October 3, 2022
St Andrews Business Club is looking to appoint two new Marketing Communications Interns. This is a great opportunity to work for a local, long-established
Kerr runs a production company in Dundee and has 30 years of experience in music and audio production. He helps businesses to utilise podcasting and audio branding to expand their business.
Kerr explained many aspects of podcasts, for example distinguishing between business and leisure podcasts; the construction of branding through audio and the process of monetisation and promotion. He finished with a Q&A session to answer the guest’s questions on the topics covered.
NEXT EVENT: AGM + Jamie Andrew OBE
Pakistani born Sumayya Usmani shared the hurdles a food writer faces when generalization and appropriation are present in everyday life and the consequent steps that any organization should consider when looking to make a more diversity-based inclusive policy.
Attendees also enjoyed an active Q&A session with Sumayya, involving topics such as transgender recruitment and diversity and inclusion policies for small organisations.
NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is April 21 Podcast, vlogs and talking media.
St Andrews Business Club is looking to appoint two new Marketing Communications Interns.
This is a really good opportunity to work for a local, long-established networking club where you will gain excellent business experience and communication skills.
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
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Website
Student Club
DESIRED MARKETING TASKS
REQUIREMENTS
HOURS REQUIRED
START DATE & LENGTH OF INTERNSHIP
The start date and length of the internship will be agreed upon with the successful candidates.
SUPERVISION
The interns will be supervised and trained directly by the Committee member with primary responsibility for Club communications, but also by other members of the Committee.
HOW TO APPLY
The application should be made by sending your CV via email to standrewsbusinessclubinterns@gmail.com with:
CLOSING DATE: Sunday 05/02/21, 23:59
A shortlist of candidates will be selected for a brief online interview in St Andrews.
QUERIES: Any queries about this role should be emailed to standrewsbusinessclubinterns@gmail.com
If you would like to get in touch with our current interns, please contact Sanaa Sachdev or Stanley Parker at standrewsbusinessclubinterns@gmail.com
Fife software firm’s new platform for Scottish Procurement helping public bodies kickstart Covid-19 economy response
A new platform developed by Fife software consultancy Horisk Leslie Development for Scottish Procurement is helping Scotland’s public bodies embed sustainability requirements in their procurements, kickstarting the national economic recovery post-Covid-19.
The Sustainable Procurement Tools platform
The Sustainable Procurement Tools platform brings together three tools designed to help Scotland’s public sector organisations identify and address how they can optimise the economic, social and environmental outcomes of their procurement. It makes them easier to access, reference and use – with a similar look and feel to each. It also enables better sharing of knowledge and experience within and beyond the organisations and makes them more likely to be used and deliver their benefits to the organisations, businesses and the public.
The Flexible Framework Assessment Tool is used to assess the current level of performance and actions required to embed good procurement practice to realise intended sustainable outcomes. The Prioritisation Tool assists early-stage strategic planning and brings a standard, structured approach to the assessment of spend categories. The Sustainability Test helps embed relevant and proportionate sustainability requirements in the development of frameworks and contracts. It can be used on its own or on the results of prioritisation assessment, where done.
Made live recently, the bespoke platform developed over five months by the Cupar-based consultancy replaces several offline Excel-based tools and is already being used by just under 100 procurement officials. Horisk, which specialises in bespoke software systems to simplify using organisation processes, won the £61,000 contract through a competitive tender in one of the Scottish Government’s national frameworks designed to ensure best value and quality in privately-sourced services and products.
Using the sustainable procurement tools on the new platform to assist early-stage strategic planning can form a helpful part of restarting activities, contributing to Scotland’s four-step economic plan: Response, Reset, Restart and Recover. Using the tools in the new platform can also help embed relevant and proportionate social, economic and environmental requirements in public frameworks and contracts.
Horisk’s public sector projects include work for the Historic Environment Scotland, Scotland’s Charity Regulator (OSCR), the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS), National Museums of Scotland, The Robert Gordon University, University of St Andrews, University of West of Scotland, The London School of Economics with more being created.
Director Brian Horisk.
Speaking about the new platform, Director Brian Horisk, said: “We’re delighted to have had another large public sector client – a directorate of The Scottish Government – select us to develop a key tool which will be used by many organisations throughout Scotland to help us not only recover from the social, economic and environmental damage done by Covid-19 but also rebuild in a socially-inclusive and environmentally sustainable way so the benefits are enjoyed by all and help Scotland meet its climate goals.
“As someone committed to sustainable development, this has been a very satisfying project to use our specialism in bespoke software systems which simplify using organisation processes. It’s great to see it being adopted so widely already – allowing the benefits to be realised so soon.”
Lorraine Hook, of Scottish Procurement, said: “Horisk’s experience of developing similar tools for other public sector organisations was invaluable and meant they could hit the ground running on our project. They were able to offer innovative solutions to our requirements and, despite the pandemic, continued to work with us to deliver our project on time. As a result, we now have a single platform which provides easier access to our suite of tools and supporting guidance.”
For more about Horisk Leslie Development, go to its website at https://horisk.com/
Report by Sanaa Sachdev
Marie Paterson, Business Club President and Christopher Trotter, Fife Food Ambassador, and one of the Committee Members hosted the Summer Social
The evening was hosted by Marie Paterson, Business Club President and Christopher Trotter, Fife Food Ambassador, and one of the Committee Members. Whilst the event was held virtually, attendees enjoyed 3 specially selected wines and some delicious food. Christopher provided the recipes and everyone prepared the food in advance. Some attendees cooked poached wild sea trout, and green bean and potato salad, while others bought poached trout and served it with mayonnaise. For dessert, Members and Guests had the choice of strawberry tart or strawberries with black pepper and this was followed by Anster cheese. He also shared some information about the wines and local food, and everyone agreed the food and wines were delicious. Whilst it would have been lovely to have been together in person, everyone agreed it was still such great fun.
Sam Forsberg, of ActionCoach Scotland, explained the importance of maintaining some kind of work-life balance as our working lives get busier at the event held by St Andrews Business Club at The Old Course Hotel.
As our working lives get busier by the year, maintaining some kind of work-life balance gets harder, particularly for the self-employed.
The audience heard from Sam Forsberg, from ActionCoach Scotland, who gave attendees practical advice on organising themselves and looking after their physical health, to help with setting and achieving realistic business goals which allow them to also meet their personal goals.
For more information about this subject, you can visit ActionCoach Scotland website at https://actioncoach.co.uk/coaches/sam-forsberg/
For more photos, go to the Album on our Facebook page.
NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is Dec 11: Festive Social, where members can enjoy a festive social event and tour of the five-star Fairmont St Andrews hotel.
Earlier this year Nicola Crawford at the CMA evaluated networking clubs in Fife based on criteria including membership cost, type of events, topics discussed, location of events and member attendance. After comparing our club with Fife Chamber, BNI and Fife Networking Group, it rated St Andrews Business Club as the best!
In her blog post setting out her process and the results, Nicola writes: “For consistency, flexibility, price, and opportunities to learn and network, I think St Andrews Business Club is your guy.
“They’ve done a decent job of laying it all out for you and you don’t need to be tied into their membership to attend. Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, there are options there for you. And suitable when you’re already squeezed for time working hard on your business.” Thanks Nicola!
Speaking about this latest honour for the Club (we were a finalist for Best Marketing Campaign in the 2019 Fife Business Awards), President Caroline Rochford said: “I’m delighted the Club has been chosen as the best place for business networking in Fife. We’ve worked extremely hard over the last three years to create a place that provides SME owners and managers with the knowledge and networking they need to succeed. It’s great to have that recognized in this way.”
CMA founder Chris Marr is no stranger to Club members as he explained content marketing and its importance at our December 2016 event.
Chris explained how, over the years, people have become more comfortable with web purchasing and the importance of using content marketing to gain the trust of people online to drive sales.
Chris’s talk encouraged the Club to provide more explanatory content on its website use our events and social media to keep our members updated about things useful for their business.
Doing that and many other things has helped us grow the Club’s membership to more than 130 members this year – a record as we approach our 70th birthday.
Thanks to all our Committee members, members, speakers and guests for helping us achieve this accolade. We intend to continue working to keep improving!
In the event, starting 5.30pm, Eileen Cooper, owner of Limetree Consultancy, will use examples to stimulate thought on marketing in today’s society and how brands have had to
Eileen Cooper
adapt their message to a modern world. Topics will include personalisation, automation and channel selection.
Eileen Cooper has been working in marketing for more than 23 years and has a degree in Business Administration with Marketing, a Diploma in Digital Marketing and is both a Fellow of The Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (The IDM) and a Member of The Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Eileen launched Limetree, her award-winning marketing & business consultancy, in Aberdeen in 2009. It’s now based in Perth, where she lives.
She helps businesses from a range of sectors with marketing by providing support, consultancy, design and training through mixing theory with practical experience to develop marketing strategies that drive results.
Anyone wanting to learn about this important topic for business, as well as network, is asked to book via Eventbrite.
Full details of all the club’s events, most of which are open to non-members, and how to join are available on its website at www.standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk and Eventbrite.
So we thought it would be fun to try it with a twist – where no-one knew who the Members speaking would be and they’d each get to present just 10 slides for a maximum of 30 seconds each.
Members who wanted to present arrived with a 10-slide presentation on a USB stick. Who got to present was drawn at random on the night.
Their topic? ‘Something you NEED to know for your business’.
On the night fortune favoured Members Duncan McIntosh, Amy Anderson, Dr Shona Dobbie, Marie Paterson, Mark Robinson, Andy Simpson, Michael Stephenson, Stephen Westwood, Mike Reynolds and Andrew Stewart. Thanks to them for taking the challenge and sharing their expertise.
Duncan McIntosh of McIntosh Interiors was first to present.
Mike Reynolds of Integris Communications spoke about PR.
Mark Robinson of St Andrews Lean Consulting explained some of the ideas behind LEAN process improvement.
Dr Shona Dobbie of Angus Economics took on the 10×30 Challenge.
Club Treasurer, Michael Stephenson of EQ, took on the 10×30 Challenge.
Andy Simpson of Angus 3D Solutions explained additive manufacturing.
Marie Paterson of Marie Paterson Development Consultancy took on the 10×30 Challenge.
Past President of the Club Stephen Westwood talked about persuasion.
Amy Anderson of DP&L talked about the companies in the DP&L Group.
Andrew Stewart of A S Wealth Management took on the 10×30 Challenge.
For more photos, go to the Album on our Facebook page.
NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is May 23: Business Breakfast – Uncovering Mindfulness for Business & Life + Networking, when Paul Mudd, of The Mudd Partnership will explain how mindfulness can help you.
Marketing Communications InternshipWhile 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:
– 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.
– 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.
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/
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.
The start date and length of the internship will be agreed with the successful candidate.
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.
Application should be made by email to secretary@standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk with:
A shortlist of candidates will be selected for brief interview in St Andrews on 23/11/17.
October 3, 2022
St Andrews Business Club is looking to appoint two new Marketing Communications Interns. This is a great opportunity to work for a local, long-established
June 3, 2021
Remaining online for the Club’s 2021 AGM, the conference celebrated this season’s committee and members for hosting a share of memorable virtual events throughout
The Club can be contacted via its Secretary Yvonne McAulay.
Mobile: 07778 107987
Write to:
The Secretary,
St Andrews Business Club,
c/o Thorntons Solicitors,
Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road,
ST ANDREWS,
KY16 9DR.
"Best Business Networking in Fife" - CMA, 2019
