Event summaries
CHASE Event featuring Aubrey de Grey
On 7th August, Kath and Agnès attended their first CHASE event as members. It featured scientist Aubrey de Grey as speaker.
Click here for more details on this event.
Small Spark now member of CHASE
Small Spark is now a proud member of the Cambridge Hi-Tech Association of Small Enterprises
Click here for more details on CHASE.
Small Spark return to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
Kath and Agnès returned to their favourite radio spot, Sue Dougan’s show. The focus of this programme was how to use IT in businesses to save and reduce stress. Amongst the areas covered were email, email etiquette, templates and Microsoft Excel use.
Click here for more details the show.
Small Spark at EuSpRIG 2007
Small Spark attended and took part in the 2007 European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group's (EuSpRIG) Annual Conference whose focus of the conference was ‘Enterprise Spreadsheet Management: A Necessary Evil’.
Click here for more details about EuSpRIG 2007.
SETwomen podcast
Small Spark is delighted to have taken part and to feature in the SETwomen podcasts.
Click here for more details on the SETwomen podcast.
Bring your laptop and learn: Microsoft Outlook
In May and June 2007, Small Spark delivered a series of workshops on Microsoft Outlook. All workshops were on a “Bring a laptop and learn” format, so that attendees could immediately apply the skills they learnt during the workshops in a way that was useful for them and their business.
Click here for more details on the Workshops.
Small Spark at the Enterprising Women Conference
Small Spark ran a workshop at the Enterprising Women Conference.
“Thank you for the excellent workshop yesterday - I found it really useful” — Cheryl Gibbings — Choretamer Ltd
“Thank you for that very informative and well presented workshop. I usually leave workshops muttering about the waste of my time... I came away from yours with some very useful knowledge. I realised for one that I do not use my email Office 2003 to its full potential.” — Leona Gray-Mason — Recycle2shop
The materials we used in that workshop are available from the Workshop presentations page of the Enterprising Women website.
Click here to read an account of the event.
Small Spark - techie Christmas presents experts
Kath and Agnès have been invited again (on Friday 26th January 2007) by BBC radio Cambridgeshire presenter Sue Dougan, this time to discuss the techie presents her listeners received for Christmas.
Once again, the show was a lot of fun, and Kath and Agnès hope that they have been able to be of use to Sue's listeners.
Tune in to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Sue Dougan show on 96 & 95.7 FM.
Small Spark and ARU's Workplace Sector students
On 7th December 2006, Dr Jo Stanley - lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University - invited Kath and Agnès to share with her students their experience as entrepreneurs.
Find out more about Small Spark's presentation to ARU students.
Women's Enterprise Day
On Wednesday 15th November, Small Spark was invited to speak at Anglia Ruskin University's Women's Enterprise Day.
Find out more about Women's Enterprise Day.
Really Using Microsoft Outlook
Held on Friday 23rd February, this presentation focused on how Outlook can allow you to stop stressing and increase control over your time, tasks and customer contacts.
This extremely successful lunchtime talk was organised by Enterprise Link's Jane Darlington.
Find out more about Really Using Microsoft Outlook.
Small Spark on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Sue Dougan Show
On Monday 30th October 2006, Kath and Agnès were invited to take part in Sue Dougan's show on 96 & 95.7 FM.
Find out more about Small Spark's appearance on theSue Dougan show.
Celebrating Age 2006
Monday 9th October 2006: Agnès lends a helping hand and celebrates Age.
Find out more about Celebrating Age.
EuSpRIG 2006
5-7th July 2006: Small Spark's Kath McGuire attended the EuSpRIG (European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group) Annual Conference at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge.
Find out more about the 2006 EuSpRIG conference below.
Enterprising Women - Cambridge Launch
On 29th June 2006, Agnès was invited to speak at the Cambridge Launch of Enterprising Women.
Find out more about Enterprising Women.
Positive Presentations
December 2005: Small Spark and professional Business and Life Coach Madeleine Morgan organised a seminar on how to deliver more effective presentations.
Find out more about Positive Presentations.
Event details & reports
CHASE Event featuring Aubrey de Grey
Aubrey is a most passionate man who has set out to allow us all to live for as long as possible. You can find all about Aubrey's work on his SENS website or listen to him on the TED conference's website.
Aside from having positively revolutionary ideas, Aubrey just does not take 'no' for an answer. He is one of the best examples there are of genuine inspirational speakers! We encourage you to go and hear him speak and ask him questions - he is open to debate.
Small Spark now member of CHASE
Small Spark is now a proud member of the Cambridge Hi-Tech Association of Small Enterprises. It is a lively networking group for entrepreneurs, start-ups, small firms and people interested in business and hi-tech, based in Cambridge.
CHASE organises a variety of meetings every month, from casual pub meets to more "formal" meetings where speakers are invited to share their views and experience.
We hope to see you there in future.
Small Spark experts on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Sue Dougan Show
Kath and Agnès returned to their favourite radio spot, Sue Dougan’s show. The focus of this programme was how to use IT in businesses to save and reduce stress. Amongst the areas covered were email, email etiquette, templates and Microsoft Excel use.
It was a pleasure for Kath and Agnès to share with Sue and her listeners some of their tips and advice.
You can tune in to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Sue Dougan show every day from 1pm – 4pm on 96 & 95.7 FM and 1026MW.
If you have any questions on the topics raised in this programme or need help making your business processes easier and less stressful, feel free to contact us.
Small Spark at EuSpRIG
The 2007 EuSpRIG (European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group) Annual Conference was held at the University of Greenwich from the 11th to the 13th of July. The focus of the conference was ‘Enterprise Spreadsheet Management: A Necessary Evil’.
Small Spark’s Kath McGuire presented a paper to the conference discussing ‘Why Task-Based Training is Superior to Traditional Training Methods’.
Feel free to email Kath or phone her on 01223 700919 if you would like further information or to discuss spreadsheets issues.
SETwomen podcast
In these podcasts, women entrepreneurs in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) in the East of England discuss their motivations for going into business for themselves.
Nearly 40 women - Kath and Agnès amongst them - were involved in the creation of the podcast series, which focuses on women starting businesses in SET and the issues which affect them. The series has been designed to help raise awareness and provide recognition for women in SET. It aims to motivate SET women returners and encourage women to consider a career in Science, Engineering and Technology.
The series includes discussions with women in each of these specialist sectors, the transition from employment to enterprise, women innovators in academia and industry, why women choose SET entrepreneurship and more.
The podcasts have been sponsored by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and YTKO, a business consultancy specialising in the commercialisation of innovation in science and technology.
The launch of the podcasts, on June 26th, was a vibrant and thought-provoking event. The women present had the opportunity to discuss key issues, meet like-minded women and promote their businesses.
Kath and Agnès would like to take this opportunity to thank Cobi Smith for her patience and expertise in recording and putting together these podcasts, and for generally being fabulously interesting!
Bring your laptop and learn: Microsoft Outlook
In May and June 2007, Small Spark delivered a series of workshops on Microsoft Outlook. All workshops were on a “Bring a laptop and learn” format, so that attendees could immediately apply the skills they learnt during the workshops in a way that fitted them and their business.
Those workshops were:
- More than a mail client – a business contact and time-management tool!
- Email management – get a hold of your time and your information!
- Customisation and information retrieval for better business efficiency
- Data sharing, maintenance and back up
Please contact us if you have any questions or are interested in these workshops.
Enterprising Women Conference
Small Spark's workshop — “Increase your LITer@cy”
This workshop was designed to encourage those who would like to improve their basic IT knowledge and skills. We shared some of our top tips on email etiquette, shortcuts and icons, email merging, templates, presentations, password management, presentations, freeware and shareware and much more.
It was a pleasure for us to share our tips with such a pleasant, experienced and keen bunch of enterprising women. Ladies, we would like to say a big “THANK YOU!!!” to all of you for your enthusiastic participation and your eagerness to learn. We really enjoyed presenting this workshop and hope that you have found it useful. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us and give us your feedback.
The conference
We had a fantastic time and were positively impressed with the conference. The range of stands on the market place was wide and covered business and non-business areas. It was a great place to meet clients, potential clients, suppliers and partners alike. The keynote speakers were most colourful and passionate - hello Dawn!! - and showed different visions and experiences of what being a successful businesswoman means. The event has got a great potential and could easily have spanned over 2 days.
We were greatly impressed with the outstanding organisation of the event. As presenters and attendees, we got correct and comprehensive indications about the event from day one. The Enterprising Women team is very organised and very, very friendly. They kept smiling up to the end, although the day was clearly a very long one for them, as had been the weeks leading to the event. Hats off!
We do hope that there will be another Enterprising Women Conference next year! Any questions? Contact us or contact Enterprising Women.
Presentation to the students of ARU's Workplace Sector
Kath and Agnès found a group of eager aspiring entrepreneurs who were keen to learn more from first-hand experience what life really is like when you set up your own business.
After a brief presentation from Small Spark, both Kath and Agnès were asked interesting questions about Small Spark and entrepreneurship, which they endeavoured to answer. They were impressed with the students' comments on what they had learnt about entrepreneurship from their studies and from experience.
After the lecture, Dr Stanley commented: "Many, many thanks for your presentation this afternoon: you have been quoted in all students' practicals after you left!!"
Women's Enterprise Day
This event was part of Enterprise Week and was organised by Anglia Ruskin University who invited women "to inspire, be inspired and boost female enterprise at a local and national level."
Small Spark was invited to share their experience of being female entrepreneurs. After a brief presentation of Kath and Agnès' enterprises, they recapped the salient points mentioned by the other speakers and encouraged the attendees to add their own experience and ask questions on those points.
Both Kath and Agnès really enjoyed the event and met very interesting women. Both would like to thank Pamela Pfrommer for her invitation and for organising this very successful event.
If you would like some more information about Enterprise Day, contact Pamela Pfrommer on 0845 196 2664 or email her at p.pfrommer@anglia.ac.uk.
Really Using Microsoft Outlook
During this lunchtime talk, we demonstrated some less well-known yet powerful techniques you can use with Outlook. These aimed to help you manage your vital business information as well as drive and inform your business development - all while saving you time and reducing your stress.
This event was so well attended that we had to move to a bigger room than the one originally set aside!
We chose to do the demonstrations directly on Outlook itself, which allowed for a very interactive session where attendees' questions were addressed on the spot.
We would like to thank the attendees for their presence and their most dynamic participation, and hope that they have enjoyed the talk and found it personally useful.
We would like to thank Jane Darlington and Enterprise Link for organising the event.
If you were unable to attend but would like a copy of the handout that accompanied the event, you can download it from the Enterprise Link website.
If you would like to know more about how to make the most of Microsoft Outlook, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
Contact Point
The first Contact Point lunch took place on Tuesday 15th of August 2006. It was a real success, with 36 people attending.
We have had really good feedback from those who attend Contact Point. They said they have made useful business contacts, created partnerships and found new clients and suppliers. Naturally, they have also enjoyed the gorgeous Italian food and atmosphere.
The format of the event means that it is a kind of networking where you can really get to know people and build valuable business relationships.
We now have over 200 people on our mailing list, which means a lot of diverse businesses amongst which to find clients, partners or suppliers.
The website allows you - for free - to register your details, book online, see who else is a member and see who is coming to the next event. That means you can carefully plan your networking to achieve your goals. And if after an event you need to be reminded of the details of someone you met, you can consult the attendance list online.
You can come when you want. There is no compulsory referrals. There is no limit of attendee per profession - that way you get to know the competition and can find partners!
If this sounds like a useful tool for your business, come and join us. We look forward to see you there!
The Contact Point site has more information and allows you to register.
Sue Dougan Show
As well as listening to some great music and chatting with Sue about IT training, Kath and Agnès did their best to answer listeners' questions on IT.
You can get more information about Sue via Sue's profile page.
Kath and Agnès would like to thank Sue, Heather and the listeners who called in for a fabulous afternoon!
If you need help with IT, then please contact us and we might be able to help. If we don't have an answer for you, we might know someone else who does.
Contact us as well if you would like to purchase Training Gift Vouchers for your family or friends, or if you would like some training for yourself.
Celebrating Age
Small Spark's Agnès Aubert took the day off to go and lend a hand at Cambridge's Celebrating Age festivities at Cambridge Guildhall. This event was organised around the International Day of Older People (October 1st). Here is her account of the day.
"Monday 9th October 2006 saw the Guildhall bustling with enthusiasm and interest. People of all ages coming to visit found out from a variety of existing stalls what is organised for, around and by older people.
With my professional hat on, I was pleased to see how many people were keen to learn about IT and dispell the "I am too old for this" myth.
A Talking Wall gathered older people's ideas and suggestions on what it is like to be an older person and how older people's lives could be improved.
The audience's attention (and the stall holders' too!) was captured by a variety of interesting speeches and entertainment. Amongst those were the angelic voices of Women of Note and David Williams' captivating accordion tunes. Like many stall holders and stewards, my feet itched to join the dance floor and take part in the ballroom dance and other line dance.
I must say how impressed I was with "Hot Potatoes". Part theatre company, part training provider, they made us re-think practices that take place in hospitals on a daily basis and that have a negative impact on older patients. Their sketches were a fabulous way to make creative solutions and suggestions emerge, which could change older patients' lives for the best. Ms Hewitt, if you read this, watch and learn!
The day was a real success, so hats off to its organisers - the City Council (especially Sally Roden, Norah Al Ani and Dorothy Runnicles), to all the organisations, speakers and entertainers present. But it would not have worked without the enthusiasm and participation of the older men and women for whom the celebration was organised. Ladies and gentlemen, your example was truly inspiring!"
Events continued in Cambridgeshire until 19th November! If you want some more information about this event, the contact person at Cambridge City Council is Sally Roden 01223 517523. Alternatively, you can contact the Council on 01223 457000.
EuSpRIG 2006
EuSpRIG is a group of practitioners, from both academia and industry, who are interested in spreadsheets - specifically the risks associated with spreadsheet use and how to mitigate them.EuSpRIG's annual conference in 2006 was held in July in Cambridge on the theme of "Managing Spreadsheets: Improving corporate performance, compliance and governance".
Kath spent three days discussing spreadsheets with some of the world's most passionate practitioners - and she had a great time. "It was a chance to hear many of the spreadsheet horror stories - for instance a $24 Million charge for a company due to a copy and paste error, or budgets being over- or under- estimated by hundreds of thousands of dollars."
The conference also provided Kath and her fellow attendees with an opportunity to listen to some of the industry's leading lights talking about their experiences and their vision for reducing the problems facing spreadsheet users. "There were fascinating papers about the nature of errors, test-driven spreadsheet development, the importance of documenting a spreadsheet and many others."
Brandon Weber from Microsoft held a session discussing Excel7 and gaining feedback from all present about what features should/should not be incorporated in future Excel development.
Kath is looking forward to the 2007 conference which will be held in Greenwich on the theme of 'Enterprise Spreadsheet Management: A Necessary Evil'.
If Excel gives you nightmares or if you would like to discover its mysteries, you can email Kath or phone her on 01223 700919.
Enterprising Women - Cambridge Launch
Enterprising Women is an organisation funded by the European Social Fund and the East of England Development Agency with an aim to increase the number of women starting business.
Agnès was invited to talk in front of a room full of past, current and future female entrepreneurs about her own experience in the matter. She was positively impressed with the wealth of knowledge, experience, skills and enthusiasm amongst the women she spoke to, and felt privileged to be invited to take part in this event.
Since then, Enterprising Women has expanded, providing women who join it - for free - with all sorts of benefits including web profiles and event promotions.
Positive Presentations
In December 2005, Small Spark and Madeleine Morgan (professional Business and Life Coach) teamed up to give you the benefit of our combined expertise.
With years of coaching, teaching and public speaking experience, we helped the seminar's attendees to get more out of their presentations.
What is Positive Presentations about?
- Make your presentations more engaging, more successful and more enjoyable
- Learn practical ideas and top tips that have been proven
- Become a more confident and effective speaker
- Learn how to get the audience on your side
- Learn how to deal with difficult questions
- Learn how to look and feel like a professional
- and much, much more!
Who is it for?
- Sales staff
- Business owners, managers and professionals
- Anyone who delivers or develops presentations
Contact
Would like to develop your presentation skills?
Phone Small Spark on 01223 700 919 or email us:
presentationskills@smallspark.co.uk
