Manchester Hall, Goulburn Suite. Doors opened at midday. The bar closed at eight. In between, something genuinely special happened.
Doors opened at 12:00 and the room filled with people who had come to learn, connect, and be honest about what social commerce actually looks like from the inside. That energy never left.
Brands sat on stage alongside creators and talked straight. TikTok sent Giulia Yang to give an unfiltered platform briefing. Kelly Jones stood up and told the room she had gone from zero to £400,000 on Whatnot since November 2025. Leighton Denny MBE brought a perspective that nobody else in the UK could have given. The room paid attention.
At Novaro's studios, attendees rotated through in small batches and watched live affiliate broadcasts for Remington and George Foreman running in real time. Seeing it from the inside changed how a lot of people thought about live commerce.
The formal programme wrapped at 18:00. The bar stayed open until 20:00. The conversations kept going long after that.
Registration, early networking, and bar access from the first minute. The room started buzzing before anything had even begun.
Des Hamilton and Chris Grimes opened the day before handing over to Remington, Nature Spell, and Richer Sounds. Brands were honest about why social commerce had become their biggest channel opportunity and what they needed from creators to make it work.
Giulia Yang from TikTok delivered an unfiltered briefing on everything creators and brands needed to know about TikTok Shop in 2026. No PR spin. Just the people who build the platform talking honestly about where it was heading.
Chris Grimes laid out why the smartest creators were already building beyond a single platform, backed by real buyer performance data across TikTok, Instagram, Meta, and YouTube Shorts.
Attendees rotated through Novaro's studios in small batches to watch live TikTok Shop broadcasts running in real time for Remington and George Foreman. For many people in the room, this was the moment that made everything click.
Five of the UK's most experienced live commerce creators and affiliates took the stage and had real conversations about what it actually took to build a sustainable income from social commerce. The audience asked questions. Nobody gave rehearsed answers.
Des closed the formal programme with a 30-minute keynote drawing together everything from the day and setting out a clear vision for where social commerce was heading and what every creator in the room should do next.
The formal programme ended. The bar stayed open. The room stayed alive. The best conversations of the day happened in this window.
Seven people who gave their time, shared their real numbers, and made the day worth every minute.
Delivered the platform briefing every creator in the room had been waiting for. Straight from the source, with no filter between the audience and the people who actually run TikTok Shop.
One of the most recognisable TikTok Shop affiliate creators in the UK. Honest, direct, and genuinely good at what he does.
TikTok Shop Star Creator Ambassador in the health and wellness space. Brought real live GMV numbers to a panel that did not shy away from specifics.
Stood on stage and told the room exactly how she had gone from zero to £400,000 in revenue on Whatnot in under eight months. One of the most memorable moments of the day.
A live commerce veteran with a perspective that nobody else in the room could have provided. Former QVC presenter and founder of a multi-million pound nail care brand.
Live commerce creator at Novaro's Manchester studios, running real affiliate broadcasts for major consumer brands every week.
"The room was electric, the conversations were real, and every single person in that space brought something to it. That is not something you can manufacture."
Five brands represented on the panel and in the live studios at Novaro, each there to listen as much as to talk.
Manchester Hall's Goulburn Dining Room was the right venue for the day. A proper space that made the event feel like it mattered. The kind of room where people paid attention.
The afternoon live studio sessions ran at Novaro's offices nearby, where attendees visited in small batches and watched real affiliate broadcasts running in real time.