The Cooperative HQ will be a BREEAM Outstanding building. We learned how it will be powered by plant oil grown on the Cooperative’s own farms; it also has a combined heat and power plant. Any excess energy will go into a district-heating scheme for other parts of the NOMA project.

It is impressive to stand inside the atrium – you could fit a jumbo jet into the space. It is designed to have plenty of natural light and it has views out to the hills. An excellent visit organised by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

It will be one of the most environmentally-friendly buildings in the world. We used to build cathedrals to God, in Manchester we used to build them to commerce, this is a Cathedral to Sustainability.

To find how you can get further free advice about what the changes mean for your land or property go to Connectivity Planning.

The first speaker, Penelope Gibbs, spoke about her research into the relationships between charity Chairs and CEOs. This was an excellent insight, but she could not disclose the name of her interviewees.

The panel, chaired by Zoe Amar, Head of Marketing and Business Development, Lasa consisted of Oliver Howard, Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Scope, Nigel Homer, Chief Executive, The Environment Council, Javed Khan, CEO, Victim Support and Kate Bull, CEO, The People’s Supermarket

The discussion demonstrated the amount of time and effort now expended in Stakeholder Engagement and the value that these organisations felt that they got out of it. I liked Javed’s comment “Storm is the new norm”.

For further information on training go to www.connectivityassociates.com/training or contact Chrissie on chrissie@connectivityassociates.com

Contact Mike mike@connectivityassociates.com or call us on 07718 277925 or 0161 442 8391 for a FREE initial discussion to find out how the new policies might affect your proposals and aspirations.

However, it was more interesting for me to hear him talk in the Q & A about the issue of cutting ‘red tape’ for businesses.

Firstly, he pointed out that the most successful economy in Europe is the most regulated – Germany.

Secondly, he said that in his time as President of the Board of Trade he repeatedly asked businesses and their representative organisations about ideas for deregulation. He stated that he never received one sensible suggestion.

Such an interesting comment from a former Deputy Prime Minister in the Major Conservative government, which would normally be associated with cutting red tape. Hesseltine was also the champion of enterprise zones in the 1980s which sought to boost the local economies in deprived areas by reducing regulatory barriers.

He was awarded the freedom of the City of Liverpool to acknowledge his role as Minister for Merseyside in the 1980s and his current role in the Cities’ Task Force.

It is available on the web and works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device.

You can capture items such as photos, text, clips of websites and voice memos. It is great for those bits of information which you think will ‘come in handy’ but you don’t know where it store them.

At work, I use it to keep information which will be useful for my training workshops. At home, I scan in receipts and have a section called food and wine.

There’s a lot you can get for free – more capacity and functions on the premium version.

It’s great for getting things off your desk and into an organised system. Try it at http://www.evernote.com

“Very good event – recommend it to all.  Both for people who have presented before and people never to do it.  Really enjoyed it as everyone had to participate.  Brilliant speaker as well which made the event work.”

“Yes, a good learning experience, for the development of my presentation skills.  I can now take these skills away which I have learnt and put them in to practice.”

Call 0161 442 8391 to see what we could do to help your organisation, either as a workshop or one to one coaching.

What do you eat when you have come back from an evening event?