Kicking Off Another Year of Events with Creative Calderdale

Creative Calderdale presents Tony Johnston, Head of Training at the Press Association – 15th March 2012 at the Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre,
Hopwood Lane, Halifax, HX1 5ER


18:00 – 19:00   Hot Food and Registration
19:00 – 19:30   Welcome and Opening Pitches
19:30 – 20:30   Tony Johnston
20:30 – late      Networking

Creative Calderdale are pleased to announce that their speaker for March will be Head of Training at the Press Association, Tony Johnston.

Tony will be delivering a talk entitled; The Future of Newspapers and the Media and will cover areas such as the technological challenges and opportunities, the role of social media in the news cycle, changing consumer habits and the Leveson inquiry into Press Standards. Tony is personally responsible for training journalists for the major newspapers and broadcast television channels in the UK.  He is a specialist in the media industry and has a wealth of knowledge that he would be willing to share with creative industries who want to get an insight into how the media is likely to change over the next 18 months. His areas of expertise include:

·         Social media – making the most of it
·         Developing PR strategy and writing press releases
·         Writing for web

Whether you’re a budding journalist, freelance copywriter or just want to make the most of the media for your business, this event is a must if you want to boost your profile in 2012!

This event is free to creative, digital and cultural industry professionals. If you would like to attend, please register online here – places, as ever, are limited and will be allocated on a first come served basis so don’t delay – register today!

We have a limited number of exhibition and pitch slots available for March, if you would like to take up either opportunity please email events@creativecalderdale.co.uk.

For more information and to sign up for free as a member of Creative Calderdale, please visit www.creativecalderdale.co.uk

2012’s enterprise club commenced last night with Mohammed Aleem, Enterprise Coach

Leeds Central Library Enterprise club
23rdJanuary 2012
‘Is starting a business right for you’


The first of 2012’s enterprise club kicked off last night with Mohammed Aleem, Enterprise Coach from Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber.

Aleem gave an excellent overview of the key areas that need to be considered when starting out as a new business. He highlighted the importance of developing a business idea into a clear vision. This can be achieved by’ following the enterprise coach ‘honing your business idea’ exercise. This exercise requires the start up to focus on sixteen key areas, for instance:

Why have you chosen this business idea?
What difficulties might you have?
What can you do to overcome these difficulties?
What are your strengths? Could you use them to create a business.
When do you plan to start trading?
Who are your competitors?
Who are your customers?

After a group discussion around these areas Aleem moved on to market research and emphasised the importance of getting to know both your potential consumers and competitors.

The final part of Aleem’s presentation looked at marketing. Aleem pointed out how marketing is quite a broad term, encompassing many things that we all do on a day to day basis. So, marketing not only includes advertising your goods and services or distributing flyers etc but it can also refer to daily activities, such as telling the people you meet on a daily basis about your idea, the image and branding that you have for your business, through to the quality of  customer care that you provide.

One of the top tips that I took away form Aleem’s presentation was his advice to draw up a large plan of all the market research and marketing areas that need to be considered. Aleem suggested displaying it on a kitchen wall and adding to it each day when an idea occurs to you.

To find out more about the services Aleem offers please email him at: mohammed.aleem@yourchamber.org.uk

The next Enterprise clubwill focus on tax and national insurance and runs on the 6th of February 6 – 7.45pm at Leeds Central Library. To find out more please ring Business and Patent Information Services 0113 2478266

Final days in India

by Joyce Claterbos


We've made the local papers three times so far about various events we've attended. ASB, the school here, is using our visit to generate a lot of PR for their MBA program because it's so new. Having a relationship with a US school is a real coup for Indian schools. 

The group at the Hill Palace, one of the residencies of the royal family of Kerala.
Front to back: Mahesh, Erica, Joe, Alisha; Joyce KB Aaron, Natalie, Liz, Gordon, Case, Helen, Apryl; Wes, Jordan, Anobio, Wes, Gordon, Boone, Nick.
Friday we were in Cochin and saw the Hill Palace, one of the residencies of the Kerala royal family. It was donated to the state and is now a museum. Regrettably, we could only take pictures outside so there are no shots of the beautiful gold crown and the formal reception rooms. In the evening we saw a presentation of traditional dances and costumes. It was pretty spectacular. We met a person who graduated from KU in 2008! 

We got to ride on a houseboat on Lake Vambanad Monday. It was a lot of fun. We had lunch cooked on the boat and most of us went swimming. We were tied up to the bank next to some rice fields and the student found a coconut tree that hung out over the lake. Several climbed the tree, picked a coconut, and then jumped into the lake. Lots of fun until the owner of the tree came up in his boat and asked us to quit! We left his coconuts in a small pile on the bank for him.

Tuesday we visited a cashew factory and had a boat ride and dinner at Sundara Theeram, a local lake. We walked down a dirt track to the lake to a covered set of tables. It started raining after the dinner so KB hired a jeep to carry up back up the track to the bus which was parked on the paved road. I think the students had the most fun on the ride back up the track. It was muddy and bumpy and was a lot like the safari ride at Animal Kingdom at DisneyWorld! Some students were invited into a local woman's home to meet her mother and children. 
Erik, Case, and Jordan meet school children at Hill Palace. We saw three different groups of children visiting the Palace that day.

We will have our final dinner at a restaurant called Island Shack tonight. It's on the beach in Kovalum and it is pretty primitive, but the seafood comes directly to the beach and goes straight to the kitchen. We'll have Tandoori fish, lobster, and shrimp with lime sodas. We will sit on plastic chairs on the sand at the beach with candles on the table. You eat with your right hand in India and use the local bread to scoop up the juices so it can get a little messy. You get a bowl of warm water with a lemon slice at the end to clean your hands. The bathroom was also primitive, but it flushed! Still a step above camping. Dinner is usually at 9 pm so that's been a challenge to get used to.

I think we're all ready to come home. It has been intense, but we all agree, worth the effort. See you next week in class. Make sure you ask us about our trip and to see our pictures. 


Joyce Claterbos is a marketing lecturer at the University of Kansas School of Business.
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The Enterprise Club 20th Feb 2012, Leeds Central library 6pm

The Enterprise club provides an opportunity to network and access information, support and advice on starting and running a business from set-up onwards.

Workshops will start on Monday 23rd January and
run fortnightly from 6pm – 7.45pm.

The following topics are covered:

23rd Jan Is starting a business right for you?
6th Feb HMRC-Tax and NI
20th Feb Financing your business
5th March Marketing your business
19th March Researching your business


The workshops are open to anyone
 thinking about setting up their own business or becoming self employed.

 To find out more and book into the workshops contact:

 Business and Patent Information Services

 Tel: 0113 247 8266
 Email: piu@leeds.gov.uk
 Web: www.businessandpatents.org


 The Enterprise Club runs at:
                      
 Leeds Central Library
 3rdFloor Meeting Room
 Calverley Street
 LS1 3AB