This year we will have presentations from partners on local issues and support. Alongside that we will have some of the best regional and national experts teaching delegates a range of skills and offering tips on everything from sales and marketing to finance, funding, and public sector procurement.
Seminar programme 10:15 - 11:00
Seminars are free to attend and you don't need to pre-register
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Seminar Room 1
Open for Business: Tees Valley Support Showcase
Building a bright and bold future. Join Tees Valley Business Board and the Combined Authority for a showcase of the new support and funding now available to strengthen and support business start-up and growth in Tees Valley. From accessing funding and supply chains to digital adoption and innovation-led growth, we provide the guidance and resources you need for long-term success. No matter your service, product or stage of growth. The new programmes are: · Tees Valley Labs · Tees Valley Digital Transformation · Tees Valley Entrepreneurs · Tees Valley Expertise · Tees Valley Innovation Challenge · Tees Valley Net Zero · Tees Valley Securing Investment · Tees Valley Supply Chain Quickfire elevator pitches will give you an overview of the support and funding available, so you can start one-to-one conversations, ask any specific questions, and sign up to the programmes most relevant to your business. To find out more about the programmes, visit: www.teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/business/
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Seminar Room 2
British Business Bank
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Meet the Fund Managers
Building on the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, businesses across the North can now access finance options between £25k up to £5m to start up, scale up or continue on their growth journey. Are you an ambitious business looking for growth investment ? This seminar will help you to understand the different funding options available from NPIF II, and will be an opportunity for you to meet the appointed fund managers who deliver smaller loans, debt and equity investments across the North East.
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Seminar Room 3
Innovation SuperNetwork
Investment: How to prepare and persuade
Parveer Pannu, Innovation Manager from Innovation SuperNetwork delivering the Tees Valley Securing Investment Programme. Approaching investors can be a daunting task for business founders. If founders have not taken the time to understand and prepare in advance, mistakes are made, communication is lost and inevitably the prospect of investment becomes more difficult. This 45 minute session is packed full of practical tips and advice that will help founders understand, prepare and persuade potential investors. The workshop will explore each of the following areas in depth: Understand: Why do entrepreneurs fail to raise investment? Are you investable? Prepare: Tools needed Evidence needed Investment journey Persuade: Objectives Approach How to persuade The session will empower founders to go away and practice their approach and equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to start approaching investors. Don’t miss this inspiring and unique workshop!
Seminar programme 11:30 - 12:15
Seminars are free to attend and you don't need to pre-register
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Seminar Room 1
Tees Valley
Understanding procurement: Bidding for Public Sector Contracts
We all know that public sector procurement can be a confusing process to navigate for businesses wanting to win contracts with local and combined authorities. One of the core principles of public sector procurement is that it is subject to a legal framework, which is designed to encourage free and open competition and value for money. Knowing the legal framework around public sector procurement is essential for your business as it will enable you to develop and pursue optimal strategies when competing for work. There are also changes on way with the launch of The Procurement Act 2023. In this session procurement managers will guide you through what you need to know about public sector procurement and provide some handy tips when submitting bids that could help your business save time and money.
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Seminar Room 2
Yellow Box Marketing
The Full 360 Marketing Approach
The premise is - Too often, people look at digital marketing channels on their own, and not how they support each other to help with your common goal. We discuss how each digital marketing channel supports one another and how the 360° approach is the best way to grow your business. key takeaways are: How each digital marketing channel supports the other How to track how your digital marketing channels are performing How to allocate your marketing budget more effectively
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Seminar Room 3
The Ethical Coaching Company
People management that empowers leaders
By attending this workshop, SME leaders can expect to gain practical skills and strategies to enhance team collaboration, align expectations with capabilities, improve team dynamics, foster a more proactive and solution-oriented work environment and drive their businesses towards sustained success and growth. Key takeaways from the session include: Offering strategies for setting expectations that align with team capabilities and individual strengths Identifying Techniques for regularly revisiting and adjusting expectations to match evolving circumstances. The importance of recognising individual contributions and facilitating effective collaboration How to emphasise the proactive nature of collaboration: it requires active engagement and effort Orientate collaborative discussions toward solution-seeking vs problem solving
Seminar programme 13:30 - 14:15
Seminars are free to attend and you don't need to pre-register
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Seminar Room 1
Just Williams
Finding Your Market and Generating Leads
Join Just Williams and The Just Williams Sales Academy Founder, Jessica Williams, for this lively, engaging seminar on how to find strong leads for your business. Focussing on the key concepts of truly ‘knowing your customers’, Jessica will guide you through the minefield of simply making noise in a busy marketplace to truly source business that is right for you. She will cover cold calling, multi-channel approaches and help you decipher the building blocks of your prospect’s journey to ultimately buying with you. Just Williams and The Just Williams Sales Academy are both certified B Corp businesses, with a wealth of expertise in delivering impact-led campaigns and making a difference with every interaction. Join Jessica for this thought-provoking and useful session and see how you can grow your business too.
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Seminar Room 2
Blue Moon Marketing
Marketing with Strategic Flexibility
Responding to unforeseen change has become an everyday norm for all of us in our roles & businesses. It's driving us as professionals to find new levels of agility and smarter ways of working - often with limited in-house resources. We need to be able to react effectively 'in the heat of the moment', without compromising on the quality of output or losing sight of our longer term vision and brand goals. In this seminar we'll take a look at the concept of strategic flexibility, why it's rising in importance, and has arguably become a key difference between 'surviving' and 'thriving' in today's rapidly and ever-changing marketplace. In a Marketing context, we'll highlight some of the key behaviours associated with strategic flexibility and what this can look like in practice within your teams, when it comes to planning, designing and activating marketing activities.
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Seminar Room 3
Tees Valley Securing Investment
Demystifying Funding Jargon for SMEs
Charlotte Scott, Senior Investment Manager from Innovation SuperNetwork delivering the Tees Valley Securing Investment Programme. In this session we'll provide a deep dive into common fundraising terms, investor challenges, and what they really mean. We'll unpack increasingly technical concepts to help you take part in investment conversations with confidence. Delegates will come away equipped with the knowledge to better understand what is an "investment thesis", build your financial model CAP tables and understand shareholder terms you need to know.