Indigogo events (www.indigogo.co.uk) attended the Business Link Kent 2020 Event yesterday at the Kent County Showground.
It was jammed with visitors and exhibitors, but how much business were they really doing?
It would be interesting to find out how many hot leads people got from the event, or was it a case of being seen and increasing your network?
If the networking wall was anything to go by, then there were thousands of people looking to increase their business.
The keynote speaker James Cann (Dragons Den) was an excellent presenter, a realistic, down to earth and humorous guy. An excellent summary of his speech can be found on this blog
http://theinspirationist.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/james-caan-says-motivate-yourself-as-well-as-your-people/
The Entrepreneur Panel of Gerald Coleman (Artisan Du Chocolat), Alastair Jessel (Taywell Group), Paula Jones (A few of my favourite things and The Apprentice candidate), Sharon Goodyer (The Cake Bake Company - responsible for the Skoda cake advert) provided a mixed bag of business advice. They were asked to come up 10 tips for businesses, all very viable, but delivery of their message was mixed. Gerald was a disappointment, Alastair was factual and business like, Paula was nervous, humorous and realistic and Sharon gave a different approach requesting the audience to provide a solution to the waste generated by cutting off crusty ends when baking cakes! There was only time for 3 questions which I though was not enough since I assumed the panel were there to provide a questions and answers session.
From Indigogo's point of view it was a case of getting out there, getting known and getting a feel of the business opportunites. Once again the feedback on our brand was very positive with one exhibitor said "you are really living the dream" referring to our purple corporate clothing and branding co-ordination.
What did the event do for you?
I thought the 2020 show was great, well organised, even the lunch was good.
ReplyDeleteThe level of interest we had was very positive and we expect to grow our traders community well on the back of this.
the downside was the wifi; I suggested to the organisers they don't offer this in future but suggest evryone makes their own arrangements using a mobile boradband through a dongle device on your pc.
What did others think?
Mike Hamilton
tradetheeasyway.com
Thanks for your constructive comments Mike. I visited your stand and it was buzzing with people.
ReplyDeleteWhat an opportunity for a company to go in and offer wifi to please the masses and get some good coverage, in more ways than one!
I thought the company offering telephone answering services whilst you were at the show was a great idea.
How can we get others to use this blog? Not sure there are many opportunities to keep in touch online in Kent. Press release to the Gazette etc?
ReplyDeleteMike Hamilton
I am hoping this is just the start and kicking myself that I didn't get it together before the event. It provides a huge potential for businesses to connect with each other.
ReplyDeleteKent 2020 have a twitter page, but that means you have to join twitter and restrict your posts to limited characters. I have put a post on their twitter page https://twitter.com/Kent2020 today as they are looking for testimonials.
Press release on its way. Want to add a statement Mike?
The KM Group have provided a good report on the event including videos at http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/special_reports/kent_2020_vision_2010.aspx
ReplyDelete