News
This weeks news and events.
Good morning!
Dry January is finally behind us, well done to those who made it through. Next week we have a veritable smorgasbord (as they say in Sweden) of events to tell you about, and it's still freezing down here in Devon, hence this week's image.
First us in the next BBTV event on Wednesday with Dr. Maggie Irving who is going to discuss the importance of "Funny Business" and yes expect a bit of clowning around among the serious business insights.
Next up we are supporting the Elite Business Live event taking place online on March 11-12th with keynotes from Lara Morgan, Eric Partaker, and Piers Linny and more.
And finally our very own Great British Business Festival on March 31st. If you want to get in early and book to run a workshop and Expo Booth let us know here.
We've also curated a few stories that appealed to us below that you may have missed this week.
Event
Business Breakfast with Dr. Maggie Irving
Our Guest on Episode 26 of Business Breakfast TV is Dr. Maggie Irving, Founder of Comedy Matters.
Creating comedy is a ‘high stakes’ art form. A failed gag is painful for the comic and audience. Maggie Irving, an expert in comedy writing and performing, believes we can all be purposely amusing. She says: “It's all about honest self-expression, vulnerability, and an attitude, all blended with some serious comedy writing and performing skills."
Maggie attained a PhD in becoming a female clown. Seriously. She has successfully taught comedy skills to a diverse range of professionals and performers, in fact anyone who wants to deliver humorous and engaging talks or build up comedy and communication skills for themselves and their business/life.
For Maggie, humour is ‘social glue’ and the rewards are tenfold and long-lasting. Listen to her dynamic journey into becoming a clown, comedy performer, teacher, and her assertion that anybody can learn and develop their unique comedy voice.
Elite Business Live!
It can be hard to find events that really hit the spot. Events that give insight from experts, while enabling interactive breakout sessions and ensuring that through them, you can connect with peers that can impact your business in a really positive way. Like you, we are very fussy about where we spend our time and which events we support, which is why we are delighted to partner with Elite Business Live.
We understand that if you are going to take advice, it needs to be from people who have been there, bought the t-shirt, and really understand the challenges you are facing.
But expert guidance doesn’t appear out of thin air, so who can you turn to for help in these critical stages to keep your business moving forward?
The Elite Business Live speakers and panellists are made up of 50 of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs who have been in your exact position – the all-important crossroads that decide the future of your business and know how valuable advice can be. Below is a snapshot of insight from a few of the expert speakers joining the event line up across two incredible days.
EXPERT ADVICE THIS WAY
To register for Elite Business Live and for tips and tricks to help unlock the key to commercial success please register below. The event is being offered completely free to support SMEs during this challenging time and help them come through 2021 with solid growth plans in place.
The Great British Business Festival
Join us for interactive workshops and in the Expo section, a selection of the best in British business looking to help you grow and scale your business.
Welcome! Doors open for networking at 09.30 and the talks begin at 10.00. Networking will continue on the platform until 20.30.
Just drop into a networking room to meet your fellow attendees pre-event and click on the blue participate button to join in the conversation. Or if you just want to watch what's going on that's fine too! Network and connect with other key speakers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
We've hundreds of Expo Booths, 24 Workshops led by inspiring thinkers, and a virtual pub to round off the day.
Have you joined Clubhouse yet? (You need an iPhone)
Earlier last year, just as quarantine boredom began to set in, Alex Marshall got an invitation to test a new app. Marshall, an investor at First Round Capital, hadn’t seen any of her friends or colleagues in months. But when she downloaded the app, called Clubhouse, she could hear many of their voices, as if they’d suddenly showed up at her house to hang out.
Marshall was one of Clubhouse’s first 100 users, and she quickly got hooked on the app, which works like an audio chatroom. She joined rooms with friends and strangers and, on one occasion, the rapper E-40. Sometimes, she and her partner, who is also a VC, would be sitting on opposite sides of their apartment only to discover each other in the same Clubhouse room. “It felt like a cocktail party where you could walk up to a group and eventually jump into the conversation,” she says. For a while, “it was my favorite place on my phone.”
Feel free to follow me @drewellis and join in my hosted rooms on Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm each week.
Champagne’s Latest Problem? Sheep Theft.
Yes, we couldn't resist this one either!
It’s been a difficult year for the champagne industry for a number of reasons. Without anything to celebrate during Covid-19, sales of the bubbly plummeted by as much as 70%, leaving as many as 100 million unsold bottles in wine cellars.
However, there is a new threat this week across the Champagne region of France; sheep have been stolen from vineyards. The animals are increasingly being used in vineyards across France as an ecological way to avoid pesticide use; the sheep graze through the vineyards, munching down the flowers and weeds, thus avoiding the need for mowers or pesticides.