show:

Why did we choose Rachel Bell to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

Let's just run through Rachel's PR agency CV:

Founder, Shine
Co founder, Mischief
Co founder, The Academy
Co founder, John Doe
Co founder, Adhuro
Non executive chair, Cavendish

Enough said?

Why did we choose Jonny Bentwood to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

There's an interesting global community of about 8-10 PR firm data geeks who are at the arrowhead PR and technology. Jonny's at the tip of that arrow.

No PR Agency Growth Forum event would be complete without an analysis of PR's GEO opportunity and here Jonny will update us with the latest thinking.

Why did we choose Rachael Marshall to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

Some accountancy firms have some PR clients. You see surveys and research from these types of accountancy firms referencing "agency trends." But if you look at the methodology of these surveys PR firms are in the minority of the dataset.

PR firms are different businesses from ad agencies or marketing agencies. There are similarities of course but the business model is different.

That's why we chose Rachael. Her firm Magic Digits has circa 30 PR agency clients and so there's no-one better to give a third party insight into the financial trends and challenges of running a PR firm today.

She's also an excellent presenter.

In house panel: What do clients want?

Bieneosa Ebite, GSK, head of communications and government affairs, inclusion
Clara Biu, Allwyn UK, head of consumer communications
Charlotte West, Lenovo, vice president, global corporate communications

Why did we choose Rachel Friend to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

Rachel’s had success at PR firms who are part of the holding groups and she's also had success at PR firms who are independent.

So she knows how to run PR agency businesses. During her career, she's also had to turn a couple of PR firms around.

And as anyone who's tried to do that can tell you, that's a hard thing to do. You will likely have a limited budget, limited time and that will bring pressure.

Rachel's going to talk to us about how to re-energise your PR businesses and get your momentum back.

Why did we choose Jo Carr to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

For about the last 10 years PR firms have, in the main, worked hard to improve their employer brand and to become better employers.

Jo was at the start of this trend. She understood that in a consultancy business where creativity and customer service are absolutely vital, happy employees are always going to mean happy clients.

So at the PR Agency Growth Forum we’re delighted that Jo is going to be talking about Creating PR magic: Talent, culture and great work.

Why did we choose Paul Nolan to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

Everyone's got an opinion about what AI means for PR. Very few people actually know what they're talking about.

As this is the Agency Growth Forum, I didn't just want a PR AI expert, I wanted the PR leader who was furthest along the road integrating AI into their agency.

That's why Paul's speaking.

Why did we choose Jackie Elliot to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

I was tempted to just put here: if you know you know.

But I guess I should offer a bit more explanation!

Jackie was executive director and UK CEO at MSL for 10 years, before she was comms director at Rolex.

At PR Masterclass The Agency Growth Forum Jackie is going to chronicle few pitch stories and nightmares over the past 40 years, into some very valuable new business lessons

I can't tell you the agencies she helps currently but she's also a new business strategy consultant for some of the fastest growing agencies in London.

That's why, at PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum, she's going to tell you "How to stack the new business odds in your favour."

Independent PR agency panel: The growth challenge

This panel will give an insight into the growth challenges for independent agencies at the moment.

Bemi Idowu, Talking Drum Communications, founder and managing director
Kamiqua Lake, Coldr, founder & CEO
Nick Braund, Words+Pixels, founder

Why did we choose Lee Beattie to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

A recurring theme when I talk to UK PR agencies MDs and CEOS is: How do we manage junior talent that has a shifting relationship with work?

One of the agencies that has done a good job developing a culture where young people thrive is John Doe. At the PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum, Lee is going to talk to delegates about how Joe Doe has had success in developing a culture where young people can thrive.

Why did we choose Lucy McGettigan to speak at the Agency Growth Forum?

I thought it was important to have a slot which talks about what happens when you grow as an agency. The Romans' fee income grew by 38% in 2024 and by 50% in 2025 YTD.

Let's keep the math simple. In my example 100 person agency, lets say you have a staff turnover rate of circa 15% and if you're growing at 10%, that means you have to find 25 new employees each year.

That's hard to do - just in terms of finding 25 great people you believe can help your business thrive.

And that's before you think about the implications on culture, office space, HR, internal processes, software licences, toilet capacity(!), desk plans, new business etc.

Lucy's been working out all this out for the past 8 years and she's going to tell you how to do it at The PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.

Do join us either face to face or virtually for this great event. Hope to see you there.

When, Where: Wednesday 26th November 2025

Virtual tickets from £230 +VAT. Face-to-face from £460 +VAT.