FESTIVAL OF BUSINESS

If you’ve become a little too comfortable in your home office, or choose Zoom over a good coffee shop, there’s never been a better time to get back into the thick of it. Cornwall’s Festival of Business is a week-long series of live events designed to reinvigorate the Cornish business community, encourage collaboration, boost productivity and focus on the future.

After two years on pause and many organisations now offering remote or hybrid working, the business landscape in Cornwall has changed. The five festival days in June will be critical to identifying opportunities in the Duchy, sowing seeds for collaboration, and addressing Cornwall’s role in the green revolution. Other live events include the highly anticipated Finance in Cornwall event from PKF Francis Clark in association with British Business Bank; a Digital and Sustainability Training Expo at Truro & Penwith College (Truro), and the first of Budock Vean Hotel’s re-launched monthly meet-up networking events – free of charge to celebrate festival week.

Kim Conchie, chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, comments: “This important week in June provides Cornwall’s businesses with a unique opportunity to ensure they are up to speed with what’s going on in The Duchy, nationally and internationally, and will give them the chance to get involved in securing its future. “We all work better when we collaborate and there’s so much passion and excitement for the future of business in Cornwall, I really feel that the Festival of Business will be the catalyst to making some brilliant things happen in our region – a region that’s absolutely bursting with potential.” The centrepiece of the festival week is Cornwall Business Fair, this year titled The Future of Business. The fair takes place on Wednesday June15 at Falmouth University’s Penryn Campus – there’s free entry and free parking. Social events include a tour of tall ship Irene of Bridgewater - courtesy of Sea Sanctuary, a wellbeing walk at Heligan; a craft, coffee and cake event at Millendreath, Looe, and a trip out to visit Cornish Lithium at their site at United Downs. A large number of events are taking place online, including ‘How to prepare yourself for PR’ from Wild Card, ‘10 Top Tips from 10 Global Business Gurus’ from business consultant Trevor Lee, and a look at what ten-year trends in Cornwall’s economic data tell us about the Duchy’s economy now and opportunities for the future, courtesy of PFA Research. Several organisations have chosen festival week to launch a new series of events; Unlocking Potential will hold the first of its four-part, fully-funded breakthrough workshop designed for business owners who started strong but need support to boost the growth of the business. Konnect for Business will launch its four-part Coffee Conversations, the first of its four sessions will look at how to conduct a great appraisal. Look out for cutting edge web analytics tips from Emerald Thinking, a workshop on the key principles of User-Centred Design and Design Thinking, from Smartline, and presentations and panel sessions with top business leaders like Sarah Howard, Chair of British Chambers of Commerce. The week comes to a close with an exciting evening honouring Cornwall’s bright young business stars at Cornwall Chamber’s 30 under 30 awards ceremony. Make sure you have a good read through the official electronic Cornwall Festival of Business guide, available soon via Business Cornwall magazine. The guide will tell you where you need to be, and when, and also features a floor plan for Cornwall Business Fair so you can plan your day before you get there.

We all work better when we collaborate

sponsored by Wildanet Wednesday June 15,

Falmouth University’s Penryn Campus

If you make new connections at the beginning of festival week, why not arrange a follow up meeting with them at Cornwall Business Fair? This free event is always buzzing with excitement and positivity so it’s a great place to get the ball rolling on new business relationships and collaborations.

The day starts with Cornwall Chamber of Commerce’s largest BIG Breakfast to date, with 200 networkers sitting down to enjoy a cooked breakfast in the Penryn Campus Stannary, sponsored by Coodes. Guest speaker at the breakfast is British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Chair, Sarah Howard who will share the latest insights and information from the BCC.

The fair itself is open 10am to 3pm and features 65 stands for delegates to browse and meet with some of Cornwall’s most exciting businesses. There’s free training in breakout rooms covering a range of topics like practical problem-solving using data, digital transformation, how to improve personal wellbeing and productivity, as well as a free networking lunch and even the chance to have new headshots taken at a discounted Business Fair rate.

If you’ve a dry mouth from a busy day of networking, join Cornwall Chamber of Commerce for drinks in the Stannary bar at the close of the Business Fair (3pm) – find Kim and he’ll buy you a drink!