From the moment the opening sting video leapt onto the screens in front of the thousand-strong transport audience, the Microlise Transport Conference had a life of its own.

Meandering through an agenda featuring a very broad church of speakers from Jim Davidson OBE to Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, the topics for the day were clearly defined.

Training and sourcing new talent, sharing expertise, reducing environmental impact, being safer, working together and encouraging women and diversity in the transport industry were big talking points.

Conference chair Quentin Willson steered the audience through questions posed by delegates uncovering some very interesting results. Of the 500+ delegates using the interactive keypads provided, 83% were male, more than half were 45 or older and nearly a third play a leadership role in their organisation. Questions were asked on everything from the EU referendum and Calais, to self-assessed driver performance and diversity in the workplace.

The numbers are being crunched as we speak, but in a sneak peek, here are the findings of one of our questions on whether the industry still feels that the driver shortage remains a key issue. The answer, apparently, is emphatically yes. More than 80% answered yes and less than 4% think that there is no driver shortage at all. Just under 16% appear to be the lucky ones, experiencing no problems at all.

For more insights keep an eye on this blog and for the post conference report we’re currently working on which is due to be released in the next few weeks.