Marketing Seminar - Making some noise – how small companies can make a big impact through well planned marketing

Have you ever looked at the mega-brands and thought ‘if only we had that kind of budget and resource …’

Ever wondered how you are going to get your story told in a world where brands do literally fight for attention?

A panel of entrepreneurs and marketing experts come together to provide tips and advice on how with even a shoestring budget, you can make some noise in your marketplace.

Chair: Nick Jaspan – Publisher of How-Do

Panel: Dan Germain – Head of Creative, Innocent Drinks; Robert Harwood-Matthews – Chief Executive, TBWA\ Manchester; Philip Dyer – President (Lancashire), Chartered Institute of Marketing; Kieron Barton – Marketing Director, Chilli Marketing

Ideas Factory

Come and witness a number of companies compete to win £30,000 worth of products and services to help take their business idea to the next stage. Ideas Factory returns with the usual colourful array of companies pitching to an experienced panel of business experts.

The Loop: Creativity and the Bottom Line – Sponsored By CIDS

This session will explore how creative thinking can bring a competitive advantage to any business. In association with CIDS - Manchester's support and development agency for creative businesses, this session will include a panel of talented creatives and their clients talking about how the application of great design, intelligent branding and a bit of flair has upped profits and increased profile.

The seminar will give you insight into how creative services can help improve your own enterprise's performance using real-life case-studies. You'll also have the chance to quiz the creatives and their clients on working together as they share their experiences.

Welcome: Warren Bramley

Panel: Jonathan Sands - Chairman, Elmwood; David Walter - CEO, Photolink Creative Group; David Birkett – Managing Director, Serious

Ideas Factory Competition

Come and witness a number of companies compete to win £30,000 worth of products and services to help take their business idea to the next stage. Ideas Factory returns with the usual colourful array of companies pitching to an experienced panel of business experts.

Judging Panel: Tony Minshall – Management Team, Manchester Business School Incubator
Tony Walker – Incubation Manager, University of Manchester Incubator Company; Ben Turney – Director, Venturepoint; Graham Bond – Partner, Baker Tilly; Laura Wolfe – Regional Director, Institute of Directors North West

Giant Leap – Investor Presentations

This session will showcase a selection of businesses looking for investment to take their business forward and is aimed at young, fast-growing companies. This session is a must attend for investors and funding providers.

Panel: Graham Alcock – Director Business Development, Baker Tilly; Jonathan Diggines – CEO, Enterprise Ventures; Norman Molyneux- Managing Director, Acceleris Plc; Doug Stellman – Investment Manager, YFM Group

Making Excellence Work for Your Business
David Teale - Chief Executive, North of England Excellence

This session will show how North of England Excellence uses the principles of excellence to improve business performance and enhance the bottom line.
It will give delegates practical tools to use in the workplace and knowledge of

• The principles of excellence
• How to work towards excellence
• How to be recognized for excellence
• Using excellence to market your business to customers

How to Tackle Sickness Absence and Improve Bottom-Line Performance
Stephen Calderbank - Head of Operations, EEF North West

• Is absence rising in your company?
• Do some of your employees see sick pay as a ‘right’ rather than a ‘safety net’
• Do you lack confidence when managing staff off sick with stress, anxiety or depression?

Turn your company’s attendance around and improve performance with our top tips on tackling sickness absence at work. Delegates attending this session are also eligible to enter our prize draw where we’re giving away 10 copies of our Managing Sickness Absence Toolkit worth £95 each, published in association with AXA. It’s currently winning plaudits for its combination of HR, legal and occupational health expertise.

‘Mind your Business’ Radio Show by Junction YK

Mind your Business is a weekly online radio panel show tackling questions from business people in the Northwest - think Question Time but for a business audience. It is chaired by Jim Hancock, Broadcaster, and invites leading business people onto the panel to bring their experience and expertise to bear. We are delighted to welcome Clive Grinyer, Director or Product Design at Orange onto today’s panel.

Open your mind; Change your shoes; Sell more!!
David Carrighan - Managing Director - BlueZoom

The seminar will challenge you to look at sales from a different perspective, focusing on 3 key stages in the sales cycle: Establishing Interest, Building Value and Influencing Commitment. You will be able to reflect on how you sell now; it will provide some hints & tips that you can apply to your own business; and it will also allow you to assess the value selling capability of your own selling or that of your sales team.

Mastermind Your Business Success
Craig Hines, Senior Consultant, Kaplan Professional

Improving performance is difficult in a time of increasing pressures and change.  Successful businesses are pro-active and take on these challenges as opportunities.

Some of the key factors for success are:

• Inspiring your team and managing performance
• Gaining competitive edge and exceeding customer expectations
• Appropriate style of management effectively demonstrated
• Managing change, gaining commitment and achieving results
• Compare the checklist of Tops Tips with your own organisation.

The Can Can Man
Ben Kench - Small Business Growth Specialist

Are you concerned about the future of your business but don’t feel you have the resources to make it big? Think you can’t fight the competition without matching them in size? Not so. Less is more. It’s not about what you don’t have; it’s more about how you use what you have got. This presentation will show you exactly how you can win by being small, and how to maximise your strengths!

Doing Big and Scary
Andy Mouncey - Founder

300 miles of a continuous solo triathlon linking London and Paris where swimming the English Channel is only the middle part of the challenge? Are you serious? Andy Mouncey was and did just that – setting new record times for each stage. In Doing Big & Scary Andy picks his audience up and transports them onto a rollercoaster ride: stories, humour and interaction are abundant! And while there is something about running, swimming and cycling – Andy’s journey was much more than that. He will take you to places you won’t expect, and will leave you in a very special place indeed.

Internet Security
Paul Wood – Senior Analyst, MessageLabs

Today the internet is crucial to business operations yet it can also leave your business vulnerable to security threats and risks around employee productivity and legal liability. During this presentation Paul Wood, Senior Analyst for MessageLabs, will provide some top tips for improving your web and email security and reduce the risks surrounding your business and the internet.

Having spent more than 18 years in the IT industry, Paul is a respected and well-known individual through his involvement with UK’s International Anti-Spam Group and The London Action Group (International Network of Anti-Spam Authorities).