Over 700 delegates attend first Lincolnshire Business Expo

The first Lincolnshire Business Expo held at the Lincolnshire Showground on January 21st was a resounding success with over 700 delegates, 60 exhibitors and 20 events and speakers throughout the day.

Organised by Lincolnshire Business magazine, the first Lincolnshire Business Expo was also the largest B2B event in the county with 20 events throughout the day and 60 exhibitors.

Most of the events were fully booked across the board and delegates were inspired by talks from IoD Regional Director Ron Lynch in his seminar ‘Entrepreneurs – Born Or Made?’ and Mike Stokes from Positive Networking, who hosted Matrix Networking.

Visitors and exhibitors had a busy day making new connections and catching up with business contacts.

Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Business

At ‘Lincolnshire 2020: A Vision for Business’ Jon Grubb, chaired the panel on the future of the Lincolnshire economy, the opportunities and the support available for both growing and established businesses.

Panelists Julian Patrick, CEO of Freewatt, Andrew Stevenson, Director of Research & Enterprise for the University of Lincoln and the Executive Councillor for Economic Development, Environment, Strategic Planning and Tourism at Lincolnshire County Council Colin Davie fielded many questions.

Topics also included how public sector cuts are affecting the local economy, as well as the prospects for renewable energy in the county and the UK.

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Ben Jarvis who runs Lincoln Business Club hosted The Networking Sandwich.

He said: “People who network use the conversations that they have more effectively rather than try to sell to people. Networking isn’t sales, networking is relationship building.”

Bright Media was one of the sponsors and exhbitors at the Expo.

Sarah Wallace, Senior Account Manager, said: “We specialise in IT, hardware and office supplies and we didn’t know if we were going to be meeting the right kind of people, but it turns out that we have!

“I think it has really boosted business and I think it’s brilliant. It’s got our name out there and it’s better than we imagined it to be. I honestly hope that we will be able to do it again next year.”

Read more about the Lincolnshire Business Expo and see bumper galleries in issue 63 of Lincolnshire Business magazine here.