Contactus magazines
Ealing Business Expo FRI 9 & SAT 10 JUNE 2017
Event Highlights
Visitors and exhibitors made the most of opportunities to meet and connect at the bi-annual Ealing Business Expo last held in June 2017 in the Victoria Hall, Ealing Town Hall, West London
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I made some good contacts, learnt a lot more about the needs/wants of businesses in Ealing, as well as trends such as coworking spaces – Visitor feedback
Main photo (top): Ealing Council panel discussion about shared workspaces. At left: Ealing Business Expo director Carlene Bender of Contactus magazines. Above: The audience in the Nelson Room. At right: Joanne Sumner, regional director of The Athena Network (West London). Above right: Friday speed networking.
TWO FULL DAYS OF NETWORKING FACE TO FACE We stared down a snap General Election – and still put on a good show. The Ealing Business Expo & Networking Festival held its nerve, confident that it had the support of the Ealing business community, and went ahead on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 June 2017 at the Ealing Town Hall. The 8 June election and its immediate aftermath threatened to unravel a year’s worth of planning and promoting begun essentially since the end of our last business event, the Acton Business Expo in June 2016. Two full days of face-to-face
networking, mixed in with a business exhibition, speeches, presentations, workshops and an enjoyable slot of live music were promised, and were duly delivered. In the end, 25 exhibitors attended the Expo, alongside roughly 200 visitors – a large majority of whom were based outside the borough. There were 15 presentations during the two-day event, which had been promoted during nine pre-Expo monthly networking meetups. The follow-up post-Expo meetup was held on Friday 30 June. Continued on page 4
Photos by Nicola Gaughan, Iconic Creative (Official Expo photographer) Other photos by Carlene Bender, Joanna Dudzinska and Kirk Pickstone
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For details of the Expo schedule and list of exhibitors, have a look through the ‘Expo Guide’ magazine still available online at: issuu.com/ contactusealing According to our post-event feedback survey, one of the highlights of the event was the visit by newly re-elected MP for Ealing Central and Acton, Dr Rupa Huq, who attended on the Saturday and gave a rousing speech filled in with warm cheers from the audience. Early on Saturday we were also fortunate to have had a visit from the Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Simon Woodroofe and his wife, Lady Mayoress Valerie Woodroofe, who toured the
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exhibition and even stopped for a taster massage at the Zen Shiatsu Therapy stand. Thank you to everyone who donated to the Mayor’s two charities, The Log Cabin, and Age UK (Ealing). There was plenty of positive feedback for both days’ speed networking sessions, for example: “The most useful part was the speed networking, it was great and I was able to meet lots of people!” If you would like to leave your own comments about the Expo (whether you attended or not), please do take part in our feedback survey at: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ DLSHP7W @EalingBizExpo
Top photos: Ealing band Chasing Deer performing on Friday. Above left: The Ealing Works sponsors stand. Above middle: Expo sponsors T&S Finance Events. Above right: Vesna Nall at the Ealing Chamber of Commerce table. At left: Local businesswomen network. At right: Emily Fawell at the Bridge to Health stand.
For details of the Expo schedule, have a look through the ‘Expo Guide’ online at issuu.com/contactusealing or visit ealingbizexpo.co.uk
Top photo: “The Ealing Advantage” panel on Friday. At left: Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Simon Woodroofe, with his bottle of “Expo water”. Next to him are chauffeur Ayaaz Majothi and Cllr Dr Aysha Raza. Above: The Mayor participates in a Zen Shiatsu massage taster with Pascale Chaillet.
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The most useful part was the speed networking, it was great and I was able to meet lots of people – Visitor feedback
Main photo (top): Speed networking on Saturday. Far left: the BoomZone stand. At left: The buffet lunch. Above: Members of The Athena Network (sponsors).
Top photo: “The Contactus Instant Advice Lottery” with panel of local business-owners. Above: Surprise visit from Dr Rupa Huq, newly re-elected MP for Ealing Central and Acton, who addressed the gathering on the Saturday. At left: Dr Huq with Expo director Carlene Bender. Below left: Financial Times journalist Yuri Bender (left) interviews Donald Collins of Go View London estate agents. Below: Matteo Turi (at left), of Expo sponsors T&S Finance Events, applauds the event’s closing presentation.
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Ealing Business Expo was brought to you by Contactus magazines
THANK YOU To the #EalingBizExpo sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, panellists, presenters, performers, and precious visitors – thank you! Thanks also to the Expo welcoming team: Sophia Iwaniuk (photo top left), Joanna Dudzinska (photo above left), Andrew Padbury (above second left photo); and to the Expo media team: photographer Nicola Gaughan (on left in photo above) and Facebook Live broadcaster Kirk “Duggystone” Pickstone (photo above right). Sign up to find out about the next Ealing Business Expo (tentatively scheduled for March 2019), or other similiar events for Ealing: please join our mailing list on the ealingbizexpo.co.uk homepage, and/or follow us on social media @EalingBizExpo.
Watch our Expo video highlights: tinyurl.com/EalingBizExpo2017video (1:50 min)
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So what about your event? Would you like an after-event magazine like this to share with your sponsors and attendees? Email: info@contactusealing.co.uk