From outside the world of retail ex-Downing Street spin doctor Alistair Campbell and Ralph Ardill, founder and CEO of the Brand Experience consultancy will also be speaking.

And one of the UK's top motivational speakers: Joe Simpson, mountaineer, author and the subject of the BAFTA Award-winning film "Touching the Void" will round off the event.

Conference chairman Charlie Parker promised more names will be announced shortly. "They will all reflect the conference theme of 'Partnership' and they're the sort of people who wouldn't once have appeared before the BCSC," he said.

BCSC president John Strachan has nominated 'Partnership' as this year's conference theme, and according to Parker this has allowed the BCSC to open its conference to a broader range of participants. "Partnership is obviously key to the shopping centre industry, but it also allows us to broaden the coverage out to the public sector, to private finance and to end-users," he said.

With this in mind, Parker is confident that the record attendance at last year's Belfast conference - when 2,000 delegates signed up - will be beaten. But the next few weeks will prove crucial as September is the peak booking period for the event.

Running in parallel with the conference is the BCSC's Showcase trade show, which is already sold-out. Parker's ambition is to turn the exhibition hall into something resembling a traditional market square, where people can relax and network as well as do business. "The size of GMEX allows us to put in break-out areas where people will be able to sit and talk," he says.

He is equally keen to encourage delegates to attend the whole three days of the show. "Manchester's a great place and there are a lot of examples of partnership to look at right on the doorstep," he said.

The BCSC conference is now one of the highlights of the shopping centre industry's year, but this in itself brings problems, particularly when it comes to finding a suitable venue that can accommodate both the conference and the showcase.

Parker said that the event had now outgrown the ICC in Birmingham, but the process of finding a venue for 2007 had already begun. "A lot of places now recognise the value of hosting this event," he said. "I expect a number of new venues to come to the fore over the next two or three years."

One is likely to be Parker's own Liverpool - he still advises the city council on regeneration issues - and a sparking new convention centre is due for completion ahead of the city's stint as European City of Culture in 2008.

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