Digital & You

SBT has partnered with an innovative New Business Show For Mid Sussex, Digital & You. Learn, interact, network and discover at the King’s Centre in Burgess Hill on 18th October

As the digital landscape continues to rapidly evolve, it is essential that businesses are up to speed with the latest insights and solutions. To be held on Tuesday, 18th October 2016 at the King’s Centre in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, Digital and You is an exciting new event which aims to empower companies in the region, from start-ups to corporates, in keys areas of digital technology and arm them with a powerful toolkit of effective ideas.

Provided by the Open 4 Business initiative of Mid Sussex District Council and in partnership with Sussex Business Times, this FREE presentation-led event provides the ideal opportunity to come and meet some of the region’s most influential digital thought leaders and find out how becoming digitally-savvy will help deliver your company’s objectives.

Why attend?

• LEARN – Listen to insightful and educational keynote presentations on various hot topics, from social media and email marketing to cloud accounting and analytics by leading digital experts. Come for a specific talk or feel free to stay for the afternoon.
• INTERACT – Engage in a lively Q&A panel session with key speakers, presented by Simon Skinner, Editor-in-Chief at Sussex Business Times.
• NETWORK – Connect with renowned influencers and organisations, on hand to share their expertise in the exhibition area.
• DISCOVER – Find out how a blogger can help promote your business in the blogger zone.

Over 400 visitors are expected to attend the event, and Mid Sussex District Council would like to thank its sponsors: Gatwick Diamond Business, Sussex University and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Councillor Gary Marsh, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Property, commented: “This is a very exciting initiative and we wholeheartedly encourage businesses in the region of all sizes and digital experience to attend. We are thrilled to have been able to secure so many prestigious digital thought leaders and organisations
to be part of the event and look forward to an extremely lively and informative afternoon.”

To register to attend, please visit www.o4b.org.uk and if you are a digital company wishing to exhibit, please contact Emma Bennett at open4business@midsussex.gov.uk

 

‘Digital & You’ Programme

11:30am – Doors Open for registration and networking

12:00 – 12:05pm – Welcome by Simon Hughes, Head of Digital and Customer Service at Mid Sussex District Council

12:05pm – 12:20pm – How Cloud Accounting Can Benefit Your Business by Tom Bowen, Senior Strategy Adviser for Hilton Sharp & Clarke.

Cloud Accounting has revolutionised the way a company’s accounts are managed over the past few years and will continue to do so as new technology becomes available. By going digital, businesses are able to automate much of their administration – such as bank transactions and recording invoices – thus saving time and money. At the same time, accountants have real time access to how a business is performing, allowing them to offer better and more relevant advice to their client.

This presentation will outline the key features of Cloud Accounting software and explain how it can benefit your business.

12:30pm – 12:45pm – First Things First: Preparing for an SEO Campaign by Nathan Davidson, Founder and Director of Digital Davidson

Every company wants to be top of Google rankings! But it’s important to make sure you have certain elements in place before you undertake an SEO campaign, to ensure you reap the best results. This talk will examine the key areas you need to consider – from understanding what Search Engine Optimisation is and making sure your website is ‘well-built’ and responsive to knowing who your rivals are, the competitive space in which you exist and the opportunities that space may present.

1:00pm – 1:15pm – Digital Analytics: The Secret Ingredient to Online Success by Rhys Jackson, Head of Data and Insight at RocketMill

Google, Amazon, Netflix, Uber… all attribute their success to the intelligent use of data. But data and analysis is not esoteric magic. Rhys Jackson provides the steps to start outperforming your competition with evidence-led decision making.

1:30 – 1:45pm – Google Apps for Work: Your Office in the Cloud by Stephen Hannon, Account Manager at Cloud Technology Solutions

Google Apps for Work has been successfully transforming businesses for the past 5 years, helping them become more agile and keeping pace with modern methods of working. Creating truly collaborative workspaces increases team efficiency, saving businesses not just money, but valuable time too. The ability to work with a colleague in real time from any device encourages productivity levels to increase. Team-work is made easier and IT spend goes down. Stephen will provide an insight into the different ways Google for Work has changed the way organisations work, and describe the benefits these organisations have received. Cloud Technology Solutions continues to develop the world’s leading data migration tool, to make the journey to the cloud seamless and stress-free.

2:00pm – 2:15pm – Making Social Media Work for Your Business by Kerry Watkins, Founder and Director of Social Brighton

It can be hard to know where to start with social media and how best to spend your time, so Kerry will help to simplify the somewhat intimidating landscape of social media marketing and cover some of the basics.

Discover how social media can benefit your business, which networks are ideal for which types of organisation and how to approach developing a social media strategy. Kerry will share her top tips for social media success, learned from her years of experience, for you to take away and action when you get back to the office.

 

2:30pm – 2:45pm – Content Marketing: What Happens When Brands Become Publishers? By Jon Norris, Head of Content at RocketMill

This presentation will cover the basics of content marketing – what it is, how it can help you, and how to get started. It looks at companies that do it well and different strategies you can employ to produce great editorial on limited budgets.

3:00pm – 3:15pm – Top Email Marketing Tips for Growing Businesses by Komal Helyer, Head of Marketing at Pure360

Did you know the attention span of the average adult is eight seconds, meaning people don’t read emails – they scan them? Coupled with the fact that the average consumer receives 11 commercial emails a day, it soon becomes clear that standing out in an inbox can be tricky a business!

However, regardless of your email marketing sophistication there are plenty of ways in which you can overcome these challenges. Komal Helyer, Head of Marketing at Pure360, will provide top tips on how you can increase engagement, build brand loyalty with your audience and ultimately improve your ROI with the most popular digital marketing channel – email!

3:30pm – 3:45pm – Q&A Panel hosted by Simon Skinner, Editor-in-Chief at Sussex Business Times

3:55 – 4:00pm – Closing speech by Simon Hughes, Head of Digital and Customer Service at Mid Sussex District Council