Here are this week’s highlights from the team: Nova After returning from a week of skiing, I was delighted to see our team’s exceptional support for the Norfolk business community. Both The Big Debate, scheduled for February 9th, and the Festival of Knowledge, set for March 6th and 7th, are progressing smoothly. I recently had a productive virtual meeting with our new account manager from the Department for Education. This collaboration is part of our commitment to the Norfolk & Suffolk Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP). Additionally, I had the opportunity to meet with the Chamber CEOs of Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex in Colchester to discuss developments in Chambers East. To cap off the week, I attended the A47 Alliance meeting at County Hall on Friday morning. Our ongoing mission is to lobby and advocate for business-oriented improvements to the A47. Jack
This week has felt like the first of 2024 where everything is properly gearing up for the year ahead. Our events programme is back with a bang and we’ve already held our first Engagement Group of the year in Thetford, hearing from businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our Strategic Partners Uptech are sponsoring these, and we had a very interesting discussion about digital literacy, cybersecurity and broadband infrastructure.
Co.Next held a brilliant panel discussion event this week, looking at Management vs Leadership – huge thanks to the speakers and well done to Caroline in our team for making it happen. Check out the events page on our website to see what’s coming up! In the background, the team has been doing all the usual member meetings and event planning, and this week has seen a laser-like focus from Events Manager Shelley on two biggies. The first is the Big Debate on 9th February at The Forum in Norwich. We have four panel debates, each looking at a key priority for the business community. Shelley has pulled together some excellent panellists for this one, including 3 of our local MPs. As soon as the Big Debate is done, it’s on to the new-look Festival of Knowledge – a new skills and careers event for Norfolk at The Showground. Stands are selling fast, so book yours now. For me, the week has been highlighted with an excellent catch-up with Andrew Dernie from Aviva, one of our Gold Patrons. I look forward to working closer with them on some key policy issues/opportunities for Norfolk. I joined Andrea on a call with Ascot Lloyd, one of five strategic partners, about how we can continue to support their business this year. This week, I also had the pleasure of being one of the Dragons for The Norwich School’s annual ‘Dragons Den’ event. Mile Cross Primary School pupils are remarkably innovative when it comes to business propositions! The winning business was ‘Heartwarmers’, an AI-enabled build-a-bear style toy for children to talk about emotions and mental health with their parents. Finally, I had a call with the British Chambers of Commerce on our asks for the Spring Budget in March. Emphasising the need for reform of business rates, further tax cuts for business and investing further in skills beyond the ‘traditional’ curriculum, such as Planning qualifications and non-accredited technical training. Rick (Me) Following the Christmas break, selecting just one highlight from this week feels akin to choosing a favourite child, given the flurry of activities. However, the development of our 2024 Marketing Strategy stands out. It’s brimming with innovative and exciting plans for the year. Central to our strategy is enhancing member benefits and deepening understanding of membership value. I eagerly anticipate your reactions as more details are unveiled. Last night’s ‘Management Vs Leadership’ event for Co.next was a standout. This event, slightly different from our usual programming, focused on a critical topic and attracted a substantial turnout at the Forum, which was the perfect venue choice. It was wonderful to witness such engagement and sets a positive precedent for the initiatives Caroline is planning for Co.next this year. Behind the scenes, I’ve been immersed in various digital projects for the Chamber, and as we look to work closer with our Strategic Partners is was great to have Source One Consulting join the Chambers as a brand new Strategic Partner this week too. We’re already talking about some cool stuff for the Norfolk Show and the Chambers business hub there, so keep an eye out for some announcements on that soon. It’s busy, and my caffeine levels are at an all time high, but we’ve achieved a lot already this year. I’m excited about the prospect of bringing new team members into the Chambers soon, as we work towards making 2024 the best year yet for our members. Andrea
What a fantastic week of member meetings. Inviting members for a catch up and coffee at the end of 2023 has given me a great start to the year with some brilliant conversations with our amazing members. My first meeting this week was with Ascot Lloyd about their Strategic Partnership, shaping plans for them for 2024 and looking at how we can support them with their own plans. David and Mark gave us an outline of their projects and we are delighted to be supporting them on their key event of the year with Stratton Motor Company in May this year. We are looking forward to David being one of our panellists at the Big Debate
Then it was onto a meeting with Kelling Heath to discuss their membership with us as well as the exciting plans we have for our North Norfolk Networking sessions starting on 14th February. Kelling Heath have some amazing plans for 2024 including their “Inspiring guests with Nature” program, it’s the 40th Anniversary of the park being owned by the Timewell Family and their new “dog friendly” lodges, it’s definitely going to be a busy year for them.
Yesterday gave me the opportunity to meet with Andy from Service Service who bought me up to date with exciting plans for his businesses – always good to have a coffee and catch up with Andy.
My next meeting was with Turning Factor discussing their Strategic Partnership and plans for 2024. There are definitely some exciting plans taking shape. We are also looking forward to Kathryn being one of our panellists for the Big Debate.
And then to today – my final two meetings were with Source One Consulting who have just joined us as a brand new Strategic Partner, we are really looking forward to working with them. Then it was onto a meeting with Aviva’s Andrew Dernie – Aviva being one of our Gold Patrons are a fantastic support to the local business community. They have some great key projects and are keen to work with the Chamber and its members to offer support. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and are very keen to share this.
Being back hosting events and having catchups with my members, were my highlights this week.
Wednesday saw us kick start our Engagement Groups for 2024 and I hosted the first group in Thetford which was supported by our Strategic Partners, Uptech. Great to see so many local Thetford businesses attend and share with the group.
“𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭”, “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐲?”, “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲” and my favourite “𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 & 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐭” were all spoken about on Thursday night at the first Co.next event of 2024. It was truly amazing to have a packed room of professionals and hear from our incredible panel and amazing speaker about their insights, dos and don’ts on 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 and 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽.
Thank you to everyone who spoke, who shared and joined us! 💛
At the event I announced Yawn Marketing as the new Co.next sponsor of 2024. Yawn Marketing is the inaugural sponsor for Co.next. Find out more about that here.
#engage #empower #encourage
The photo of the week from the team has to be the amazing turnout for the Management Vs Leadership event yesterday! Thanks for reading. I will have more highlights next week! Rick Notley Marketing & Communications Manager
