It’s that time again!  On March 9th, we are holding our 4th(!) annual conference at the British Library.

The Women Unlimited conference is all about you. It’s inspiring, motivating, exciting, and invigorating.  We use this day to celebrate your bravery, celebrate your successes, and celebrate each other.

This year our theme is all about how to make your business THRIVE! in 2012.

What to expect

We have an absolutely fantastic line-up, and feel truly blessed to have so many remarkable women who are willing to come along and share their stories, advice and expertise to help your business become the business that you have been dreaming of.

“An AMAZING event. I am now going ot find 10 women and encourage them to attend the next event. Outstanding quality of information, it made you feel great about being a woman in business” Christine Alexander-Smith

To be successful in business you need to have a lot of passion, self belief and a powerful vision. But you also need really practical marketing tools and techniques that will help you get the message out, get more clients and powerfully sell your business.

We get that. So we are focusing this year on practical and inspirational marketing skills that will help you get more customers, more clients and more revenue.

All our speakers have achieved fantastic success in their own businesses will share with you what works and what doesn’t. They are bringing their specialist knowledge and expertise to you in a beautifully wrapped package.

What do we promise?

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn and you’ll be inspired. At the end of it you’ll be so glad that you came, you’ll wish you could do it all over again.

This year we want to help you make 2012 your best year yet.

Wendy Hallett

12 years ago, Wendy Hallett started her business from an office in her home with a small bank loan of £1000. Today Hallett Retail is responsible for an astounding £170 million of High Street fashion sales. Wow! Hallett Retail is the operational umbrella for the unique and innovative concept of Fuse – a department-store concession that brings together ten or more brands in a cohesive, boutique-like setting in host stores. The beauty of her business is that it helps small retail brands to get into large stores such as House of Fraser and Debenhams without having to bear all the costs and gives them a much bigger platfrom to sell their products from.

2011 was an incredible year for Wendy, culminating in being awarded the Everywoman Business Woman of the Year. Wendy will inspire you in ways that you can’t imagine. We can’t wait to hear her story.

Dee Blick

There is not much that Dee doesn’t know about small business marketing. In fact, she wrote the book on it! And, it became a Number 1 bestselling business book on Amazon within 48 hours of it’s launch. Dee will be running a practical session on techniques you can use to leverage your brand and your marketing message (AND tell us why we don’t need a USP to be successful), in her fast and furious small business marketing session. You can connect with Dee @deeblick

Lara Morgan

Those of you who came last year will know Lara and know how incredibly inspiring and no-nonsense she is. Lara is the founder of Pacific Direct, which she sold in 2010 for £20m and since then she has launched Company Shortcuts and also reached number one on Amazon with her book More Balls than Most. The secret to Lara’s success was her incredible sales ability and during her session, she will be sharing with us how we can learn to love sales and become superstars at selling within our own business. You can connect with Lara @IamLaraMorgan

Elizabeth Cairns

Elizabeth Cairns runs Amovita, a people development practice that uses a mix of well-being, alternative therapies and coaching to help clients live their lives to the full. Elizabeth is an enormously inspirational speaker, sensitive facilitator and general bringer of enthusiasm to everything she does. She is holding a session on how to be truly present in your business called Today is a gift…A talk for women of power and possibility. This session will leave you uplifted and refreshed and full of energy to put towards your life and your business. Connect with Elizabeth @ElizabethCairns

Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn is an Amazon bestselling author and professional speaker on writing, digital publishing and internet marketing. Her business, The Creative Penn, has helped hundreds of aspiring authors write and market their own books across a wide range of disciplines.

Multimedia is such a powerful marketing tool and really gives your customers a chance to connect with your business. At the conference Joanna will share with you how you can use multimedia to promote your brand and really make it stand out in a crowded marketplace. Connect with Joanna @TheCreativePenn

Lynne Stainthorpe

Lynne Stainthorpe is the co-founder of Big Idea Brand Marketing and a creative brand expert. She delivers provocative and practical strategic branding solutions for clients from retail to B-to-B. Now she brings her big brand expertise from her time with ICI to small businesses and has amazing techniques for helping businesses gain clarity in their brand value. Lynne is going to run an insightful session on how to develop your brand personality to create more sales. Connect with Lynne @LynneStainthorpe

Julie Hall

Julie will be the MC for the day and the founder of Women Unlimited and Springmedia. She is self-confessed Internet geek and knowledge hound. She runs the Women Unlimited business clubs as well as delivering all of our social media and web marketing workshops. She has a passion for helping entrepreneurs gain the skills that they need to create THRIVing businesses and will be sharing some her of tips and tricks throughout the day. Connect with Julie @women_unlimited

At the end of the day

Lara A King, this year’s Funny Women Award winner with close out the day for us.   Lara spreads her own particular brand of joy wherever she goes and leaved us wanting more!

Brilliant day – a combination of inspiration, advice and laughter. What more could you want in a conference
Valerie Eaton

Fantastic Networking

We are scheduling in the networking for this event!  You will have multiple opportunities to network with each other and our speakers during the conference.  And for those who don’t want the fun to stop, we will decamp from the British Library and continue the fun over at the Betjemen Arms in St. Pancras Station.  We believe  that meeting and engaging with other women who are experiencing the same challenges and successes as you are can be extremely heartening and motivating so take this opportunity to meet and learn from each as much as possible.

Where, when and how much?

Date: March 9, 2012

Time: Registration and refreshments from 9:00, conference from 10:00 – 16:30

Where: British Library Conference Centre

How much: £95 (includes lunch and all refreshments)

This really is going to be a FANTASTIC day, so give yourself and your business a boost and book your ticket today.

The Women Unlmited conference will empower you to lead your business to the next level, while introducing you to a community of intelligent, ambitious like-minded women who are all overcoming the challenges and enjoying the rewards of running a business.

We’ll see you there!

“I was at TEDActive last week. The weather is better in Palm Springs, but this event beat it for REALISM, inspiration and most of all, laughs and love.” Catherine Shovlin

Some more quotes from our last conference…

“Lara Morgan was amazing. I am thrilled to see the growth and success that epitomises this year’s event. What a magnificent day, utterly stimulating – I am energised!” Sue Hall

“Wonderful event – great to meet likeminded women, all interested in promoting women in business and DOING the business” Rosemary from Taxi Zapp

“The best women’s event I have been to all year!”

“The most inspiring event I’ve been to in a long time – and the most laughter I’ve had in ages!” Sue Oliver

“An inspiring day amongst a group of absolutely fabulous women. Looking forward to next year’s conference already! Michelle Beck

“Amazingly inspirational day. I laughed, cried, met incredible women and learned a huge amount. THANK YOU!” Galia Orme

February 29, 2012, London Bridge, London. Women Unlimited and Springmedia, a london digital marketing agency, are running a workshop to help you create your own website in 1 day. During this workshop, you will create your own website using WordPress.  WordPress is a blogging platform that is used by people all over the world to manage their websites and blogs – and also the platform that Women Unlimited is built on!

Please note this workshop is open to both men and women.

We will provide the platform for you to work on for the day, or if you would prefer to work on your own website, we can upload wordpress to your webspace or provide hosting with installation for a fantastic price.  You choose the package that is right for you.  So when you come along on the day you are able to get right into the fun stuff of building your website.

We will help you define your menu, choose your design, show you how to change your designs, how to add functionality without ever needing to get your hands dirty with the code.

WordPress workshop. We  will take you through the process of creating a website or blog using WordPress.  It is an incredibly flexible system that gives you the chance to manage and update your own website at will.  This is the 6th time we’ve run this workshop and you can see some of the fantastic sites that have been created by some of our previous delegates below.

What you will NOT learn:

Firstly, (and this is really important), you will NOT be learning how to write html or coding language.  WordPress has an easy to use interface, everything is available to you through an easy to use administration panel. Using plugins and widget, WordPress takes all the tricky coding out of your hands.

We specialise in making technology simple and will be on hand through the whole day to show you and assist you.  This is a practical course in the extreme in that at the end of the 6 hours you will have your own website that you can be proud of.  That will look professional, that will be easy to update (as WordPress will be your content management system), and will be Google friendly!  What more could you ask for?!

WordPress agenda items

1. How WordPress works
2. How to add templates to your site
3. Choosing and applying your design
4. How to add pages to your site
5. Creating your navigation so that it makes sense
6. How to add and remove elements from your site
7. How to add functionality to your site (ie Twitter, Google sitemap – don’t worry, we’ll give you a few of our favourites and show you where to find the rest)
8. Where to find more information

How will it work?

You can bring your own laptop to the workshop or use the computers onsite.  We will provide you with all the software that you need and the templates that you will be using.  For the purposes of this workshop, you will need to use the templates that we have provided as they have been chosen for their quality and suitability for business sites.  However, we will direct you to other sites where you can choose from thousands of other designs (most of them free!)

What you will need to have in place

All of these things  listed are necessary, but we are happy to talk you through the requirements and how to get them on a one to one basis with each person who books on the course.

Hosting: You will need to have hosting in place if you want to work on your own website and not just any hosting, you need Linux hosting with a MySQL database. Typically this costs about £5 per month (and we are offering this as an option at £50 per annum). We will provide a working wordpress installation for you to work on during the workshop.

Laptop: If you bring your own, please make sure you have a wifi connection.

Domain: Not explicitly necessary to build the website, but your site can’t go live without a name.  We can also go through how to connect your domain to your hosting company, set up your emails etc – we recommend UKreg for domain purchasing.  Never let your web developer buy your domain as you are likely to pay over the market rate and this will become one of your most important assets and you want to make sure you own it completely.

Images: As part of the workshop we will show you were to find images, but will not be able to spend a lot of time on this.  If you would like to have specific images on your site, we recommend you purchase or source them in advance.  Best site for this is http://www.istockphoto.com

Content: Ideally you will have your own content to add to the site.  But don’t it stop you if you don’t – we will provide you with dummy text that you can change at any time.

Who is this for?

• Anyone who wants to create their own blog
• Service based business such as accountants, Virtual PA’s, Coaches, Marketing Consultants, Graphic Designers etc
• Anyone who is interested in creating their own sites for internet marketing

Type of sites this workshop is this not for

• E-commerce sites (sorry, while it can be done, it is out of scope to create this type of site in a day)
• Payment based sites – see above

WordPress is one of the most powerful tools on the internet today and once you have the skills to create your own website, your only limitation is your own imagination.

Logistics:

Where: LMG Training and Development, 202 Blackfriars Road, Southwark, SE1 8NJ (click here to see a map, it’s about a 10 minute walk from London Bridge, 8 mins from Waterloo and 2 minutes from Southwark)
Date & time: February 29, 2012 10:00 – 5:00
Cost: £145.00

Previous delegates websites

But don’t take our word for it!  Here are some of the sites developed by our previous delegates

WordPress is a (free!) blogging platform that is used by people all over the world to manage their websites and blogs – and also the platform that Women Unlimited is built on! This is the third time we’ve run this workshop now so now we can show you some of the fantastic sites that our previous delegates have created. These are website that any new business would be proud of. A lot of work has gone into these websites but it has really paid off!

… and some feedback …

“I attended the ‘Build Your Own Website In Word Press’ workshop a couple of weeks ago, and apart from a few minor problems which were easily overcome I now have a fully functioning, totally fantastic Word Press website! I love it, it’s easy to use and have really enjoyed putting it together. I really wanted to take control of my website, because things change sometimes daily and it was important for me to be in front of the curve as far as new developments are concerned. Julie has been absolutely brilliant (and very patient) in helping me to do this – I do find technology challenging, but I decided to take up the challenge and it’s absolutely fantastic to actually get a result for a change. I definitely recommend everyone to come on this course, it’s money very well spent.

Thanks again, and now looking to upload some audio having just worked out how to use Audacity to record an MP3 – there’s no stopping me now!”  Wendy Dashwood Quick written on June 15 after attending the previous workshop on June 4.  www.resolutioncoaching.co.uk

Not to sound melodramatic, but taking the ‘Build your own website or blog in WordPress‘ course with Women Unlimited was seriously like a weight being lifted off my chest. I’d had experience running WordPress sites before, but invariably ended up wasting hours trying to figure out what became obvious in a matter of minutes on the course. In just one day, Julie and Viv managed to give me the tools to now be able to create and manage WordPress sites independently. Unlike other courses where info is piecemeal and there’s a DVD to buy at the end, Women Unlimited’s approach is to give you everything they can – as well as free support phone calls and webinars – to make sure you’re needs have been tailored to. Basically, I couldn’t recommend it more and just wish I’d seen the course sooner.

Christian McLaughlin, producer/director, Dakus Films

Sunday 23^rd January 2011 – Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond
Hosted by Jan Ravens

Richmond based Funny Women is the leading female comedy franchise in the UK and has now forged a winning relationship with the Orange Tree Theatre which played host to two sell out shows last year, including a heat of the acclaimed national talent competition, the Funny Women Awards.

Funny Women returns to the Orange Tree Theatre on Sunday 23^rd January in support of local charity The Victoria Foundation, (formerly The New Victoria Medical Foundation) which provides medical support to help improve lives.  The show will be hosted by impressionist, Jan Ravens, back by popular request.

The show will feature another brilliant showcase of female comedy talent from Funny Women, which is best known for its annual competition, the Funny Women Awards, for new and aspiring female comedy performers.  With names like Zoe Lyons, Andi Osho, Sara Pascoe, Miss London and even the new ‘Loose Women’ presenter, Sarah Millican to aspire to, who have all come through the competition, a career in comedy is now a reality for funny women everywhere.

The Funny Women Awards were first launched in 2003 and are now the benchmark for women breaking into comedy.  The 2010 competition attracted a record breaking 350 entries, and the 2011 Awards hold the promise of even better things to come for the next generation of female comedy talent.

The show at the Orange Tree Theatre features three acts from the 2010 Funny Women Awards: the first ever winner of the new Variety Award, Gemma Whelan who performs as her spinsterly alter ego the delightfully crazed ‘Chastity Butterworth’; plus musical musings from this year’s runner up Rachel Parris and finalist Alison Thea-Skot.

The show also features Canadian Mae Martin, voted by Now Magazine as one of the funniest people in Toronto, newly fledged comic and columnist Viv Groskop, and Elizabeth Mee, finalist in the 2009 Funny Women Awards and also back at the Orange Tree Theatre for the second year running by popular demand.

Funny Women is also proud to present Mel Burgess, business development manager of Newsquest South & West London, who is brand new to the comedy scene after recently participating in the Funny Women Challenge at The Bingham in November 2010.  The event challenged five business women to try their hand at stand up, also in support of The Victoria Foundation, and Mel has extended her particular challenge to raise even more funds from this next performance.

The Victoria Foundation, a Richmond based charity, is delighted to once again be the beneficiary charity of this annual show.  100% of the funds raised at the event will provide medical support which will help to improve lives.

“We are very much looking forward to another fabulous show at the wonderful Orange Tree Theatre. The charity much appreciates the generous support of the performers who are giving up their time to take part in the show,” says Lorna Votier, development director at The Victoria Foundation.

“We are really excited to be back at the Orange Tree Theatre for another show,” comments Lynne Parker, founder and executive producer of Funny Women.  “Our local community is important to us even though we are now a nationally renowned brand.

“This promises to be another sparkling evening of entertainment and just what Richmond needs at this bleak time of year – our mantra is laughing about life to help and heal people, so please come and support these wonderfully talented women and a brilliant cause.”

Listing Information

Sunday 23^rd January 2010

Doors 7.00pm show 7.30pm

Tickets £20.00

Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 2SA

www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk

Box Office: 020 8940 3633

Opening hours: 10am – 7pm

Nearest tube and mainline station: Richmond (District Line, South West Trains and Silverlink)

For more information about Funny Women please visit:

www.funnywomen.com or email info@funnywomen.com

To sponsor Mel Burgess’s performance in support of The Victoria Foundation, please visit: www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/FunnyWomen.

Cheques to be made payable to: ‘The New Victoria Medical Foundation’.

Send donations to: The New Victoria Medical Foundation, St David’s House, 15 Worple Way, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, TW10 6DG.

For further information about The Victoria Foundation contact:

Lorna Votier on 020 8332 1792 l.votier@thenewvictoriamedicalfoundation.org

Or visit www.newvictoriamedicalfoundation.co.uk .  Charity Number: 292841.

If you’re raising money in London, you can’t afford not to attend!

This Investment Readiness workshop is designed to specially support fashion/retail/design based businesses looking to grow and gain investment. It is an intensive and very practical hands-on workshop.

This workshop costs £75.00 plus VAT for the 2 days, if you would like to attend, please email Gaby.Rose@uk.gt.com / 0207 728 2715

Day 1 – Wednesday 10 November 2010

An intensive and interactive programme designed to give you the inside track on

how investors view your business and what you need to do to get over the elusive

investment line.

9.00 – Welcome & Introduction

9.15 - The Investment Landscape: Mike Bowman, Investment Director, E Synergy

9.30 - Inside track from an established business angel and VC: Mike Bowman, Investment Director, E-Synergy

10.30 – Building a brand: Rose Lewis, Partner, Pembridge Partners

11.30 – Entrepreneurs become investors! Give a short pitch to your fellow entrepreneurs

13.00 – Networking Lunch

13.45 – The Buyers perspective; pricing your product for retail margins, Jason Heller

14.30 – Interactive investor Q&A session: Andrew Small, Nesta

15.15 – The Investment Gap In The Fashion sector: Wendy Malem, Director of the Centre for Fashion Enterprise

16.00 – The Buyers perspective: Debbie Beumont Ex Senior Buyer House of Fraser and Harrods

16.30 – British Fashion Council: Promoting British Fashion Designers

17.00 Feedback and wrap up

18.00 Event close

Day 2 – Thursday 11 November 2010

9.00 – Welcome & Introduction

9.30 – Protecting your IP in a Consumer Products Market: Rebecca Swindell, Field Fisher Waterhouse

10.30 – Manufacturing: London Manufacturing Advisory Service

11.30 – Growing your business: Cate Han, Two Birds Bridesmaid

12.30 – Route to Investment Plan Rose Lewis

13.00 – Event Close

www.ufblondon.org

With support from NESTA, Skillset and The Centre for Fashion Enterprise

More women than ever are starting businesses. Take this opportunity to meet with other female entrepreneurs and experts.

15th November, 2010. Smart marketers are always on the hunt to understand their clients better as well as the target audiences they market to. Technology for Good is here to connect the talented marketers with the insights and answers they need to deliver results, not followers.

‘Tech for Good’ NFP summit ’10 will move you in your seat through provocative, hard hitting advice, creative ideas that move the human perspective and tangible outcomes that you can implement the next day.

Our key notes and case studies have been hand picked. The content will be real, fresh and relevant. They include:

>Social Media, a cultural shift ‘inside’ your organisation.

>‘Word of Mouth for Good’, Harnessing the power of peer-to-peer conversation for charities, causes and campaigns”.

>How organisations can punch above their weight.

>How to make the most of little or no budget with social media.

>Turn supporters into advocates with social media.

>Bringing together your community online to amplify your message.

What should I expect?

Tangible outcomes that you can apply at work the next day. This is not for the faint of heart or the new marketeer looking to get a solid baseline. This is for intermediate to advanced level marketers neck deep in a Not For Profit.

The Full Line Up

Jonathan Waddingham
Product Manager, Digital Strategist and Charity Blogger

Product Manager with strong social media strategy skills, online fundraising expertise, public speaker and PR & comms experience. Jon blog’s for Civil Society Fundraising about how charities can use the digital and social media landscape.

He’s a passionate advocate of charities and those that raise money for worth while causes and will be sharing with us details and case studies of how causes can use online communities to extend their reach and fulfil their goals.

Steve Bridger
Builder of Bridges, Redesigning Charity for the Digital Age

Steve has helped some of the UK’s biggest charities trust more of their own people to build relationships online to support collaboration, transparency, advocacy & philanthropy.

Steve is a strong and challenging ‘voice’ in the sector, and is passionate about how PEOPLE must be at the heart of any social media strategy. This includes charity staff.

Gemma Went
Founder and Director, Red Cube Marketing

Gemma is a strategic marketing consultant and psychologist with over 10 years experience. She helps businesses achieve objectives and engage with audiences through a blend of traditional and digital methods that span marketing, social media and pr.

Gemma will be talking us through how to maximise the potential of Social Media with little or no budget and how some of the tricks of the trade which have been applied to SME’s can help the NFP & Charity sector.

James Poulter
Digital Consultant, Lexis Pr and Social Communications Trainer

James is a Digital Consultant at Lexis PR, working with brands such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Budweiser and Boots. He previously has worked at Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster and Ogilvy Public Relations, heading up the UK Digital offering at both agencies and working with a wide variety of enterprise clients including the likes of IBM, American Express, Mattel, and Vodafone.

He was recently nominated for the “Best Contribution from an Individual” award at the Reputation Online Awards & James is a well known Technology & Gadget reviewer and Christian blogger.

Scott Gould
Founder of Likeminds, Blogger & Church Pastor

Scott Gould is co-founder of Like Minds, where he is connecting people across the world through talking and then doing. He is internationally recognised as a leader in social media and community, working with Fortune 500 companies and speaking at events across the world. He is also a church pastor, writes at this popular blog.

Scott will be sharing his thoughts on creating humanistic campaigns and converting followers to advocates.

Lee Smallwood
Digital Marketing Director & Blogger

Lee is a digital strategist and heads up the Digital & Marketing team at M4 Design. He provides consultancy on integrating communications, which include social media and SEO amplification strategies, with a specific focus on the new ROI – ‘Return on Involvement’.

He has worked on projects and campaigns for Mizuno, Hitachi, Tick Tock Tea, NFU, Orange, WRAP, Ecotricity and Polo Ralph Lauren – ranging from product launches to development of digital iconography.

Joanne Jacobs
Social Media Expert Consultant, Adjunct Associate Professor Creative Industries

Joanne is a London based Social Media Consultant, providing advice to firms on knowledge management through social media, word-of-mouth marketing, client engagement and execution of business strategies with emergent technologies. Joanne’s clients range from small businesses and non-profits, to major marketing and communications organisations and technology research groups. Her areas of expertise are focused on emerging technology policy and practice, including issues of electronic business, interactivity and social software. She also acts as a facilitator for strategic planning for non-profits as well as commercial enterprises.

Molly Flatt
Word of Mouth Evangilist, 1000Heads and President of WOM UK

Molly is a passionate advocate of the value of sustained and authentic brand conversations, she has helped companies such at Nokia, Sainsburys and Caner Research understand and implement Word of Mouth marketing across all channels of their advertising,

Molly with be presenting a fascinating insight into ‘Word of Mouth for Good’, harnessing the power of WOM for good causes and drawing examples and case studies from succesful work that she has carried out.

When? Join us on Monday 15th November

Where? at the fabulous Soho Theatre.

Use Discount code: womenunlimited to get 25% off

Tuesday 23rd November, 7.00 p.m. Funny Women challenges comedy novices for local charity as part of the Richmond Literary Festival at the Bingham featuring

Julie Hall, founder of Women Unlimited

in The first ever Funny Women Challenge at the Bingham Hotel, hosted by Gabby Logan on  Tuesday 23^rd November, 7.00pm.

As you know I am always up for a challenge and this is certainly a BIG one! I have agreed, along with four other business women like me, to perform three minutes of stand up comedy for the first time to a paying audience!

Please  sponsor me by following this link:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JulieHall

The event on 23^rd November will raise awareness and funds for Richmond based charity, The New Victoria Medical Foundation, and takes place in the luxurious surroundings of The Bingham, boutique hotel and restaurant. If you would like to lend me your support there are two great options. You can buy a ticket and come along to the show, details of how to purchase tickets are below, or

Local business, Funny Women, has been facing up to the challenge of proving that women really are very funny for the last eight years. With a record number of entries this year into its annual new talent competition, the Funny Women Awards, the producers want to show that everybody can tap into their innate sense of humour and use it to communicate effectively in their business and social lives, especially women.

The Challengers

Funny Women are challenging five prominent business women

Julie Hall-is the founder of Women Unlimited, a learning and support community for women business owners, and Springmedia, a digital design agency based in South West London. For more details about about Julie Hall’s workshops visit www.women-unlimited.co.uk

Karen Darby-is a highly successful business woman and serial entrepreneur, the founder of several businesses including Call Britannia and Simply Switch. For more information about Karen Darby visit www.karendarbydirect.com.

Claire Pelenc- is used to wearing many hats and her most recent one is as the new Regional Director of the Athena Network for the Borough of Richmond. She runs this new venture alongside her fast-growing home-based business with Forever Living Products

Mel Burgess-is the business development manager at Newsquest South & West London, publishers of the Richmond & Twickenham Times.

Nora Berge-As well as her full time job at the German Embassy in London, she also had time to discover Kenya and helped in setting up her mother’s charity ‘Hope for Konya’, a non profit charity that wants to make a difference for Konya, a region in Western Kenya.

to perform three minutes of stand-up comedy for the first time to a paying audience. Each woman performing will have been mentored for her performance by the Funny Women team and a few of their favourite comedy acts.

Who’s Hosting?

Hosting the show will be television presenter and Richmond resident, Gabby Logan who is also in training to tell a few jokes and a few funny anecdotes about life with the BBC sports presenting team.

Who are we raising money for?

Proceeds will to go to The New Victoria Medical Foundation, a charity based in Richmond which is helping to change many lives though the medical support it provides. Members of the public are invited to sponsor our challengers in support of The New Victoria Medical Foundation. 100% of the funds raised will help to provide mobility equipment for disabled children living in the local area giving them independence at school and home.

Click here to sponsor me

Cheques to be made payable to: The New Victoria Medical Foundation.

Send cheques to: The New Victoria Medical Foundation, St David’s House, 15 Worple Way, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, TW10 6DG.

“The Foundation is delighted to be the beneficiary charity of this fabulous event,” says Lorna Votier, Head of Fundraising at the charity. “The funds raised on the night and through the challengers being sponsored will provide much needed mobility equipment for disabled children living in the local area helping to give them independence at school and home.”

Where?

The Bingham is a sponsor of the Richmond upon Thames Literary Festival and this event takes place in theluxurious surroundings of The Bingham, boutique hotel  Garden Rooms event suite.

Samantha Trinder, the Bingham’s proprietor says: “We are proud to support this event and local enterprise, which is also raising money for an extremely good cause.“

When?

23rd November, 7.00 p.m.

How Much?

Ticket price is £35, which includes fine wine and delicious canapés.

To book on-line click here or call 020 8948 4444.

Uncertainty is everywhere in 2010 – Jobs, pensions, the climate, health. However one of the UK’s leading experts in personal growth, Jack Black, has established a simple toolkit to help everyone come out of the recession smiling.

1. KEEP POSITIVE:

watch your language and if you find yourself thinking or saying a negative word,  replace it with a positive.  For example change “I’m tired” into “I need more energy”

2. PROGRAMME SUCCESS:

other people are feeling scared and this can lead to negative behaviour.  Imagine yourself protected by an invisible bell jar – it lets in the positive but keeps out the negative.  Keep your focus on what you want, not what others are doing.

3. BALANCE YOUR LIFE:

evaluate all aspects of your life and learn to keep work, family, health and your own wants in balance.

4. QUALITY RECOVERY TIME:

manage your stress – regularly do things that you love and that make you happy – whether it’s walking the dog or climbing a mountain.

5. SET GOALS:

 Stop worrying about issues you can’t control instead, take time to decide on 7 goals for the next 3 years. Write them out in a notebook and read them as often as you can, ideally last thing at night and first thing in the morning

Jack will be presenting these ideas and more at a one day Mindstore seminar at Earls Court, London on Saturday 13 November 2010. The seminar, on transformation, is aimed at both the business community and individuals. He promises to provide the hope, the tools and the inspiration we all need to finally get things moving.

Black says “It’s time for personal and group transformation.  Enough is enough!  Having personal tools to deal with these self destructive thoughts and emotions can surely make a difference, what’s more being able to use the latest and cutting edge approaches that inspire personal and group motivation will absolutely improve our outlook. 

Armed with techniques to confidently, no matter what, deliver our best possible efforts and performance at work, at home and in our social circles is what’s necessary now.  Not just for ourselves but for one another, our teams at work, and our families and friends at home.  Perhaps it’s now time for each of us to truly take responsibility to grasp this reality and decide to change.”

Jack Black is available for interview for more information visit: www.transformevents.co.uk or to arrange interview please contact Alistair Elliott on Transform Events, 07973 872819.

The Innovate Her workshops will INSPIRE you to unlock your creativity, spark new ideas, uncover and create new ways of doing business to change and accelerate your business.

Female business owners are given the opportunity to be part of the Innovate Her network: they will get inspiration and information to help them face the challenges of the current climate.

 The project is delivered by the Tower Hamlets College and run in conjunction with Women’s Business Centre at Newham College.  This is a European Regional Development fund programme and there is no cost to the business owner.

 The programme is delivered by a team of expert business counsellors and a network of female business owners are available to help clients innovate with new systems, products and services. 

 The project is open to all female business owners who are ready to thrive and grow!

One of our initiatives are to deliver a variety of workshops in social media and other emarketing tools and techniques that will have a massive impact and help grow the business.  These seminars are delivered by Lucidica, who are experts in this field.  

 Criteria for workshops:

 Open to women-owned businesses in the Newham, Tower Hamlets or Hackney areas.

• Businesses are SME’s and must be trading.

 The 5 chosen workshop topics in this series are:

•  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – moving up the search engine organic results
• Email Marketing – send professional-looking newsletters and announcements to prospects and customers
• Pay Per Click (PPC) – get to page 1 of search engine in a day, with PPC like Google AdWords
• Social Media – how small businesses extract value from FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging
• E-commerce – how to easily allow customers to pay invoices or buy your goods/services online

 Two 2 hour seminars are held on an afternoon or evening, starting at 1pm or 3pm with a 1 hour break in between seminars.  You can book on as many seminars as you like.  Each seminar has at least an hour presentation then a further hour for question time and networking among attendees. 

 There are various dates from November onwards, the first seminar starting on Thursday 11 November.  So get in touch soon to register as places are very limited – call us on 020 7510 7633, email us at business.support@tower.ac.uk or register online at http://london-business-support.eventbrite.com/.

 Dates for our next workshops:

 November 2010

Thursday 11^th – 1pm-3pm: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), at Tower Hamlets College

Thursday 11^th – 4pm-6pm: Pay Per Click (PPC), at Tower Hamlets College

Tuesday 23^rd – 3pm-5pm: Social Media, The Oxford House, Bethnal Green Limited, Derbyshire St, E2 6HG

Tuesday 23^rd – 6pm-8pm: Email Marketing, The Oxford House, Bethnal Green Limited, Derbyshire St, E2 6HG

 December 2010

Thursday 2^nd – 1pm-3pm: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), at Tower Hamlets College

Thursday 2^nd – 4pm-6pm: E-commerce, at Tower Hamlets College

 Venues for 2011 are to be confirmed.

Many of us aspire to material success, however business growth and financial security do not lead to fulfilment, and indeed when we recognise and begin a journey of reflection and personal development, experience shows that outer success tends to follow suit.

Entrepreneur Jessica Huie, founder of JH Public Relations and Colorblind cards, teamed with Foluke Akinlose MBE founder of the acclaimed Precious Awards, to launch Precious You – Inner Fulfilment for Outer Success, an annual event for women in business who recognise the importance of life balance and the benefits of a holistic approach to business life.

An incredible line up of individuals spanning both the business world and Mind, body & spirit arena, will converge for a series of talks, workshops and exhibits, which aim to offer attendees some of the tools necessary to reach their personal & business goals.

Jessica Huie said “There are a plethora of events that will preach the importance of search engine optimisation, direct you to business angels and teach you how to network, just as you can visit one of the many health and fitness shows and learn how to nurture your vitality. No other event marries the two worlds so seamlessly, I need this event and the reality is that everybody in business will benefit.“

Precious You is an expansion of the PRECIOUS Awards, a yearly business awards sponsored by the British Library and set to take place this year at the British Library November 8th. 

Attendees to Precious You will be treated to a stellar line up of speakers including;

• Former scientist Dr. David Hamilton, who turned his back on the pharmaceutical world to become an author and motivational speaker, treats us to a talk based on his best-selling book ‘Why Kindness is good for you.’

• Business consultant & acclaimed Hayhouse author Marie-Claire Carlyle whose book  ‘How to become a money magnet’  matched the sales of Tony Blair’s  ‘A journey’ in its first week of sales at Waterstones, will be teaching us how to attract more wealth into our lives by simply changing our mindset.

• Serial Entrepreneur Deirdre Bounds, founder of I to I a gap year travel company which she sold for £20million before becoming best selling author of Fulfilled,  tells the incredible story of her own personal revolution which made her business success a reality. 

• Lifecoach to the stars Ali Campbell and best-selling author of ‘Just get on with it – a kind, compelling kick up the ass’ whose client list includes every one from the A-list to royalty, drives home ‘The Power of thought.’

• Leading business coach & speaker Rasheed Ogunlaru, author of The Gift of inner success takes us on a tour of 5 cornerstones; clarity, courage, customers, co-operation and compassion. Speaking on ‘Building your business by Heart ‘

• Participate in the Founder of Progressive Yoga Thierry Gunta’s ‘Learn to meditate’ workshop

• Business force Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael whose jewellery decorates the décolletage of political wives Sarah Brown & Samantha Cameron, Kim Cattrall and Nia Long to name a few, share nuggets from their entrepreneurial journey.

• PR Mogul Max Clifford on why Public Relations is essential for every business.

• Acclaimed self-confidence coach Annie Ashdown whose areas of expertise include Theta Healing and Emotional Freedom technique (EFT) explains how to increase self-confidence for business.

• Warren Knight explains how social media can drastically impact on online businesses. Using his “Open to Close” technique Warren has seen some businesses’ sales grow from $5 million to $30 million over only 6 years and achieving sales of $1 Million in 1 month.

  Precious You –Inner Fulfilment for business success takes place on Sunday November 7^th at One Alfred Place, 1 Alfred Place, WC1E 7EB.

Tickets are £15 and available and you can book here

 For further info contact Amii Cumming at JH Public Relations Amii@jhpr.co.uk 07581 237 097