Could you be the PEER 1 Hosting UK Business Speaker of the Year 2012?
Southampton-based PEER 1 Hosting has offered £5,000 in prizes to encourage the country’s leading business gurus to show off their talents.
Authors, academics, life coaches and entrepreneurs, with a gift for public speaking, are being urged to come up with ‘an inspirational business message for our times’.
Up to 24 finalists will be invited to The Hub Theatre in Southampton on Thursday 27 September for auditions.
The last eight selected during the day will give their seven-minute presentations in a ‘Grand Final’, organised by Business Solent and hosted by Geoff Burch, presenter of BBC’s All Over The Shop.
The judges will select the best, and the ultimate winners will be chosen by a live audience vote.
“Winning business is all about being able to present a concise, creative idea with passion so it instantly engages with an audience. This competition gives contestants a chance to fine tune this skill and practise something which is fundamental to every commercial arena. I enjoy public speaking – it’s an art you never finish perfecting, so I look forward to learning from all the entrants,” said Dominic Monkhouse, EMEA MD of PEER 1 Hosting.
The competition was piloted by the UK Speechwriters’ Guild in September 2011 and aims to draw attention to the power and impact great speakers can have. The winner will receive £2,000 and get £1,500 of PR support from a top London agency, to boost their career as a professional speaker. Second prize will be £1,000 cash and the third prize £500 cash.
If you think you can present like Steve Jobs, you need to send in a 60 second video audition together with a written pitch and a short profile by the 27 August 2012. For more details go to: http://www.ukbusinessspeakers.co.uk
Bournemouth University Media School to host a conference on better business writing
Bournemouth University Media School has invited some of the UK’s top business writers to share their expertise at a one-day conference on Friday 18 May, 2012.
The speakers at the Words that Sell conference will include Nick Parker, creative director of Britain’s biggest language consultancy, who will describe how they make words work harder for cool brands like MTV and global firms like PwC.
‘Poor writing ends up costing UK businesses millions. We’re inviting experienced writers to the university to tell us how it’s done.’ says organiser, Brian Jenner.
Also on the programme will be Phillip Khan-Panni, UK Business Speaker of the Year and author of the The FT Guide to Making Business Presentations and Andy Maslen, best-selling author of Write to Sell: the Ultimate Guild to Great Copywriting who will outline the myths and realities of writing for the web.
Sara McCartney author of 100 Great Branding Ideas and the former head writer for Lush will explain why we’re all writers now.
‘We’ve invited these inspirational speakers and trainers to give businesses insights into how to create better advertising, marketing materials and websites. If you’ve ever wondered how to write the perfect tweet, you’ve come to the right place,’ adds Brian.
Tickets for the day are £150 which includes teas and coffees and a buffet lunch.
The Words that Sell conference is being organised through a Bournemouth University partnership with the UK Speechwriters’ Guild and Bournemouth-based copywriting agency, A Thousand Monkeys.
Find out more at: http://wordsthatsell.eventbrite.co.uk/
The Cult of the Leader wins CMI Business Book of the Year
I was at the British Library Conference Centre last week for the CMI Management Book of the Year 2012 awards. This was the second year it’s been running, masterminded by Piers Cain, Head of Knowledge Management at the Chartered Management Institute.
There were a 200 or so movers and shakers from the world of publishing. We heard a lot from the judges, but nothing from the winners, which was a pity.
Management titles can be a little dull and worthy, but the competition did make an effort to pick out the most accessible and colourful titles.
The ‘Commuter Read Category’ caught my eye. It was won by James Reed and Paul G Stoltz for their book Put Your Mindset to Work: The One Asset you Really Need to Win and Keep the Job you Love.
I had a chat with Andy Milligan whose book Bold: how to be brave in business and win won best e-book. The Practical Manager category winner and overall winner (see picture above) was Christopher Bones, author of The Cult of the Leader.
You can find out all the back ground to the competition by going to the CMI Management Book of the Year website.
Warren Buffet’s Tips for a Secure Financial Future
This advice was given by Warren Buffet in 2009. It’s just as relevant now…
We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism.
Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations.
Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health.
They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.
Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.
Spending: If you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.
Savings: Don’t save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.
Hard work: All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income.
Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
Accounting: It’s no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.
Auditing: Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.
Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet.
Investment: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
I’m certain that those who have already been practising these principles remain financially healthy. I’m equally confident that those who resolve to start practising these principles will quickly regain their financial health. Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.
Prize for Business History
I was reading The Spectator yesterday and I discovered there is an annual prize for the best business history. It’s called the Wadsworth prize and it’s awarded by the Business Archives Council. Journalist, Martin Vander Weyer, was one of the judges and he picked out Deborah Cadbury’s Chocolate Wars as a favourite. It got an excellent review here, and seems to have pleased customers at Amazon.
The overall winner was The Rise and Fall of Great Companies by Geoffrey Owen.