Coming up for you in April
April is a special time for me, except doing tax returns. Less about tax for the moment and more about some fantastic events for you to get involved with, whether as a sponsor, or attendee.
Firstly this event probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for a few things. One being the off chance to meet Alex Schlagman and being open to discussing what he is up to. Yes April we celebrate our 11th Year Anniversary. It has to also been added that until recently we have only moved into this sector- ie the commercial sector- initially through talks including Anil Mohanlal.
Another key ingredient to the passion for Commercial was last year organising an event prior to my intended flight to the South of France in March.
I had intended to be in a positive mood having hosted a conference. I have been hosting all day events since 2009 although took a break for a while (about three years) until brought in the National Development Summit (initially with support from Land Insight and Neil Mangan). In fact in the early days of the National Development Summit it was Neil who really put the event on the map- choosing a hotel fit for the purpose of effective networking, not just fantastic presentations.
As I mentioned last year, some key ingredients of the Commercial Summit came together including Richard Thorpe agreeing to open the event. Richard had presented at my events sometime back- and sent an email asking if I would be open for him to present. I said yes, although do wait for this Commercial Summit.
Other ingredients helped with the success of the event last March just before lockdown including the support of Bond Finance who came in as an exhibitor, alongside Sillence Hurn (introduced by Jack Jiggens), Catalyst Interiors (introduced by Aaron Yahaya) and LendWell (introduced indirectly by Piragash Sivanesan).
There were of course several other ingredients which helped with this event- attending John Corey's evening Property Network a couple of years back and hearing Suzi Carter. I arrived late due to other commitments, so may have missed part of Suzi's presentation, yet the knowledge she has is phenomenal. I had expected the event to be possibly inspiring and a chance to catch up with people and as an organiser, its great to learn what others are doing.
Anyway Suzi's presentation was amazing - the amount of notes taken though and I was delighted when Suzi agreed to the Commercial Summit. In fact Alex Schlagman and Will Stokes both spoke at the Summit also.
The missing pieces of the puzzle which have helped create the Conference this April focused on the High Street. A conversation with Saam Lowni. Saam mentioned Andrew McDonald. I had a meeting with Andrew and Andrew has helped introduce me to other key movers and shakers in the commercial industry.
His knowledge is far superior than mine. That doesn't matter. What matters is that he is humble to share his knowledge yet willingness to listen to others about other aspects of business.