PKF held its annual Global Gathering meeting in Rome on 17 – 20 September. The event was a huge success, with over 200 PKF member firms from all over the world coming together in one of Europe's most spectacular cities. They all had one shared objective; to develop and foster new business opportunities.

This year’s meeting also marked a very important milestone for PKF - our 50th anniversary. We took the opportunity during the meeting to reflect on the success of the network over the years, which is entirely down to our people. ​We would like to thank everyone who attended the 2019 Global Gathering and 50th anniversary celebrations.

Highlights from the meeting included:

• Umberto Giacometti, PKF Italia Chairman and EMEI board member, who made a speech welcoming everyone to Rome
• Technology futurist, TEDx speaker and Forbes contributor Ian Khan, who discussed the impact that technology will have on our daily lives
• Paul Smith, Client Partner at Odgers Interim and Odgers Connect, who spoke on the topic 'Without the right talent, your firm and your clients will not have a tomorrow'.
• Gillian Fischer of Mindbridge Ai, who discussed ‘How to lead complex change when adopting AI technologies'
• CEO James Hickey, Director of Global Marketing and Communications Ali Hayes and Promontory’s Scott Garrett spoke about how PKF plans to lead our profession into an exciting new era
• LucaNet and PKF Munchen discussed 'how to add value to your client offering and explore further opportunities for collaboration'
• Paul Richmond, The Grogroup, spoke about 'creating client relevant go-to-market offerings driving greater business value'
• Phil Stubbs, Guildhatch, led a session on how to develop your social media presence in order to have a positive impact on your business.

In addition, the conference offered a fun run, a pre-conference tour of the Vatican City, dinners at the Cavalieri Hotel, Taverna de Mercanti, a Gala Dinner at Vila Miani, and a visit to the Papal Palace and Castel Gandolfo.