Preston Entrepreneur hosts Gok Wan, US Producers and 800 business owners

A mum of 3 who grew up on the council estates of Preston is pinching herself as she prepares to host guests from all around the world, at Bolton Stadium, for 2 days of inspirational talks, panel discussions and networking, as she brings together 800 entrepreneurs for UK’s FASTEST growing personal and professional development event, The Big Festoon on 27th and 28th March.

Event producer, International Speaker Coach and Bestselling Author, Dani Wallace, 41, has been growing this event for the past 6 years, when her inaugural event launched in Manchester with just 40 guests.

It grew from here to selling out Manchester United’s event space, which then saw it move to Bolton last year for further expansion.

This is the last year the event will be held at Bolton Stadium before it moves to the AO Arena next year as Dani gets set to welcome thousands of guests.

Recently recognised by Attitude Magazine as one of the top 10 business owners supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, Dani has created The Big Festoon to be an actively inclusive event and celebrates people from all backgrounds and minorities, bringing people together to learn from each other and their lived experiences based on the mantra that ‘we are better together’ and ‘we all do well when we all do well’.

With speakers, who Dani has trained, from across the LGBTQIA+ community, global majority, and neurodivergent communities taking to the stage sharing their knowledge and experiences covering topics from investing to AI, to individuality, to marketing and social media, to wellness and wellbeing, the event’s aim is to educate and inspire, but also to “get people to feel uncomfortable and to question the status quo” she says.

The event is headline sponsored by female investors, Suki Kaur and Collette Thompson of Iconic Foundations - a full circle moment for Collete who undertook her apprenticeship at 16 years old at British Aerospace, just over the road from the stadium in Bolton where the event is taking place. 

It also has global players from LA flying in as sponsors - US Publicist and Producer David T Fagan, and US email marketing giant Keap, alongside high net worth individuals from the UK business scene taking to the stage. Seven figure business owner and founder of Expert Empires Nick James joins ADHD entrepreneur Jessica Lorimer who quit her job at 23 to build a £1million business.

Alongside this knowledge sharing, Dani, a professional singer who’s featured on ITV’s The Voice, will be performing at different points in the day, using powerful songs to also help inspire and energise the 800 strong crowd, with the added entertainment of her now well known and loved fancy dress costumes, which have previously seen her show up as a giant bee, Freddie Mercury and an inflatable dragon…

She said: “What we do at The Big Festoon is like no other event. It’s about community - about- finding your place, and being a part of something.

"We bring people together in a place that feels safe, a place that’s inclusive, warm, and fun, and we explore topics that we don’t always get to talk about.  This helps everyone see things through new perspectives, and makes conversations so rich. I learn so much every single time!”

She added: “We are absolutely thrilled with our special guests this year too. The audience will get to hear from reality star Jaxon Feely, freshly nominated in the LGBTQ Awards for his win on Celebrity Hunted 2024 for increasing LGBTQ+ visibility, and Apprentice star and Forbes 30 under 30 Bianca Miller who will be sharing her entrepreneurial journey -then we get to dance the night away with a DJ set from the one and only Gok Wan, in a chance to unwind after 2 very busy days.”

With accessibility and inclusion at its core the event is recognised as a ‘safe space’ for many minority groups, working with a team of expert consultants on this. From sensory breakout spaces, to pronouns on badges, to captioning the talks and trigger warnings when it comes to sensitive topics, to accessible seating, to venue information being supplied to help reduce overwhelm, and a ‘flight squad’ - a team of volunteers, which includes certified therapists and health and wellness practitioners, there are an abundance of measures that have been put in place to open this event up to people who often feel out of place at traditional events.

The Big Festoon is part of Dani’s mission to be a strong ally to under represented communities , and to bring people together across genders, race, different sexualities and socio demographics and she’s charted its growth with a documentary she premiered at Leicester Square last year to a star studded audience.

Tickets to the March event are sold out but tickets are now available to the Halloween Spectacular, also to be held in Bolton, in October via https://www.iatqb.com/SpookyFestoon.