Paul Gregson, Business Development Manager, St James's Place Wealth Management
We both go out business networking a lot. At evening events the hosts usually serve canapés, which are very nice but not intended to be filling. Often, once we are back home we don’t know what we want to eat. We don’t have room for a big meal; we want something. The default is cheese and biscuits, but with lots of Christmas events on that is getting boring.
What do you eat when you have come back from an evening event?
Connectivity Associates Ltd was invited back to the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy to help their young entrepreneurs with Business Networking skills. The Academy was set up by Peter Jones CBE from Dragons’ Den to provide academic qualifications for young people with the motivation to become entrepreneurs.
Successful candidates leave with Level 3 BTEC in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Whilst studying they start their own business and receive support from tutors with real life experience.
Chrissie Gibson of Connectivity Associates ran a workshop for the second year running to demonstrate the importance of business networking to finding out opportunities for projects, funding and jobs.
The Academy staff were very grateful “HUGE thanks Chrissie for running your excellent networking skills for our students yesterday! Thanks again”.
Sometimes people stand up to deliver a presentation and apologise. “I’ve not had much time to prepare!”
It might be that they are trying to lower expectations so that the audience will actually end up being pleasantly surprised. However, the message it can send is “I’ve not given this presentation much time – I’ve not thought it to be important – You, the audience are not very important.”
So, do your best. Devote enough time to your preservation and planning. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just clear and delivered with enthusiasm.
A presentation which starts with an apology is devalued.
Certainly don’t apologise.
Go to Connectivity Training
The Localism Act has received the Royal Assent. It has introduced some fundamental changes to the Town Planning system and the way that planning decisions are made. All businesses need to be aware of the changes and the implications for their land and property.
Localism Act: a short guide for businesses
Contact Mike if you would like to discuss a particular case.
I ran a workshop for Liverpool University as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week this was just one of 40,000 events over 104 countries. The aim is to drive the next generation of entrepreneurs and business owners.
I was helping the students to use business networking to find out about job opportunities and to get themselves known within their business community. The students were from the UK and from China. We explored who they might want to meet and talked about the best networking opportunities for them.
John Lees in the Harvard Business Review believes that that on average about one-third of jobs are filled through word of mouth connections. Consequently, networking is about “expanding your horizons, meeting new people, and about discovery” if you want career success. The conclusion is that Business Networking is an essential tool for finding new employment for students and for anybody looking for a job.
The much talked about Localism Act received Royal assent on 15 November. The Act provides the potential for a cultural shift in the way planning decisions are taken in England and Wales, but it remains to be seen whether it will meet the Government’s objective to make the planning system clearer, more democratic and more effective. Much will depend on the details to come through Regulations as the provisions are introduced over the coming months and on the resources available to enable the system to deliver the new requirements. Here’s a summary of the Act’s provisions.
I think I will scream if I hear another presenter say, “I know you can’t read this but…”
Solution: if you have a lot of data, try converting it to a graph or other picture. If you need the detail, use a handout.
As part of my role as Business Advisor at the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace I attended a workshop yesterday in Warrington for staff involved in emergency response. These are fire, police, ambulance staff and also volunteers who set up rest centres, call centres etc whenever there is a critical incident.
The speakers had all been affected by terrorism. One speaker had been on the tube at King’s Cross on 7/7, another had lost her leg in the IRA bombing of the Victoria Station, London in 1991, the third speaker had been a police officer on duty when a bomb went off outside Harrods in December 1983 and the fourth lost his son in the bombing of Sharm el Sheikh. They all told their stories about how they were dealt with by the authorities, the health professions, their employers, colleagues and family. Some experiences were good, some less so. In every case, their lives were completely changed by the incident.
The workshop was really useful for the emergency staff, who rarely know the ‘end of the story’ once they have helped people in the immediate moment of an incident. The testimonies were very powerful. Some key lessons were
Quote from a participant “It’s all about them (the victim), not about what we think they want.”
The Foundation for Peace carries out excellent training for professionals dealing with critical incidents and also training in Conflict Resolution and Leadership.
Mike Gibson appeared on Granada Reports today in an interview with Ashley Derricott about the merits of High Speed Rail, following the Transport Select Committee’s decision to back the new rail plans. Mike, a strong supporter of HSR, was asked for his views as a Director of Connectivity Associates, a company whose efficiency and competitiveness would be much improved with the faster journey times and improved rail capacity that would make HSR a sustainable alternative to motorway and air transport.
Recent Events
Plans submitted for city centre hotel
Connectivity Associates, as part of the project team comprising Mace, WSP and Associated Architects, have submitted a planning application for the conversion of a vacant 1970′s office block in the centre of Birmingham to a hotel. The nine-storey office block, known as Ladywood House, stands above New Street Station and The Pallasades shopping centre and its proposed conversion and external improvements will complement Network Rail’s Birmingham Gateway scheme, currently underway, for the refurbishment of the station and new retail development.