18 Apr 2024
By Sarah Heaney, Membership Manager
Maybe it’s because I’m currently reading a book which focuses on the importance of play in innovation, creativity, and general happiness that got me thinking about some of the fun events I’ve attended in Q1 of 2024.
I’m in the privileged position of finding the work I do enjoyable. At Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, we recently launched our Member Showcase event which was held at MadeBrave studios and as the name would suggest, it showcased ten speakers from within the membership community, not only talking about their businesses but also their journey to where they are now. We heard from Andrew Dobbie - MadeBrave, Fraser McIlwraith - Liquid Oats, Lynne Wilson - Friends of Wilson, Scott Munn - Anderson Maguire Funeral Directors, Heather Offord - Clarity Consultants, Scott Dick and Tina Coviello - Progressive Pathways, Graham Dyer - AAB, Robyn Gilliland - The Social Hub and Craig Neilson - Fayre Play.
As President of Scottish Women in Business, I have had the honour of hosting most of our events so far this year around the theme of Communicate. We have Powered Up Our Presentations with Susan Perry and heard from Mari Steyn around being a Conscious Communicator. We had an in person In Conversation with Cat Paterson around the Power of Intentional Language and a brilliant virtual session with TV and radio presenter Jennifer Reoch, plus training on Canva from Jules at Designer in Your Pocket and Accounts and Tax from Katie Gilmour at Clarity Accounting. I was also asked to be the keynote speaker at Glasgow Chamber’s International Women’s Day Lunch.
I love networking and attending events so much that I have already taken annual leave this year to attend Clarity Consultants’ No Procrastination Business Retreat in West Kilbride (I would highly recommend checking out their website as there are still a couple of places on the next one in June). I also travelled down to Bolton to attend The Big Festoon - this event was fantastic, hosted by Queen Bee Dani Wallace and over the two days I heard from multiple small and growing businesses, met exhibitors, and heard from guest speakers such as Lisa Johnson, Daniel Priestly and Lisa Maffia. There were so many takeaways from this one but by far my biggest was how brilliantly Dani and the team created an inclusive, diverse, welcoming, and supportive community in a room of 400 people. A shout out to Samantha Bye for the invitation to this.
Exciting things are still to come in 2024 and I couldn’t possibly list them all, so here is a small snippet of some of the events I’m most excited about:
What has been your favourite event this year and where should I go next?
