Events
I realised recently that whenever life gets a tad quiet, I organise a management training event and I've been doing it for over 30 years!
The first time this happened was in 1980, when I organised Computer 80, an exhibition and conference at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel and around 2,000 delegates attended over two days. I had written a Guide to Computerisation for the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board (HCITB) and this seemed to me to be a great way to celebrate the new world of information technology. Judith Hann from BBC's Tomorrows World was my keynote speaker.
Twenty years later, having spent the interim helping to build and sell a hotel systems company and working with a couple of international computer manufacturers, I found myself back in the Cotswolds with a more peaceful way of life. So I made a movie called Beat the Bug and sent it to around 10,000 local businesses. I had been appointed Millennium Officer for Gloucestershire and there wasn't much time left! The movie was a success and was also distributed nationally.
In 2010 it happened again. I had responded to an Invitation to Tender from UKTI South West for an innovation based event and Born Global 2011 was born. Over the next six months, 80 companies received coaching, thirty made it to the short-list and fifteen were finally presented to an exclusive audience of professional investors and mentors. The 'Dragons' Den' style auditions and final event were filmed by the BBC and featured in a three day mini-series for BBC Points West.
Michael Howes | Business Pilot
DRAGONS' DIARY
15 Feb 2012 - Oxford Innovation Opportunity Network (OION): at Said Business School, Oxford
23 Feb 2012 - Thames Valley Investment Network Investment Meeting: at Green Park, Reading
08 Mar 2012 - Beer and Partners 226th London Investment Fair' - the format is informal - investors turn up and are handed a catalogue, then sit down with those companies that interest them and speak to them for as long as they like
20 Mar 2012 - Oxford Innovation Opportunity Network (OION): at Said Business School, Oxford
29 Mar 2012 - Thames Valley Investment Network Investment Meeting: at Green Park, Reading
EXPORTING FOR GROWTH COMPETITION (UKTI South West)
21 Feb 2012 - Auditions at Bath Innovation Centre
23 Feb 2012 - Auditions at Abbey Manor Business Centre
28 Feb 2012 - Auditions at Renishaw, Wotton-under-Edge
1 Mar 2012 - Auditions at PWC, Plymouth
19 Mar 2012 - SW Regional Final at Leigh Court, Bristol
