Speakers at the 2020 event held on Friday 4th Oct
Cheltenham in the 2020s
A panel discussion about the vision for the next decade was held on
Friday 4th October 2019 8.30 - 10.00
Cheltenham Bowling Club
Cheltenham Connect held a breakfast networking meeting based around a chaired panel discussion with a selected group of people with relevant backgrounds and experience, who discussed their vision for Cheltenham in the 2020s.
A panel discussion about the vision for the next decade was held on
Friday 4th October 2019 8.30 - 10.00
Cheltenham Bowling Club
Cheltenham Connect held a breakfast networking meeting based around a chaired panel discussion with a selected group of people with relevant backgrounds and experience, who discussed their vision for Cheltenham in the 2020s.
Regular Business Events: |
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Laptop Friday
Video: Martin Tucker
Co-working every Friday morning 9.30am – 12 noon at Smokey Joe’s café, Bennington Street GL50 4ED
Laptop Friday is an opportunity to meet local business people and work, swap ideas or network in a friendly atmosphere over a coffee. If you work from home and spend a lot of time on your own it's a chance to get out and about while still keeping an eye on those important emails and tweets. There are new people almost every week and everyone is welcome. Just come along between 9.30am and 12 noon and introduce yourself to our organisers Nigel Knowlman and Louise Jenner. For more information visit the Laptop Friday Facebook page or contact Nigel Knowlman. Please use the group as an online environment for co-working and collaboration e.g. sharing ideas, asking for business/tech help and making recommendations. We're all about co-working and networking so we encourage links to blog posts on co-working, networking, working from home and working in coffee shops. We're informal and friendly but we expect a level of professionalism from our members on and offline. Rude or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Laptop Friday is also on Twitter so please follow us there for event news plus co-working and networking tips. http://twitter.com/LaptopFriday 
Below: 8th Anniversary of Laptop Friday
LtR: Belinda, Jonathan, Louise, Nigel, Photos: Viva Andrada O'Flynn 
Video: Martin Tucker
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Skillspace Networking
The second Tuesday evening every month (except Race week and August) 7.30pm – 9.30pm at the Beehive, Montpellier Villas GL50 2XE Skillspace Networking aims to support small businesses in Cheltenham with a talk every month on a topic of interest, from cyber security to social media. There is plenty of time for networking before and after the talk and '15 seconds of fame' to introduce yourself and your business to other attendees. The event is free but we ask everyone to contribute £1 to nibbles after the talk.Join us from 7.30pm in the Beehive, with the talk starting at 8pm. Diary dates: Future Skillspace events: Tuesday 12th November 2019 Next Tuesday’s SkillSpace is with Phil Jump from Badlands, Cheltenham’s independent record shop. Belinda will be asking Phil how Badlands came to be and what it is like running an independent record shop in the current climate. Phil will also be asked about interest in Bruce Springsteen and how he comes to have seen him perform so often. As usual with our Skillspace events, there will be plenty of time for networking before and after the talk, with 15 seconds of fame to introduce yourself to other attendees, and nibbles afterwards for a contribution of just £1. Join us from 7.30pm in the Beehive, with the talk starting at 8pm. For more information visit the Cheltenham Connect Facebook page or contact Belinda Wilson. DATES FOR 2020 14th January 11th February 17th March (moved back a week for raceweek) 14th April 12th May 9th June 14th July August - no meeting 8th September 13th October 10th November Skillspace
Christmas Networking Event You are invited to join a joint SkillSpace and #Cheltnetworking festive event 5pm - 7pm Tuesday 10th December at www.glos.info, 89 Andover Road, Cheltenham Book free here 
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Annual Events:
Connect Business Day 2019- Conference, Exhibition & Networking
SEE UPDATE BELOW
Leading Cheltenham businesses speak at Connect Business events.
Past Speakers include our local MP, John Lewis, Spirax Sarco and the LEP
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Connect Business Day Update
At the recent AGM it was decided to refresh the format of our annual Connect Business Day. This will mean taking a break in 2019 - although keep your diaries open for another Autumn event - see below. One possibility is running a Connect Business Zone as part of the Gloucestershire Business Show at the Town Hall in May 2020. We hope working with the Business Show will allow more networking with bigger businesses as well as bringing our guest speakers to a wider audience. This approach should also reduce some of the pressure on our resources in running a separate event but we will still need additional help to achieve it. Please get in touch if you can help with this potential new format. Watch this space for more developments! October Speaker Event We are still planning an evening event with a speaker panel around the time we have usually run Connect Business. Date to be announced soon giving you the opportunity to hear news and opinions from the Gloucestershire business community. Connect Business is organised by Cheltenham Connect, a not-for-profit organisation |
Connect Business is a free annual conference and exhibition which aims to encourage networking and local sourcing in Gloucestershire.
2018 was the eighth year the event had been hosted by Cheltenham Connect, a voluntary business community group. For both visitors and exhibitors our fantastic line up of speakers included representatives from Spirax Sarco, and the new John Lewis. We also heard from Alex Chalk MP and Adam Starkey from GFirst LEP. Tim Atkins from Cheltenham Borough Council also explored opportunity and innovation in association with the delivery of GCHQ’s innovation centre - and what this could mean for the future of the region. in 2018 more than 180 people visited the Pavillion, in Up Hatherley, to browse 25 stalls from local businesses, and hear talks on different aspects of marketing and business. Co-organiser Belinda Wilson, Cheltenham Connect SkillSpace Group Leader, said: “The eighth Connect Business Day was a great success. “The initial feedback has shown that attendees and standholders rated the day very highly and a good number of business connections were made, as well as business done on the day.” “One of the main strengths of the day is that it has a very informal feel, which is encouraged by the fact that it is a real community event as Cheltenham Connect is a voluntary group.” The event was opened by Mayor of Cheltenham Bernard Fisher and started with an interview of Alex Chalk MP by Anne Dawson of Gloucestershire University, ably assisted by two of her undergraduates. A panel discussion on Creating Opportunities saw Kevan Blackadder, MD of Cheltenham's BID, Neil Daws, Director of Spirax Sarco, and Martin Bundy, Managing Partner of John Lewis & Partners Cheltenham store being set questions by the Panel chair Debbie Smith of Helix PR Nigel Knowlman, director of the Business Kitchen, has been to the event for the last four years. He said: “It’s fantastic to see the local businesses that are doing so well. “There are so many interesting companies here. Connect Business is a great organisation run by volunteers.” Stalls included the Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce, Cheltenham Coworking, Nettl of Cheltenham and the Federation of Small Businesses. For more information visit the Connect Business Day website. |
See what else is on in Cheltenham at www.glos.info
Press information
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