Divisional lead update: My world this month
Richard Brooks is the head of Burton & District and Cannock Chase Chambers of Commerce.
This update will allow me the opportunity to give everyone an insight into what 's been going on in my world, plus provide some insights into membership, what you can expect, how you should use it, some basic top tips and other opportunities coming up.
My world this month
The outlook is positive, even the radio told me this morning that businesses are not feeling as gloomy as they were six months ago. This is a good sign and businesses are beginning to venture out after some hesitancy and some interesting hybrid working adjustment, it 's great to see you all out.
On a personal level, I 've just hit a 'half century ', and I 'm not talking about cricket, or a particularly good round of golf� Ive just turned 50� Things feel pretty much the same as they always have, I 'm just not quite as quick on the treadmill, and it 's becoming a lot more difficult to control the cravings for fast food and nice cold frothy brews (iced coffee, honestly).
I didn 't think the 'age thing ' would get to me until I received a card with the figure '50 ' on it, it caused a brief moment a couple of weeks ago but to be honest, I 've now moved on, I still feel about 39.
Birthday now done, Easter now passed, the 'Saddlers ' are still mid table, and having not picked the winner of the Grand National again leads me to suspect that nothing has changed since last year, but in truth things have changed, and in a big way.
I moved away from The Black Country Chamber of Commerce and came to work for The Greater Birmingham, in particular, for the Burton & District and Cannock Chase Chambers, making new business friends, working new processes and learning more about different businesses every day.
I have officially reached 6 months with the GBCC, so thank you to all of my colleagues who have dragged me up to speed, I can sincerely say there hasn 't been a boring moment so far, the groundhog hasn 't turned up just yet.
We 've had a full range of events already too. The SLTC awards, a celebratory lunch, business at breakfasts, speed networking, lunchtime networking, evening social networking, the Annual Dinner and Awards, and I for one am looking forward to what the summer holds for business in the Burton and Cannock regions. So this month let 's have a closer look at our chamber events.
Chamber events and networking
Before we begin, be sure to see what 's on here, we have loads going on so don 't miss out on your favourite event format, or a theme that 's relevant to your business.
Remember if you 're not a member and want to come along, you can pay to come as a non-member or become a member and come along for free as well as receive a huge amount of other business support benefits as part of your membership. See membership benefits here.
At the Chamber, everything we do provides you with an opportunity to meet other businesses, whatever the format of the event.
For example, if we have a high profile speaker or expert talk at one of our events, this is always sandwiched by some networking and if you 're not a networking type then don 't worry, it 's not really about standing up and giving everyone a 60 second elevator pitch like some 'closed networking ' private groups, this is 'open networking '.
At the end of the day everyone is human, all you need to do is say hello and ask them about their business, it 's guaranteed they will want to tell you, it 's the perfect ice breaker.
Remember though, it 's also not all about sell, sell, sell. It 's about finding new suppliers, learning new business processes and techniques, it 's about exchanging ideas and helping others, as well as receiving help for your own business, I 've made quite a few friends networking too.
Each Regional Division has 15 events in the following format each year, but don 't forget you can visit other Greater Birmingham Chamber divisional events too, so the number of events and networking opportunities soon ramp up.
- X3 Business @ Breakfast - speaker events - light breakfast
- X4 Speed Networking - meet all the businesses in the room
- X 4Lunchtime Networking - over nibbles or a buffet
- X 4Social Networking - usually right after work, early evening
There is much more than this available on top of this too, like training events, workshops, business updates, international conferences, expos and awards nights, AGMS and themed meetings, not to mention even more networking opportunities at Premier, 1813 and Patron level meetings too.
Download the events guide here
Top tips this time round
Some of these may sound obvious, but sometimes you can forget what 's on offer.
- Make sure you add us to your business PR mailing list or send in an article, we will get you in your weekly divisional newsletter, it could be published in our Daily Newsletter too, or our magazine - Chamber Link. Contact the Press & PR team for more information.
- Film a short spotlight video for your business and send it to us, we will publish it through our LinkedIn pages! Speak to your relationship manager for more details.
- Chamber network benefits - Access hundreds of discounts at Highstreet stores and services provided by BHSF!
Coming up
Once again don 't forget to look at the events section on our website for things coming up below.