The CISI's annual Financial Planning Conference – one of the biggest events in the Financial Planning calendar – opened today in Birmingham. 

The two-day event, is taking place this year on 30 September and 1 October at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel at the NEC for the second year running, following a move from the previous venue of Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales last year, where it had been for the past decade.

CISI chairman Michael Cole-Fontayn MSCI opened the conference and was followed by Martin Ruskin CFP Chartered MSCI, chairman of the CISI Financial Planning Forum Committee and client director at Paradigm Norton Financial Planning.

Martin Ruskin said he wanted to see the profession continue to grow and spoke about delegates being "a beacon" for Financial Planning. 

He told them: "I hope you have a brilliant conference so we can be the future we want to see."

Following the welcome Jamie Susskind, an author, speaker and barrister, spoke about technology and how it was reshaping politics. 

He said how people now generate more data in two hours than all of human history since the dawn of time, to illustrate the proliferation of information, but he cautioned it was the "quality of the data" that matters. 

Stream sessions will cover: Focus on Your Clients, Spotlight on Your Business and Get Ahead Technically.

Speakers in the stream sessions include Sapna Shapero, Paraplanner, Chesterton House, Tish Hanifan, joint chair, SOLLA, Rory Percival, Amyr Rocha-Lima CFP MSCI, partner at Holland, Hann & Willis and more.

• Financial Planning Today will be reporting throughout the event – check back for out coverage today and tomorrow.