“Business really does matter in Renfrewshire”

The largest business to business event in Renfrewshire has just completed a successful 2 day residence at the beautifully restored Paisley Town Hall. Ran by Renfrewshire Chamber, “Business Matters in Renfrewshire” a free local B2B event (Business to business) open to all business people, students & school pupils was attended by >500 people over the 2 days.

The business conference on Day 1 attracted an impressive panel of speakers including:

Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander MP
Dr Walter Boettcher – Economist – Director, Research and Forecasting Colliers International
Sir Tom Hunter – Scottish businessman, entrepreneur & philanthropist

Hosted by Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland Business & Economy Editor

Economist Dr Boettcher commented that “….the focus was on the real economy, how to break the hiatus of investment and especially how to capitalise on Scotland’s numerous comparative advantages (energy, engineering & technology, education, to name a few).  The economy may still be lacking traction, but the messages were consistently positive suggesting that a turning point in sentiment is at hand and stronger economic performance within reach.”

B2B1

Sir Tom Hunter – whose first retail outlet opened in Paisley in 1984, gave an inspirational speech and before leaving gave his time to a number of people keen to get some advice from one of Scotland’s most successful business men. Sir Tom, who stayed for the whole event commented “well done, speakers were all good…..it was a good event with an impressive turnout”.

Day 2 attracted 35 exhibitors and offered delegates the opportunity to learn about a broad range of topics from the “How to…” themed seminars including:

How to Build a Brilliant Brand with Fission Creative
How to Ruin Your Brand on Social Media with NSDesign
How to Grow Your Business with Invest in Renfrewshire
How to Improve your Tendering with Renfrewshire Council Procurement Team
How to be a Great Business Leader with Dr Stuart Paul of UWS
How to Deliver Customer Service the Disney Way with Renfrewshire Chamber Board Director & ex Diageo Supply Chain Director Colin Neill

B2B2

Chamber President Tom Johnston said “This was our 1st time adding the business conference to Business Matters in Renfrewshire – and I have to say it went very well. Great speakers and a good turnout of approx. 200 people on day 1. We listen to our members and the Chamber Team used that feedback to improve the 2nd day from last year. Over the course of Day2 – approx. 350 attended. I would like to take this opportunity again to thank all our speakers, exhibitors and the people from Renfrewshire and beyond that attended. I hope what they heard & seen will inspire them to bigger & better things – improve their business and ultimately protect and ideally create jobs in Renfrewshire.

All images from the event are available on the Chamber facebook page – and to see the many twitter comments use the hashtag #b2bpaisley – 200+ tweets used the hashtag

Twitter comments included:

@fissioncreative: #b2bpaisley has been a fantastic event! @RenfrewshireCoC have done an amazing job, seminars were very useful and informative!

@LAShuttleworth – Oh. My. Goodness. #b2bpaisley absolutely fantastic. Colin Neil & Dr. Stuart Paul in particular were excellent. @fissioncreative also great.

‏@FullHouseApps: Hilarious and informative talk from @nsdesign #b2bpaisley

@markmacmillan12: Great turn out from at @RenfrewshireCoC #b2bpaisley event in Paisley Town Hall

‏@ModPhaislig2013: At the #b2bpaisley event in Paisley Town Hall. Lots of interest on #modphaislig2013

 

About Renfrewshire Chamber

Est. in ’64 and based in Paisley at Glasgow Airport, the fully accredited award winning Chamber is run by Chief Exec Bob Davidson and his team.  Bob reports to a Board of Directors chaired by President Tom Johnston. Renfrewshire Chamber is the area’s main business member organisation – whose purpose is to “help Renfrewshire grow & prosper” and have just under 600 members. The Chamber delivers a year round calendar of events and offers a range of member benefits.

For more information on Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce please visit www.renfrewshirechamber.com

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X