Preparations are underway for the fifth annual Leicester Business Festival this autumn, with applications now open for businesses that want to get involved.
The annual fortnight of workshops, discussions and marketing seminars returns on October 28, with more than 100 events set to be included.
Last year an estimated 1,200 businesses took part in 114 events, helping to the raise the profile of the city and county on a national stage.
Of the 7,000-plus people who attended, 20 per cent were from outside the region.
Stand-out events included a High Streets of Tomorrow session, looking at how to thrive in local market towns; business breakfasts with local MPs; workshops looking at brand strategy; and even an interactive session on how Lego can improve problem-solving, communication and performance.
The festival was launched in 2015 by the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, before becoming a community interest company, run by Associate Events in Leicester.
The 2019 plans include getting more events into the wider county rather than just the city 鈥 last year 81.5 per cent of events were in Leicester 鈥 and a push for bigger venues to hold multiple events.
Leicester Business News
Associate Events managing director Alister de Ternant said the Department for International Trade and East Midlands Airport were among those already interested in taking part this autumn, to share their expertise with businesses interested in importing and exporting.
He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 now a great national story 鈥 something that started up as a bit of an idea but is now fully owned by the local business community.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 probably safe to say it鈥檚 made a real impact in putting the local business community under one banner, showcasing Leicester and Leicestershire and drawing inward investment into the region.
鈥淭his year we are really moving on to it becoming an economic showcase of the region.
鈥淚t will always focus on supporting the local business community, but it鈥檚 just as important to showcase Leicester and Leicestershire on a national and international scale.
鈥淲hen we first talked about the business festival concept nearly six years ago, never in our wildest dreams did we imagine it would be so successful so quickly.
鈥淭here was obviously an appetite from the business community for engagement and growth.
鈥淟eicester is by far the biggest business festival and it is the second largest business to business event in the 海角视频.
鈥淓ach year there have been new developments including changes in sectors, the introduction of venue partners, coffee hubs, the app and improvements to the brochure.鈥
This year the festival is chaired by Scott Charlish, head of East Midlands financial planning at wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin.
He said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting time for the business festival having reached the big five-year mark. This is regarded as quite a milestone in business survival rate terms.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got lots of great plans in the pipeline for the festival, but right now, we would like businesses 鈥 large or small to get involved 鈥 and there are many ways to do so, whether this is partnering, sponsoring, running one, two or several events, or being a venue host.
鈥淚 would encourage people to look at the website for more information.
鈥淎nyone thinking of running an event should start forming ideas as soon as possible. Even though there are over two months to get applications in, this time will fly by.鈥
Two workshops about hosting events are being run.
The first is from 10am to 12 noon on Tuesday, July 2, at the Harborough Innovation Centre in Market Harborough.
The second from 3pm to 5pm on Wednesday, July 3, at De Montfort University鈥檚 Leicester Castle Business School.
These are both available to book onto through the business festival website.
