The Yorkshire International Business Conference was held in Bridlington, and I was lucky enough to go after I was offered a place by a customer on a table earlier in the week at daft o?clock in the Kings Head!
Waking up at 5am I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours work before I was picked and taken to the Bridlington Spa.
At first, I was not sure what to expect, but I slowly eased into it, which was helped by seeing lots of familiar faces at the venue.
There were around 700 people in the Bridlington Spa, but you would not have thought so as it was really easy to get a coffee and bacon sandwich which summed up the quality service offered throughout the day by staff at the Bridlington Spa.
My first encounter at the event was with the young people who were there as part of the Fast Forward to Apprenticeship Programme.
In their blue T-Shirts these guys, and it must have taken some courage on their part; they were there keeping delegates from the entering the main floor and also seeking an opportunity to get their working lives off to start.
Shortly after 9am the first speaker, Rosie Swale Pope MBE came out and made her way to the stage. Rosie is the only person in history to travel around the world unsupported on foot! Her story was pretty amazing and put into context the efforts of Phil Moses, from Beerhouse and his sponsored walk, which amused me and others I may add.
David Miliband came next and delivered his talk. He was very easy to listen to and spoke many things, including leadership and the how on a global scale, there are no natural leaders in terms of countries in the modern world.
After a short break, we moved from the main hall to the theatre where David Burns held a live show on BBC Radio Humberside. Hull?s very own golden boy Luke Campbell introduced the next guest, paralympian?David Weir MBE who won four gold medals in London 2012.
Sir Terry Leahy, the former CEO of Tesco and the man behind the Clubcard and many other projects came next. His talk was to me the most interesting of the day as he touched on something that we, here in Beverley are going through currently.
Part of his talk was how retail is changing, and the impact e-commerce is having on the way that consumers shop, which is in turn having a direct influence on how retail parks; shopping centres and town centres need to evolve. In Beverley with the Flemingate and Grove Hill developments on the cards, his experiences on a global scale seem very similar to the ones we are facing here on a local level.
If Mary Portas is the queen of shops, then this guy, Sir Terry Leahy is the god of retail and leisure. Put as simply as I can he said town centres need to create experiences for people to draw them in and away from shopping on their computers. For example, one of ways he suggested included is how socialising is something people like to do, and that you cannot go out for a meal with your friends on a web site!
After lunch, Paul Sewell came on stage and said he had some bad news, David Dein would not be able to make it, but they had got a replacement to fill the slot. At this point, I was half expecting a local businessman or something like along those lines. Don?t be daft this was the YIBC, and they pulled another ace from their sleeve in Michael Heseltine, who was funny and very interesting.
Another break followed before the final talk by Professor Brian Cox OBE. There were 700 people in the room hanging on every word he said. I am not going to lie it went right over my head. I did, however, learn a few things. The universe was once the size of a melon and also that, underground in Europe, there is 27km tunnel being used to recreate the ?big bang?.
Overall this was a cracking day that left me feeling very inspired. My head is still buzzing from the stories, advice and information that was shared by some truly great people from the world of sport, science, business and politics.
The 2014 Yorkshire International Business Conference takes place on the 6th June, details of which can be found on their web site ? www.yibc.biz or by calling Christine Clayton on 01924 422193.
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Source: http://www.hu17.net/2013/06/08/yorkshire-international-business-conference-the-bridlington-spa/
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