Month: November 2017

GDPR

Yvonne McAulay
Loretta Maxfield of Thorntons Law LLP explained how company owners and managers can avoid getting into problems with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on May 25 2018. Pic: ASM Media & PR

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on May 25 2018 and will be enforceable on many UK businesses.

 

Loretta Maxfield of Thorntons Law LLP has more than 10 years’ experience in advising a range of public bodies, research/education institutions and private businesses (up to £300m+ turnover) on data protection, privacy and other regulatory matters.

In the Club’s first Learning Lunch, which was a joint-event with Fife Women In Business, Loretta explained to attendees:

  • What GDPR is
  • How it will affect businesses
  • What they need to do to ensure compliance
  • Penalties if they don’t

The event was very much enjoyed by all who attended, who said they found it very useful.

For information about this subject, you can visit Thorntons’ GDPR Legal Advice Hub at www.thorntons-law.co.uk/gdprlegaladvice

For more photos, go to the Album on our Facebook page.

NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is December 6: Members & Guests-only Business Visit + Festive Social – The Old Course Hotel.

Join us for an exclusive insight into the upgraded facilities at St Andrews’ top hotel as well as an opportunity to network with Club members in a relaxed atmosphere.

If you’re not a Club member but would like to attend this event, you’ll need to join the Club before booking.

Surviving Brexit

Yvonne McAulay

It’s not yet clear what form Brexit will take, so the Club’s November 8 event was designed to help company owners and managers develop a Brexit survival strategy for whatever happens.

 

Dr Shona Dobbie of Angus Economics provided a politics-free understanding of the economic consequences of Brexit so far.

Former Alliance Trust economist Dr Shona Dobbie gives independent economic, political and demographic advice to businesses.

She provided a politics-free understanding of the economic consequences of Brexit, including the effect on Sterling exchange rates, the UK equity markets and the impact of Sterling depreciation.

Highly experienced international businessman and entrepreneur Stephen Westwood gave an appreciation of the actual and perceived impacts of Brexit on business and suggested some solutions.

Stephen Westwood is a highly experienced businessman and entrepreneur who’s fulfilled roles as Chief Executive, Finance Director and interim executive across multiple business sectors for corporations in the UK and the US. He’s now engaged as Chairman and shareholder in developing three emerging businesses in digital technology and energy efficiency.

Stephen gave an appreciation of the actual and perceived impacts of Brexit on business, including currency volatility, the rights of EU nationals to remain and work, trading terms and access to capital. He also challenged attendees to consider what they can do about each and offered some ideas.

Dr Billy Grierson of Perth Innovation challenged attendees to start the process of thinking about what opportunities and challenges their businesses will face and what they can do about them.

Innovation and business consultant Dr Billy Grierson spent more than 30 years working for Ciba and BASF developing an understanding of how companies fail to solve problems and what tools and techniques can be used to improve their success rate.

He explained the Confrontation Matrix framework to start the process of thinking about what opportunities and challenges your business will face and what you can do about them and had attendees start using it to consider the strategies their businesses should be using.

The event was very much enjoyed by all who attended, who said they found it very useful.

NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is Learning Lunch: GDPR on November 22. It will help you ensure your organisation doesn’t incur fines of up to €20 million or more when the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force next May.

For more photos, go to the Album on our Facebook page.

Event to teach NE Fife firms how to avoid risk of €20m GDPR fines

Yvonne McAulay
Loretta Maxfield of Thorntons LLP will talk about The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at St Andrews Business Club’s first learning lunch on November 22.

People doing business in North-East Fife are being invited to a November 22 event where they can learn how to ensure they don’t incur fines of up to €20 million or more when the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force next May.

 

In the first learning lunch of St Andrews Business Club’s new season, the joint event with Fife Women in Business will hear information law expert Loretta Maxfield of Thorntons LLP explain what GDPR is, how it will affect businesses, what they need to do to ensure compliance and the penalties if they don’t.

The lunch will be held at the New Golf Club from 12.30pm till 2pm and will also include time for networking at the start.

Anyone wishing to learn about this important business topic, as well as network, is asked to book via Eventbrite.

Full details of all the club’s events, most of which are now open to non-members, are available here.

Marketing Communications Internship

Yvonne McAulay

Marketing Communications Internship

St Andrews Business Club is looking to appoint someone as a Marketing Communications Intern.

While this is not a paid position, any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on Club duties will be reimbursed and the successful candidate will have the opportunity to enjoy the following benefits:

BENEFITS

  • Training from experienced professionals, mainly Alan S. Morrison, Vice-President – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alansmorrison/
  • Practical experience of real-life marketing communications with measurable results to add to your CV
  • LinkedIn Recommendations from Committee members – https://standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk/about-us/committee/ – if overall job performance has met an agreed standard
  • Introductions to useful career contacts and potential employers if overall job performance has met an agreed standard
  • Opportunity to network and make useful career and personal connections at Club events

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

ESSENTIAL

 

Facebook

– Create Facebook Event for each Club event  – about 10 minutes per event before start of season, which runs September to June.

– Schedule 3-4 Facebook Business page posts to promote each event – 20 minutes every 2 weeks through the season.

– Schedule daily Facebook posts once a week – 1.5 hours per week. Tuition and content strategy will be supplied. Opportunity for intern to devise creative original content that drives more engagement.

– Optional – ‘Social listening’ – checking Facebook notifications daily for any comments to the page which require a reply and responding accordingly or flag to Club Comms person. 10 minutes maximum per day.

– Optional – Creating and adding content to a Facebook Album for each event – 30 minutes per event.

Twitter

–  Schedule 15 tweets in Hootsuite – https://hootsuite.com – to promote each event. Training will be provided. 30 minutes per event, every two weeks during the season.

– Scheduling two tweets to share the link to the Facebook Album and 4 of the photos from it after each event –  15 minutes per event every two weeks during the season.

– Schedule a weekly #MemberMonday post – 10 minutes for each. 4 a month, year-round. Intern would not be required to do this during their holidays unless they wish to maximise their experience opportunity.

– Optional – Retweet Members tweets and ones by Local and Fife groups we have friendly links with – once a day, 1pm for 10 minutes [N.B. Timing important for maximising views].

– Optional – ‘Social listening’ – checking Twitter notifications daily for any comments which require a reply and responding accordingly or flagging to Club Comms person. 10 minutes maximum per day.

Website

  • One-off project – writing page Titles and Meta descriptions for Club website – 2 days at most..
  • Editing content on Club’s WordPress site – training will be provided. Maximum of an hour every two weeks.

Attending Committee meetings – one every 2 months. Next one 29/11/17, 5.30pm.

 

DESIRED MARKETING TASKS

  • Eventbrite – event creation & management. Training and content will be provided – 30 min per event listing twice in season. 19 events this season.
  • MailChimp – marketing email creation & scheduling – 1 hour every 2 weeks during season. Training and content will be provided.
  • Optional – PR – news copywriting, researching using Cision media database, media-spec picture formatting, pitching & coverage checking training for PR undertaken every 2 weeks during season. Scope and time could be agreed with successful candidate.
  • Project – to increase new memberships and membership renewals – time could be agreed with successful candidate.

Attending Club events – to assist with running of each event – 2 per month. See schedule at https://standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk/events-st-andrews-business-club/

REQUIREMENTS

  • Interest in marketing communications, ideally targeting a career involving or related to this.
  • Facebook – must have own account. No prior knowledge or experience of using a Facebook Business page required – training will be provided, attitude more important.
  • Twitter – some prior experience would be useful, but training will be provided
  • Knowledge of or ability to research how web page Titles and Meta descriptions affect site SEO
  • Fluent written and spoken English
  • Candidate should ideally have access to image editing software
  • Must be able to read and edit documents in Microsoft Word
  • Should be able to access Dropbox for sharing of documents and files.
  • Must be professional and flexible in way tasks are completed and time is managed
  • Desire to learn and be guided by experienced professionals essential

For more details of the above, download the full position specification.

HOURS REQUIRED

See above, but once season launched total typically at least two hours every two weeks. Actual weekly hours will depend on how much successful candidate wants to learn and take responsibility for.

Will be more during period building up to season launch, but hours for that can be agreed with successful candidate.

START DATE & LENGTH OF INTERNSHIP

The start date and length of the internship will be agreed with the successful candidate.

SUPERVISION

The intern will be supervised and trained directly by the Committee member with primary responsibility for Club communications (currently the Vice-President, Alan S. Morrison) but also by other members of the Committee when attending events and Committee meetings.

HOW TO APPLY

Application should be made by email to secretary@standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk with:

  • Subject Line “Marketing Communications Intern Application”
  • CV attached
  • Body text of email describing why candidate is applying and why they would be suitable for the role.

A shortlist of candidates will be selected for brief interview in St Andrews on 23/11/17.

CLOSING DATE: Friday 10/11/17, 17:00

QUERIES: Any queries about this role should be emailed to the Vice-President, Alan S. Morrison, on asm@asmmediaandpr.co.uk