Newquay Business Week 2018 was a resounding success and highlighted the increasing popularity of Newquay as a place to do business in Cornwall. According to BID Director Jenny Briant, of Britanic Industries Ltd, “This year saw Newquay Business Week continue to build on the success of previous years. The week delivered a varied calendar of topics, carefully chosen to benefit Cornish businesses and provide an insight into topics which may have otherwise been inaccessible. Business Week 2018 was a remarkable success and saw lots of engagement from the local business community”.
Nearly 750 tickets were sold this year, in comparison to the 700 tickets in 2017, 500 tickets sold in 2016 and 250 sold in 2015. The growth of the event, and its importance to the local business community, is a very positive sign of the success of business in Cornwall as a whole and Newquay BID hope to return next year with an even better Business Week 2019.
This year, each day’s sessions took place at different locations from some of Newquay’s best tourism and hospitality venues: these included the Headland Hotel, the Atlantic Hotel, Lighthouse Cinema, the Legacy Hotel Victoria and the Great Western Hotel. Being able to showcase these venues to speakers and delegates from all over Cornwall was a particularly positive aspect of Business Week this year and Newquay BID would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank all the businesses and all their staff involved in making the week so successful.
Speakers this year delivered a wide range of inspiring, engaging, informative and business-minded sessions ranging from social media to content marketing, storytelling to website MOT’s; digital marketing to online selling, sustainability practices for businesses to the future of tourism in Cornwall and a 2 hour session on Cornwall Airport Newquay and Spaceport Cornwall in which the new flight route to Copenhagen was revealed. Everything from Brexit to Cornish language and GDPR to Intellectual Property was covered in this weeklong event. Delegates reported that they really enjoyed the variety of sessions on offer and liked the stand out line up this year provided. BID will be reaching out to local business organisations and their members in the new year for suggested topics for Business Week 2019. Michelle from The Headland Hotel and BID Director said: “Newquay Business Week is consistently a very professional and valuable event with high quality speakers and 2018 was no exception. The organised sessions are useful to a whole range of Cornish businesses and it is great to see Newquay BID leading the way with some very practical support to help local business. The Headland Hotel was very proud to host some of the sessions this year and to be given the opportunity to showcase our venue to the business community”.
Karen Hoyle, Newquay BID Director says that “Newquay Business Week is really going from strength to strength, attracting more businesses than ever and lots of new faces this year. The week is firmly becoming one of the most popular business events in Cornwall and recognised as the event to attend for high quality speakers that are particularly relevant to what businesses need in Cornwall. Newquay as a business destination is growing and our thanks go to all our amazing speakers and venues”.
Newquay Business Week speakers included: Aren Grimshaw (Minchin and Grimshaw), David McGuire (Radix Communications), Ed Tarbox (Visit Cornwall), Al Titterington and Miles Carden (Cornwall Airport Newquay and Spaceport), Sara Pugh (Eight Wire), Matthew Thomson (Fifteen Cornwall), Charlie and Fiona (Cornwall 365), Sam and Mish (Retail Fixers), John Harvey (The Samphire Club), Mark Trevethan (Cornwall Council), James Neale (Idenna Creative), Visit England, Claire Howdle (Stranger Collective), James Strawbridge (Posh Pasty Co), Coodes Solicitors, Katie Cavell, Ann Vandermeulin (FSB), Neil Stark (Eden Project) and a whole host of small business support. Newquay BID would like to thank all the speakers involved within this event for their time, energy and commitment in helping local businesses in Cornwall thrive and flourish. Over forty delegates were present in some of the sessions, illustrating the importance of Newquay Business Week to small, medium and large businesses in Cornwall: delegates represented some of Cornwall’s most important tourism and hospitality venues, as well as representatives from financial institutions, media organisations, marketing companies, network organisers, charities, local authorities and community groups. One of the most positive things about the week was the opportunity for businesses to make meaningful and effective networking connections and sharing best practice, whether that was over morning coffee or lunch at each venue or sitting in on the sessions.
John Burbridge, BID Chairman surmised by saying ‘‘This week Newquay BID has given an amazing opportunity to all businesses, not only within the BID boundaries but also the wider Cornwall Business community, to learn, explore and update themselves with the latest technologies from industry leaders. Our speakers have shared their wealth of knowledge and experiences. I am sure our delegates will have taken away some great ideas and are ready to implement them into their own businesses. The varied subjects which have been discussed has meant there has been something for everyone. As chair, I’d like to thank the BID team for working tirelessly to deliver such a great event. It has been so well received by all attendees, we are already planning to make Newquay Business Week 2019 bigger and better!’’
For any feedback on this years event, please email your comments to info@newquaybid.co.uk
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