Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce

Issue: December 2008

Buy a Car - Get a Free Car
Annual Lunch Success
Nominate your Women of Achievement
Free Breakfast Briefing Events
Economic Development Company for Leicester and Leicestershire
Cost reductions & Tax breaks, Cycle to Work is a winner all round
CV Checkers Required at University of Leicester Work Experience Fair
Request for interest in becoming a school governor
The Musical Interlude
Business Link Update
Forthcoming Chamber Events

If your company would like to help the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce continue to provide this informative e-newsletter Good Morning Leicestershire and raise the profile of your own business at the same time then please talk to Sharon Jeffrey on 0116 204 6618 to discuss sponsorship opportunities, preferential rates are available for Chamber Members.

CHAMBER NEWS

A Midlands car dealer is doing his bit to help hard-pressed motorists to beat the credit crunch - by giving away free new cars!

In a move almost unheard of in the motor trade, Heritage Leicester, a Subaru main dealer in the midlands and a member of the Leicestershire Chamber, is giving away a free second, brand new Subaru car to customers who buy certain models.

Anyone buying a new Tribeca B9, the luxury all-wheel drive SUV at the full list price of £29,202 will be given a new Impreza 1.5 hatchback (manual or automatic)) which retail at between £12,995 and £14,995, completely free of charge.

Furthermore, customers who buy a new Forester 2.5XT at the list price of £22,340 will receive a brand new Justy supermini with a list price of £8,995 - again completely free of charge.

“There are no hidden catches to these deals,” said Heritage Managing Director Fred Heritage. “The cars on offer are all new, unregistered models and all the usual dealer facilities for finance, part-exchange and servicing are available.”

When asked why he was offering these deals, Mr Heritage said: “The motor trade is having a really tough time at the moment. Dealers who want to compete during the credit crunch are going to have to slash their profit margins and do deals.”

“This is something we are never likely to be able to do again and is therefore a great opportunity for motorists to do an unrepeatable deal. We also see it as a fantastic opportunity to promote the Subaru brand to a whole new set of customers.”

The ‘buy one, get one free’ offer applies only to the Tribeca B9 and Forester 2.5XT models, but customers interested in other models from the Subaru range may find they can still do some great deals, so get haggling! The ‘buy one Subaru – get one free’ offer started on 7 November and ends on 31 December 2008.

Heritage Leicester can be found on Aylestone Road in the city. Tel: 0116 283 1052 or visit: www.heritagesubaruco.uk

Once again the local business community turned out in their hundreds for the Chamber’s December Annual Luncheon event, one of the most highly regarded and popular business luncheons in the county.

Over 500 people attended the event at which the comedic legend Tom O’Connor was the guest speaker. Tom was first the guest speaker for the luncheon back in 2002 and returned this year by popular demand.

During the luncheon Andrew Granger ended his two-years in the role of President of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and welcomed local employment law expert and ex- barrister Ruth Ingman into the role as the new President.

Mr Granger commented: “I would like to thank all members who have helped to make my two years in office so enjoyable. It has allowed me to meet people I would otherwise not have encountered. I would also like to place on record how muchMartin Traynorand his team do for the Chamber. They are all extremely hard working and professional and the Chamber now has an exceptional reputation for being the lead organisation for business in the city and the county. I belong to a number of member organisations and I can say without fear of contradiction that the Chamber is the best.”

This year the President's nominated charity was Leicester Charity Link and we are pleased to announce those at the event managed to raise £5000 to help the charity's worthwhile causes.

The 2008 lunch was again sponsored by The Royal Bank ofScotland, Freeth Cartwright LLP and Charles Street Buildings (Leicester) Ltd who feel that their continued support of the event brings them valuable PR and a raised profile amongst the local business community – the Chamber thanks them very much for their loyal support of this event over the years.

Nominations are now being sort for the 2009 Women of Achievement awards which will be held on 20th March at Leicester City Football Club.

This unique celebration is designed to capture the achievement of almost any woman in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The possible nominations are:-
Business Woman of the Year
Rural Business Woman of the Year
Woman with Determination
Woman in the Community
Young Achiever of the Year
Woman of the Year

You can download an application form here , visit event listing on our website or contact Allyson Jeffrey of Headstorm Marketing & Event Management who are organising the event this year on 0870 170 9697.

The success of women in our society often goes unrecognised, be that in business, the community or at home. Women are a crucial part of our social fabric, and this prestigious gala dinner seeks to bring the successes of local women together and award them for their achievement.

There are literally thousands of women in the county who have achieved great things, but have never been thanked, congratulated or recognised for their efforts. This event is not only a celebration of women, it is designed to recognise, motivate and inspire!

It is a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of all finalists or that of the organisation or institute for which they work. Each category winner will be presented with a certificate and an award, all finalists will receive a certificate along with the associated publicity and media interest.

The event will be an enjoyable experience, not only for the entrants but also for friends, colleagues and clients.

The winner of each category will remain confidential until the evening of the awards dinner itself.

Web 2.0 – Making Sense Of The Social Web And It's Use In Business

It’s new, cutting-edge and makes headlines but what actually is Web 2.0, what’s social networking and how can these be used by businesses? This free breakfast briefing will explain what’s different about Web 2.0 – and how businesses can exploit it to improve the bottom line.

Packed with tips and practical advice, the briefing will provide an overview of the emergence of Web 2.0, current ‘state of the art’ and the role of Web 2.0 in business. It will look at social marketing and social networking, and see how businesses can use Web apps such as MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, SecondLife, Flickr, del.icio.us and others to enhance business prospects.

The briefing will also look at a number of ‘real life’ case studies of how different sorts of business are already using Web 2.0 and social networking, and will conclude with a look at the future of Web 2.0, the emergence of Web 3.0 and the implications for entrepreneurs and business.

The morning will start with a light breakfast, registration and networking at 8.30am, and the presentation will begin at 9am. It will end at 10.30am with an opportunity to ask some questions and carry on networking with the experts, other delegates and Business Link advisers.

A non-technical guide, this briefing is aimed squarely at those who want to understand recent developments in the online world, and turn them into practical, competitive advantage within their business.

Event Dates:

11 Dec Quorn Country Hotel, near Loughborough
18 Dec National Space Centre, Leicester

For more information or to register your place, please email: events@businesslinkem.co.uk or contact the eBusiness Programme team on 0845 603 8370.

Converting Website Visitors Into Customers

Although most businesses will define the number one issue with their website as being “to get more visitors” the truth is that those visitors are often vastly under-utilised. Conversion rates of less than 1% are not uncommon, representing a huge waste of marketing effort.

Join us on one of the event dates listed below for a short presentation which will introduce the techniques to get more value from your website visitors, whether that means sales, leads or some other form of interaction. From web design to data tracking via multimedia, you will hear about a variety of methods you can employ on your website to generate more business

Topics include:

The statistics data you need and what to do with it
The principles of copywriting for action
The important areas of web pages that create action
Using multimedia (audio and video) effectively
Using social media in your website to improve conversion and retention
Using split-testing in your pages and what to test

This briefing is aimed at business owners, managers or marketing professionals who want to learn more about web development or online marketing

Event Dates:

13 January National Space Centre, Leicester
28 January Quality Hotel, near Loughborough

For more information or to register your place, please email events@businesslinkem.co.ukor contact the eBusiness Programme team on 0845 603 8370.

OTHER NEWS

The process of establishing the new Economic Development Company for Leicester and Leicestershire is moving forward quickly. You'll remember that the overall mission is the creation of a new, focussed organisation to promote the economic development and regeneration of Leicester and Leicestershire.

The new company is set to spring into action at the beginning of April next year and is anxious to make sure that those who want to be kept up to date on a fortnightly basis of progress towards this goal get their own dedicated e-newsletter.

If you would like to be included on the circulation list of this extra source of important news for anyone interested in the economic development and regeneration of both the City and County of Leicester, please e-mail Howard Swift, howard@carlingfordgroup.co.uk or call on 0116 298 8112

Cycle to Work is a tax incentive aimed at encouraging employees to cycle to work, reducing air pollution and improving health.

Employers benefit from fitter, punctual, more wide-awake staff.

Employees benefit from better health and better bikes because their money goes further.

With a budget of £200, an employee in the high tax-band can now afford a bike, plus accessories, worth £400. In fact the typical saving for an average Tax payer is 30 – 50%.

OnYourBike has schemes in operation in organisations across the region with employers saving £,000’s in Employers Tax and salaries, and lets face it, in today’s climate every pound saved is worth its weight in gold.

For help contact Chris @ OnYourBike 0161 429 4151 or go to www.onyourbike.gb.com

The University of Leicester Work Experience Fair 2009 is being held on the 5th February in the Queens Hall, Student Union, University of Leicester Campus from 11:00 – 15:00. This is an annual event and attracts around 750 – 1000 students. 25 organisation (commercial, public sector and charitable) exhibit in the hall, promoting their work experience opportunities (paid, unpaid, casual work, industrial placements, summer and vacation work). As I am sure you are aware, work experience is a vital means for students to gain commercial and professional skills. Education and a degree is not enough in this competitive market. We encourage students to gain employability skills such as time management, team work, problem solving, decision making, etc through taking on a variety of work experience roles throughout their time at University. The places for exhibitors is fully booked.

We also run an interactive zone at the event. This zone has a range of stands offering careers advice and guidance. In this zone we run a CV Clinic. We recruit volunteers to check students CV's and give advice on how they would be able to 'sell' themselves better on that document. The CV Checkers are recruited from local businesses and organisations. The benefit to students is that they get to network and meet people from local companies and gain advice on their CV from a 'real working person' as opposed to a Careers Advisor. The benefit to the CV Checker, is they get to give something back to their local University, they can network with the companies exhibiting and the other CV checkers. Additionally, they can promote their business to students if appropriate.

The University are looking to recruit 1-2 volunteers. They ask volunteers to give between 1 hour - 1.5 hours of their time. The time slots are:

11:00 – 12:30
12:30 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00

CV Consultants would need to arrive a minimum of 15 minutes before their allotted slot. The fair will be quite busy so they should allow for time for parking and reaching the venue. Refreshments will be provided throughout their CV checking slot and a lunch voucher to the value of £5.00 will be provided for all CV Consultants. This lunch voucher can be used at any of the University of Leicester catering outlets.

CV Consultants will spend between 5-8 minutes with a student checking through their CV, giving advice and guidance on structure, content and quality of their CV based on their business expertise. Information about the fair can be found at: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/careers/events/fairs/wefair

Nether Hall School in Leicester has requested that members register their interest in becoming a community school governor.

Nether Hall School is a local authority school for 77 children with severe and complex learning difficulties based off Scraptoft Lane but, despite Ofsted describing them as a good school with outstanding features, they are having difficulty recruiting Governors, particularly those with a business background.

Governors, once appointed, are holders of public office and are appointed to provide amongst other things strong links between the school and the community it serves and support for the head teacher and staff.

If anyone is interested in more details they should contact Erica Dennies, Head teacher on 0116 2417258.

Mussorgsky’s ten vivid miniaturesPictures at an Exhibition(arr. Ravel) will be performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, and withone ofRussia’s most fiery conductors, Alexander Lazarev. The extraordinary young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who became the youngest ever winner of the Keyboard Final of the BBC Young Musician of Year Competition in 2004 at the age of just 11, will also join the orchestra for Grieg’s Piano Concerto at De Montfort Hall, Leicester on Tuesday 20 January 2009, 7.30pm.

The Philharmonia Orchestra is proud to be a member of Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce.

BUSINESS LINK UPDATE

You can use Business Link East Midlands tools and guides to get advice that could help your business combat the effects of the credit crunch. The potential impact of the credit crunch may be a worry for some businesses.

Business Link have a range of resources that can help organisations take steps toprotect themselves and prepare for the adverse business conditions. The business health check tool can help identify areas that could help improve performance and your chances of survival. It is also important to think about managing risk in order to prevent crises that can be foreseen.

To read the full article visit:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands/creditcrunch

CHAMBER EVENTS

Sponsored by the Skills Pledge
Date:22 January
Venue: The National Space Centre, Leicester
Time: 12:30 - 2:30pm
Cost: Chamber Members £25 / Standard £35
Include buffet lunch and a welcome drink.

Mary Rogers, Area Director for Leicestershire Learning & Skills Council (LSC), will talk about how skills issues are affecting Leicestershire’s businesses and how addressing these will ensure that businesses remain sustainable in spite of the current economic climate and how the LSC is working to help businesses during this tough time

Date: 27 January
Venue: Holiday Inn, Rugby, Junction 18 off M1
Time: 11:45am - 2:30pm
Cost: Chamber members only, £25 plus VAT
Price includes 3 course meal.

This joint event is being hosted by Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Chambers of Commerce and will give businesses from both counties an excellent opportunity to network and exchange company literature with fellow attendees over a 3 course lunchtime meal. Looking for new contacts? Wanting to raise your business profile?

Need to identify new, competitive suppliers? Then join us for this lunch.

Date: 20 March 2009
Venue: Leicester City Football Club, The Walkers Stadium, Leicester
Time: 7pm - midnight
Cost: £50 per person or £470 per table of ten. Includes a four course meal. Discounted rates are available for finalists, their guests and local community groups.

This unique celebration is designed to capture the achievement of almost any woman in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The success of women in our society often goes unrecognised, be that in business, the community or at home. Women are a crucial part of our social fabric and this prestigious gala dinner seeks to bring the successes of local women together and award them for their achievement.

For more information on these Chamber events please call Kam Atker on Tel: 0116 204 6614, email: atker.k@chamberofcommerce.co.uk or alternatively you can visit the Chamber website at: www.chamberofcommerce.co.uk and select What’s On/events