Brighton Expo hits the spot

This year’s Brighton Expo was a huge success, attracting positive comments from both exhibitors and visitors. Here, organiser Mike Monk explains how the biggest free B2B networking event in Brighton played out.

With Brexit an ever-present worry for many businesses, it was hard to gauge just how many would put their hands in their pockets and book a stand for this year’s Brighton Expo.

As it happened, even the most momentous times in modern history couldn’t keep them away.

With more than 90 exhibitors and a diverse seminar programme, the event, staged at Brighton Racecourse on October 3, proved a huge draw.

“It was tremendous to see so many people enjoying the day and getting so much out of it,” said Mike.

“I was thrilled that Castle Water agreed to be the headline sponsor for a second consecutive year and delighted to receive the support of so many other partners, including Brighton Chamber & Sussex Chamber of Commerce”. 

Brighton Expo is part of the B2B Expos stable of events.

What a day!

The day started with a networking breakfast, hosted by Network My Club. The packed event proved a fitting start to the day and was followed by the launch of this year’s live Twitter feed, which attracted retweets from a wide range of local organisations, including the Edward Street Quarter.

Doors to the expo opened at 10am and Deputy Mayor of Brighton performed a brief opening ceremony.

Keynote speaker Sally Gunnell OBE not only gave an inspirational speech, she had a stand at the event to promote the work she does as a brand ambassador. 

Pre-event publicity for her talk attracted people from far and wide and many of the visitors attended further free seminars during the day.

The other keynote speakers were: marketing specialist Emma Pearce and Kerry Watkins of Social Brighton.

Lester Pratt, of Pratt Digital, had the daunting task of starting the day’s seminar programme with a talk entitled ‘There’s no such thing as a silly question’. Other speakers were Anna Golawski, a leading mental health consultant, Kristina Pereckaite, who heads up the NatWest Accelerator in Brighton, Sandra Murphy, who spoke about ‘Success made simple – 10 Steps for business growth’, and Alison Kuhn, a specialist in sustainable behavioural change and change management.

In between the speeches, Brighton Chamber hosted a ‘slo-mo’ networking event, which those who attended later raved about.

Mike says he was grateful to James Wright, of JHW PR, who supplied a PA system for some of the expo events. 

The print partner for the event was Custard Print. And the media partner was SBT and The Argus.

The best exhibitors

This year’s stands represented a broad church of the local business community. Visitors were able to meet representatives from digital marketing agencies and local hotels to wealth management specialists and even sports clubs.

The number of competitions on stands were a testament to exhibitors’ drive to attract the attention of even the most casual of visitors. 

Winner of the expo’s Best Stand competition went to Hotel Du Vin/Malmaison. 

“I was really pleased for the exhibitors,” said Mike. “The weather in the run-up to the day was pretty poor but, right on cue, visitors arrived and filled the venue. There really was a tremendous atmosphere and it was great to see people spending time at our networking wall and taking a break in the networking cafe.

“One of the really good things about Brighton Expo is that it is staged at such a great venue. As well as being easy to get to, Brighton Racecourse offers free parking and all the facilities business visitors expect.”

Brighton Expo generated more than 13,000 tweet impressions on the day and the buzz continued the following day as well.

As exhibitors follow up leads, Mike is now preparing the groundwork for his next big event – West Sussex Expo, traditionally staged at Fontwell Park Racecourse, Fontwell, Chichester. 

The date for 2020 is May 21st.

If anyone missed being part of Brighton Expo and doesn’t want to wait a year to get involved, West Sussex Expo takes place next May.

For further information, call Mike on 01273 286133 or his Mobile 07885 490266 or visit https://www.b2bexpos.co.uk/event/west-sussex-expo