Posted on April 29, 2008 by Nick
Last week, my good friend Matt O’Neill hosted his regular event for internal comms professionals. He’d decided to try out a new format, which has been gaining some traction in recent years (although apparently it’s been around for ages). Called “Pecha Kucha”, the deal is: all presentations must be 20 slides long, and the speaker [...]
Filed under: people skills, presentation, technology, tips | Tagged: matt o'neill, meetings, pecha kucha, powerpoint, presentations, public speaking | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 28, 2008 by Nick
Last week, I found myself in the back of a taxi, chatting to London’s most talkative – and very amusing – cabbie. With the London Mayoral elections coming up, I was keen to get his opinions, and he was most forthcoming about the credit crunch. He was also forthcoming about his opinions on the philandering [...]
Filed under: current affairs, finance | Tagged: credit crunch, finance, small business, trickledown | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 24, 2008 by Nick
Today’s post is only tenuously connected to business. Today, a supplier of mine kindly took me out to lunch at Vertigo, the restaurant atop the 42nd floor of Tower 42 at the bottom of Bishopsgate in the middle of the City of London. Here are the photos, and yes, that’s a fine bubbly. Sometimes, something [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 23, 2008 by Nick
It’s been an exciting day. Today, I headed up to Leicester’s DeMontfort University, where under the keen eye of Edwina Goodwin, first-year Business student were entering the Fox’s Lair. Yup, it’s a thinly disguised version of TV’s Dragon’s Den, and I was lucky enough to be invited to be one of ten on-duty dragons. Edwina’s [...]
Filed under: finance, retail, tips | Tagged: business skills, DeMontfort, DMU, Dragon's Den, entrepreneurship, finance, Fox's Lair, ideas, invention, numbers, presentation, strategy, team, teamwork, training | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 21, 2008 by Nick
What does it take to make your company unique? When lots of other ventures, some with plenty more experience and cash than you, are providing the same service; what can you do to somehow set yourself apart from the rest? Sometimes it takes just one big idea. Actually, no- sometimes it takes just one little, [...]
Filed under: marketing, sales, tips | Tagged: bluhalo, companies house, development, growth, ideas, sales, strategy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 18, 2008 by Nick
Tenon, the entrepreneur’s forum, has recently published a survey, claiming that for most respondents it just doesn’t pay for small businesses to become more environmentally friendly. Over half of those questioned had made no progress in implementing green measures and had no intention of doing so. This made me wonder, first of all, how green [...]
Filed under: current affairs, technology | Tagged: charity, CSR, environment, green, recycling, social responsibility, Tenon | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 15, 2008 by Nick
Yesterday, I was lucky enough to meet an intriguing entrepreneur. James Espey is in his mid-sixties, and still has just a hint of his native South African twang; although he’s been a UK citizen for over thirty years. He’s spent most of his life steeped in alcohol- no, not like that: he has worked at [...]
Filed under: business heroes, marketing, retail | Tagged: brand, drinks, espey, grandmet, IDV, james espey, last drop, leadership, malibu, non-exec, non-executive, piat d'or, seagram, startup, united distillers | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 11, 2008 by Nick
Have you ever bought a piece of second-hand office equipment? When you start up in business, every penny counts, and printers, faxes and plasma screens all come at a price. I’ve bought plenty of second-hand bits and pieces over the years. But they never, ever, ever seem to come with a manual. Help is at [...]
Filed under: tips | Tagged: manuals, retrevo | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 11, 2008 by Nick
Nobody is as smart or as well informed as they like to think. One of the big news stories of the past fortnight has been the tension surrounding the procession of the Beijing Olympic Torch around several world cities, London included. The processions have been troubled by sometimes violent protests over China’s treatment of neighbouring [...]
Filed under: PR, current affairs, marketing | Tagged: media, PR | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 8, 2008 by Nick
I’m about a week behind here, but I’ve just sat open-mouthed through the BBC’s fab “The Apprentice”, episode 2. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the usual compulsive mix of reality TV and entrepreneurship. Villain of the piece was the Girls Team project manager Jenny Celerier, who (admittedly perhaps through judicious video editing) looks like [...]
Filed under: people skills, sales | Tagged: apprentice, sales, teamwork | Leave a Comment »
