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Seans Notes
Musings from the Events
Posted on: Monday 25 January 2010
Members Reward Programme
Members who introduce visitors who then join benefit from receiving Rewards Vouchers redeemable for a host of great gifts - www.myrewardscompany.co.uk and also get a point - the member with the most points wins a luxury weekend for 2
Standings to date
Members Reward Table
Helen Mattacott -Beacon Peninsula -3 points
Matt Richardson - Recognition Express 1 point
Sue Tregelles - Merlin Event Management 1 point
Glen Morgan - Credebt 1 point
Mandy Blackler - Casino Select 1 point
Susan Meldon - Simply Assisting You 1 point
June Hutchings - Sandy Park 1 point
Glen King - Glen King Marketing & PR 1 point
Matthew Melksham - Albert Goodman 1 point
Sarah Ashworth - Kinnarps 1 point
Sarah Podro The Castle at Taunton 1 point
Kim Knox - WBW 1 point
Contact sean@business-network.co.uk for your invitation
Photos from events available on Facebook
Bristol
Exeter
Taunton
Musings from the events...........
Posted on: Thursday 07 January 2010
September 2010
9th September - Bristol a powerful seminar delivered by James Short of Augmentor clearly emphasised the importance of your plan and the consequences of not having one - James' background in the higher echelons of the military clearly demonstrated what you need to do.
22nd September - Exeter - a fascinating seminar delivered by Sarah Knight of Sarah West Recruitment which not only demonstrated what you need to do to ensure that your recruitment is effective and how to avoid costly pitfalls was contrasted by the Polar explorer John Wilton-Davies of The Last Great Challenge and the way in which recruiting a fellow team member takes on many different aspects.
29th September - Taunton - the first Business Network event in the Long Room at Somerset County Cricket Club -
fabulous new facilities and great service. The seminar on networking effectiveness was followed by a lunch where lessons were put into practise. For the first time ever an order was signed at the table!
August 2010 Events
3 events in a traditionally quiet month - not quite! Over 150 people attended the events - topics covered in the seminars included Bristol on the 4th August Identifying stress and the tools and ways in which you can manage and remain focussed and productive - thank you to Sian MacGowan Sureteam and Jeremy Marchant and KayMcMahon of Emotional Intelligence at Work.
Exeter on 11th had a fabulous workshop on using Social Media tools - Chris Wood of CW IT hosted the seminar and if you want expert advice follow his BLOG. The Taunton event at The Castle Hotel had a lunch that was amazing - surely the largest piece of fish ever at lunch - tasted fantastic as well.
The after lunch speakers covered a wide ranging variety of topics - Glenn Morgan of Credebt giving some great advice on managing your cashflow. Dudley Hambleton talking about the power of the spiritual world and the way in which your thoughts can really influence things - having just read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol and hearing Dudley speak and reading some research - this is very powerful. The 10 minutes delivered in Exeter by Amanda Lyon Smith of Purple Promotions was informative and entertaining - Amanda's expertise highlighting where not to go wrong when choosing promotional items for your business - Ask Amanda about the towel!
July 2010 Events
15th July at Mount Somerset Hotel - seminar before lunch delivered by Anthony McGloin of Straight Forward Success demonstrated the 7 Principles that will transform your business - covered The Maths of Success – a unique interactive Tool to keep, that allows you to use your own numbers in the 5 key areas of your own Business...to show you EXACTLY what’s needed to DOUBLE your Profit within the next 12 months. For more information feel free to visit Straight Forward Success
As part of the networking lunch there was a great 10 minutes on DISC and how understanding your DISC and other people's DISC can have a huge impact in your success.
14th July - Exeter at The Lord Haldon - 100 decision makers enjoyed a fabulous event with many business relationships being developed and strengthened. the seminar before lunch de - mystified the tech speak and the geek jargon associated with PC's and IT (is that geek speak!) - huge thank you to Dave Thomas and Steve Triner of Bluegrass Computer Services
Andy Robins from Snibor talked about his charity walk with his two sons in aid of Sparks - FULL DETAILS HERE - and a first for Exeter Business Network - a dog collected over £80 towards Andy's total (the dog's name is Muker and he was carrying collection boxes - as he will do during Andy's walk)
7th July - Bristol at Redwood Hotel and Country Club - seminar before lunch Secrets of Successful Networking - a BIG thank you to Bob Burg for his support. The 10 Feel Good questions plus The One Key Question. Go to www.Burg.com you can download, for free, Chapter One of Endless Referrals and The Go-Giver. The lunch that followed was buzzing with people developing relationships, referrals and advocates and was concluded with some inspirational tips on motivation - thank you to Inge Dowden of Polyglot Coaching
June Events
16th June - Mount Somerset Hotel - the seminar in the morning hosted by Jobserve events was a mine of valuable information about getting the most from exhibiting - if you are exhibiting anywhere in the future then there is some great advice here -
Exhibiting to Win - James Rostance
During the lunch, buzzing with conversation, Sam Finlay of Allerton Video Production talked about the power of video in marketing/promoting your business and skills. He explained how it can be done cost effectively and even had some of his presentation filmed by one of the members who had never used a video camera before - You Tube footage HERE. A full edited version appearing soon!
10th June at Exeter Golf & Country Club - a record breaking seminar before lunch - more people attending than we've ever had - listened to and wer enthralled by the passion and expertsie of Alastair Banks of Optix Solutions who led everyone through the benefits of 'inbound Marketing' - fantastic insights into the huge opportunities and the strategy that can relaise success. The networking lunch that followed was buzzing - a big thank you to everyone who buzzed! A whistle stop tour around the world's hot spots and high spots by Helen Mattacott of Beacon Peninsula ended a great event. How do I know it was a great event? The Best of Exeter gathered a dozen testimonials from people attending - THANK YOU
2nd June Bristol at Mercure Holland House Hotel & Spa - a fabulous seminar hosted by Inge Dowden of Polyglot Coaching - all attendees had the opportunity to ask themselves some searching questions that gave them a greater insight about their business, what they wanted to acheive and how to get there. Inge's key question that we can all use that can really benefit is "What can I do ?". By emphasising the different words you can work your way through anything!
A extremely positive and productive networking lunch followed with numerous decision makers building relationships
May Events
May 26th - The Castle Hotel, Taunton. The first time Business Network has used this prestigious venue- highly recommended. A great seminar hosted by Steve Davey of Smartcomms 4business on direct marketing - expert advice, case studies and tips that can really help businesses increase response rate, leads, appointments, sales and profit. A lunch with a real buzz followed - the 30 second presentation by people on someone elses business helping to reinforce messages! Hannah Ellis Murdock from The Really Good Recruitment Company delivered an insightful 10 minutes with some postive indications in the employment and recruitment market in the South West. A new visitor actually left the lunch with a peice of invoiceable business!
May 19th - The Lord Haldon Hotel. Not only my daughters 16th birthday but the day that Marylin Monroe sang 'Happy Birthday' to JFK in 1962. The seminar before lunch hosted by Clare Whiston was about PhotoReading - an insight into the techniques that you can learn and develop to enable you to read at speeds in excess of 25000 words per minute and then recall the information. More details HERE.
The lunch that followed- attended by 80 decision makers was buzzing. Appointments were being made - 2 made on the table I was sat at!
Other feedback from the lunch
Anthony McGloin of Straight Forward Success carried out an impromotu survey that showed that overwhelmingly the two biggest challenges for Businesses at the moment are
1. TIME (36% of people cited this as their number one)
2. SALES (32%)- watch out for more details on Anthony's Webinars
Catherine Petherick of Bristol Street Motors delivered a valuable 10 minutes on Tax and VAT and your vehicle - details here Catherine last delivered the 10 minutes afew years ago, she was sat with Julie Piper of Springboard Marketing then and she was again yesterday - synchronicity!
Some other comments
"another excellent day yesterday" - Paul Angus - Exeter FM
"Thanks for a good meeting yesterday. I’ve made a number of promising new contacts that I have been following up today"- Mike Rodda - Alpha Financial Consultants
Also a first for The Business Network - a video from Alastair Banks of Optix Solutions promoting his seminar on 10th June. WATCH IT HERE on You Tube
May 12th - Clifton Pavilion, Bristol Zoo - a seminar hosted by Sarah Whittock of Davies and Partners that laid to rest many myths surrounding tribunals - a concise and clear account of the who, what, why, where, when and how - even a layout of the room that is used. lively discussion around case studies showed the skills of many budding advocates! The lunch attended by over 40 decision makers saw great conversation, appointments being made and business being done
April events
28th April at Mount Somerset Hotel, Taunton began with a seminar hosted by Business Link highlighting the opportunities available to all businesses with 2012 - a list of contracts availble was given to attendees - from coffee machines to cabling; from pallets to copper tubing and even the provision of courier services. The lunch that followed was the first ever salad - but what a salad - warm chicken , local new potatoes a veritable feast!
21st April at the Thistle Hotel, Exeter saw over 80 decision makers create a fanatstic positive environment. The seminar before lunch hosted by Alder and Alder gave attendees a real insight in to getting the most from their brand. At lunch there was a genuine buzz as people were busy creating and devloping opportunities. Announcements had a charity theme - Families for Children announced their End2endin10 challenge; Paul Jewels, father of one of the team cylced into the lunch in full gear! Further support for Families for Children is coming from the Pure Indulgence event being held at Devon County Show being organised by Glen King. James Meylan of Mango talked about the cycle challenge he is embarking on in support of SPARKS.
14th April at Mercure Holland House Hotel and Spa - a fantastic seminar hosted by Ways2Win - delegates were given live tender notices for their respective businesses - a real WOW. Did you know that according to an HSE survey carried out in Nov 2009 that 99% of all businesses in the UK are SME's and they generate over 51% of UK plc sales!
GWS Media announcement - the launch of Mensa International website - if ever a site was going to scrutinised this is it!
The speaker at lunch - Matt Richardson of Chorus IT (a member for 14 years!) entertained, informed and enthused about how important it was to look after your IT - Matt had the whole room standing on numerous occasions, Mazars doing the math associated with IT downtime.
Thank you to all members and visitors for creating such a positive environment
March events
March 17th - Mount Somerset Hotel - St Patricks Day as well as being the day the rubber band was patented! A really positive event with many connections being made, innovations on the table hosting role - thank you to Roger Moore and a fascinating observation from Mark Leveridge "Couldn't help but notice that the Taunton Business Network group has more than its fair share of celebrities. On my table today there was a Nick Hancock and a Phil Collins. And over on Table 1 there was, of course, Roger Moore! Could you perhaps arrange for Jennifer Aniston to join?"
March 3rd at Clifton Pavilion, Bristol Zoo Gardens - the first of the seminars with a difference. Shred It M4 Corridor hosted the seminar on 'Common sense Document Security'. Nigel, Mark and Dan hosted the seminar which covered many oof the horror stories that have occured due to people's and companies carelessness with condidential paperwork. To show the efeectiveness of the Shred It servic, delegates brought in their confidential papers - there were over 20 bags (300+ KGs) that were then shredded on site by the Shred It vehicle - photos vaialble soon. A great lunch followed and many members took advantage of the free access to Bristol Zoo - reliving child hood memories!
March 11th in Exeter at The Lord Haldon Hotel - a seminar like no other run by Rebecca Weaver of Gumshoe - highlighting the importance of customer service to your business - methods to measure and ways to gain the competitive edge - it was lively, interactive and summed up by Ben Didier of Bookkeeping Services South West..."it was one of the best seminars that I have been to, and I have been to many! You have great enthusiasm and provided sharp identification of what customers really remember - which is how they are made to feel. You really brought that out, I learned a lot and thought about things from the customer perspective which I need to do more often. Thanks again for putting in the time and effort to create such a great seminar"
February events
18th February in Taunton saw the attendees enjoy a successful event - a lot of business wasbeing and had been done. Alison Mills ofHeadway Somerset needed an invitation designed for their Hollywood Nights Ball on 21st May and were recommended uandi design's Tracy Kearnley by Gill Bray of Business Hat. The building of relationships key to getting and receiving referrals. Jeremy Townsend of Picture of Health who had earlier hosted the seminar - the importance of glutathione to your health, well being and getting the most from life) donated a portrait - to be painted by his wife - for the Headway Somerset Ball!
10th February Exeter event - what an atmosphere - summed up perfectly by Peter Weeks of Daneswood - "thanks for another great meeting yesterday. There’s a real buzz about the Network these days and that’s very much down to the energy and enthusiasm that you put into the meetings"
The seminar was fabulous and led the host Simon Leek of South West ICT Ltd to come up with the following.......
Following Wednesday's "SocialCRM" presentation at Business Network (SW), it occurred to us that many people could benefit from a one to one LinkedIn training session. As a result we would like to offer any member of BNSW a 1.5hr awareness session at their office. During this session we will aim to accomplish the following together: -
Register on LinkedIn
Create your "profile"
Invite at least 10 people to "connect" with you
Join two "groups" (one being the Business Network (SW) and the other being a group that is specific to your industry sector)
Start a discussion in a group
Contribute to an existing discussion
Link your blog page (if you have one) to your profile
Explain the search facilities
Discuss effective marketing strategies through LinkedIn
If you are within a 15 mile radius of the EX2 postcode we will only charge you 80.00+VAT. Please call me if you would like to book a session.
Kind regards,
Simon Leek
South West ICT Limited
0845 686 2468
07595 914 910
simon[at]southwestict[period]com
Bristol on 3rd February saw over 40 businesses come together and benefit from a positive networking event. The seminar hosted by The HR Dept captivated the attendees and gave a concise and useful review of the legislative issues that businesses have to be aware of from 2009 and also what's coming in 2010.
During the lunch there was an inspirational talk by Gareth Davies of GForce - sharing child hood goals that came true - a Welshman holding the World Cup
Shred It M4 Corridor - hosting March's seminar at Bristol Zoo - offered everyone the chance to fill a bag (15kg max!) of confidential paper/documents, bring it to the event on 3rd March and watch it be shredded in one of the £150K Shred It trucks to a standard acceptable by MI5
January events - Business Network affected by weather? NO!
With the weather we have had and what has been forecast (a mild winter to follow our barbeque summer!) I will keep all those booked on events informed of what is happening. This will be by email and I will let you know all the details you need.
Bristol - January 13th at Mercure Holland House Hotel - This event went ahead and was amazing! 97% attendance! FANTASTIC! Thank you for your kind comments about the 2 email updates and text update keeping you abreast of the conditions.
Thank you to Richard Phillips of Three Cherries who sent an email which said "I’ll be there, anyone who isn’t is a Girl!"
Scott and Shackleton spirit summed up by Wendy Wills of Ways2Win who enjoyed the camaraderie in the room
Exeter - January 20th at The Lord Haldon, Dunchideock - another fantastic event - thank you to Rosemary Pell of Road User Support Service for this feedback
"Thank you for a great networking lunch today. As I mentioned on leaving I liked the addition of the 4 x member speakers at the end of the event, which gave extra food for thought and a brief platform for them to offer information on their offers etc.
I also very much liked the help-yourself approach to the wine on each table. Although I don't partake, mainly because of driving (!), I nonetheless found this system far less intrusive and distracting than when it is being poured by a waiter/waitress. It also prevented any of the usual interruption for the speakers.
I appreciate all the hard work and thought that goes into organising, developing and improving the BN for members and guests. Thanks, Sean, and well done!"
The saga of the missing Parker Pencil!
following this event Stuart McKellar MD at HR Advantage emailed me as he had left his pencil behind. The staff at the Lord Haldon found his Parker Pencil 5 days after the event and are returning it to him, leading Stuart to say " What service! Deserves a testimonial - nothing is too small for EBN!"
Taunton 27th January - Mount Somerset Hotel - WOW! The Hotel has been transformed with new furniture, new decoration, carpets (fitted by BBN member - Tailored Flooring). The bedrooms have also been refurbished. If you want a great place to meet with great service and coffee then I recommend The Mount Somerset. The event saw many decision makers building business relationships, swapping ideas and living the 'what you give is what you get' saying to the full.
The Business Network SW group is steadily growing. There are numerous on going discussions and opportunities are coming through for new business.
Twitter -more details coming soon - feed available HERE
Taunton News 2009
Posted on: Thursday 31 December 2009
Taunton Business Network
Bristol Business Network
Exeter Business Network
Image Gallery
Posted on: Wednesday 24 September 2008
The image gallery on the site is a work in progress. Thank you to Mike Wilk at Apex Corporate Photography for the photo's. As a future development Business Network SW will be featured on Facebook and FlickR
The use of these new avenues will give greater accessibility for everyone and also means that with my limited IT expertise I can display the many photos that I have.
Thank you to David Thomas of Bluegrass IT for the Social Media course that enlightened and educated me on this whole new world.
Pictures are by Apex.
Welcome to Seans Notes
Posted on: Sunday 25 May 2008
This is the first entry in the blog
Sean with Simon Curtis of Vehicle Save Contract Hire and Leasing.
Simon hosted the seminar at September's Exeter Business Network Event held at University of Exeter.