St Andrews Business Club 2018-19 Season – delivering what you want
By Alan S. Morrison, President
How do you follow the most successful season in the Club’s history – in which it ended with a record 128 Members and broke the record for attendance at a Club event (the North–East Fife 2018 event on January 24)?
We reckon the answer is to find out what the Key Success Factors were and plan another season that features both them and new events which our Members asked for via a survey. By doing that we’re showing the Club’s continued commitment to finding out what our Members want and delivering it to them.
Today we’re delighted to be announcing an exciting programme of events based on that principle. As with last season, the key elements in them are: expert insights, business learning, privileged access, inspiration and networking.
Expert insights
The following events will provide Members and other event attendees with expert insights on key issues:
- November 21 – William Dowson, Agent for Scotland, Bank of England – this will be your chance to hear from the Bank of England’s Agent for Scotland on topics including how the Bank of England views the current economic climate, interest rates and the business environment and ask him questions about them.
- January 16 – North-East Fife 2019 – after the runaway success of this year’s event, we’re delighted Gordon Mole, Senior Manager, Business and Employability at Fife Council and Professor Brad MacKay, Vice-Principal, International Strategy and External Relations at the University of St Andrews, have agreed to reprise this event looking at the factors which will influence the business environment in the area in 2019. They will include Brexit and the Tay Cities Deal.
Business learning
Our learning event topics are ones our Members said they wanted in the Member Survey and we’ve found expert speakers for them:
- November 7 – Effective Negotiation skills with internationally-renowned negotiator Andrew B. Brown
- February 13 – Business growth from research-based Innovation with Dr Chantel Davies, Business Innovation Manager, University of St Andrews and Paul Kyle of CIK Solutions
Another learning event may be added later.
Privileged access
Business visits have always been a popular and well-attended part of the Club’s programme. The following Members & Guests-only events will provide Members and their Guests with privileged access to places and people – always a valuable part of Club membership:
- September 12 – Eden Campus Business Visit – Members & Guests will receive a VIP tour of the site led by project director, Geoff Morris, in this event free to Members & Guests.
- December 5 – Business Visit & Festive Social. We will announce the venue in due course, but Members will gain a special insight into it.
- June 26 – Business Visit & Summer Social. We will announce the venue in due course for this event, free for Club members to attend.
Inspiration
We know how much hearing high-achieving people share their stories and lessons can inspire and educate you. The following events will provide plenty of both:
- October 8 – We’re delighted to say the panel of entrepreneurs sharing their stories and advice at this year’s University of St Andrews Enterprise Week Keynote Event, which the club is co-hosting with the student committee, will include digital entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl; Lizzie Brough, Co-Founder & CXO of Kindaba and Sam Trett, Founder & Owner of LoCaBev. Club Members will have access to a priority allocation of tickets for this event.
- March 6 – Our inaugural ‘Inspiring Women’ event this year was a huge success, so it will be repeated next year. Speakers will be announced later.
- May 2019 – Once again we plan to have a high-profile business leader share their inspirational story at our AGM Evening. Date and speaker will be announced later.
- June 5 – Your successes can inspire and educate other Members, as we found in our Members’ Presentations Night on May 9. So we’re giving you the opportunity to share them in a Members’ Success Stories night. Only Club Members will be eligible to speak.
Networking
As with the last two seasons, all our events will include scheduled time for networking, with most open to Non-Members – so you and your guests can meet them.
For full details of these and the other events, go to our Events page. More will be added later when details are confirmed. Bookings for all the above events are now open.
Membership benefits
The right to present at our Members’ Success stories event is one of several membership benefits. But why else should you join the Club?
Here are the range of benefits Members enjoy:
- High-quality North-East Fife networking and business learning
- Access to Members & Guests-only events
- Attendee list for events you attend
- Copy of speaker’s presentation (if they agree to share it) for events you attend
- £5 less ticket price than Non-Members for paid events
- Free entrance to Summer Social event and Eden Campus Business Visit
- Opportunity to have social posts shared on Club channels – Twitter and Facebook
- Company feature post on Club social media channels
- Opportunity to write a guest blog post on the Club website once a year
- Opportunity to be expert speaker at a Club event
- Access to Club allocation of tickets for external events
- Free display of flyers at events
- Opportunity to host a Club ‘Business visit’ event
- Member company profile, logo, contact info and link listing on Club website (Coming soon)
Membership still only £50 a year
That’s a fantastic range of benefits for just £50 annual individual membershipn.
Still not convinced? You can read here why some members joined, what they’ve gained and enjoyed since.
Want to join the Club? Find out how to do that here. Existing members will receive their renewal reminder next month.
Corporate Membership option
If you think some of your colleagues would also want to join or renew their membership, you should consider the corporate membership option. It’s just £165 for five named members of an organisation – saving your organisation £85 on the equivalent individual memberships. Go here for full details.
Whether you’re already a member, a past one or someone new to the Club, we’d be delighted to see you at our events this season. And hear what you think – so we can keep making the Club better.
- Details of the full season’s topics, dates, speakers are here
- Details of membership benefits and how to join the Club are here
- For latest news from the Club, its members and the North-East Fife business community, follow the Club here on Twitter and like our Facebook page.
