Last night (June 18th) was the night of our big Bolton June expo and without wanting to blow our own trumpets too much, it was a great success.
The head of the bestof, Nigel Botterill did an interesting talk around his Botty rules and talked about how he’s grown 5 million pound businesses from scratch within a decade. Karen Lay said Nigel Botterill was a fantastic speaker and it was well worth it. Twinkle Thompson said "Really enjoyed the Expo and Botty was great. His enthusiasm knows no bounds."
There were two speed networking events running on the night which were very well attended. Lots of business cards were exchanged and new contacts introduced which is great to see. Representatives from one of our sponsors Media City Way oversaw proceedings and made sure it ran without a hitch.
The open networking was between 4.15pm and 5pm in the coffee lounge. Then the mayor and mayoress arrived to officially open the event at 5pm. Cllr Colin Shaw remarked that he wished that this kind of event had been around when he first started in business in 1956.
The big event was of course the expo though. Many people said it was a lot busier than previous expo’s (and probably a lot hotter too!) In total there were 64 exhibitors and over 200 delegates in the room. Some of these are veterans at expos, like Mecca Bingo and Copy Print Services, but for others, like Trees of Love, it was their very first show. Plenty of business was being done and new connections made. Leisure Guard already have 7 new orders from the expo and it’s not even been closed 24 hours yet.
The Beaumont Arms said Nigel Botterill was both informative and interesting. They found the day very worthwhile, well done to all involved.
Go Bolton said: "great business expo last night from the best of Bolton. Guest speaker was fantastic and to cap it off dominos provided the yummy pizzas thanks."
Finishing off proceedings was a series of raffles. Cake Delight won Bolton FM’s free advertising package. After receiving it they said: “we are sooooo excited that we have won this prize! We can't believe it.” The winner of the £50 note from Mecca Bingo was Alison Hindley of Ultimate Linens Ltd! Alison was so excited she said "I never win anything, I'm spending this on shoes" Our very own Gaynor Ramsden won a bottle of wine from Full Circle It and Media City Way won a sweet tree and a copy of Nigel Botterill's latest book by entering the bestof Bolton's raffle.
Julie Courtney from Type It said:" Excellent Nigel Botterill talk at Bolton Expo and a first class event. Won 2 tickets for Rugby League World Cup..so husband pleased as well!"
This event couldn’t have happened without the help of certain people. Bolton FM for providing the music and broadcasting live from the expo. Thank you to The Bolton News, Bolton FM, The Training Company, Bolton College, Wilson and Co and Media City Way for sponsoring the event. A pat on the back goes to Steve Tilbrook for helping to organise the event. Chris Deakin videoed everything from start to finish, so we look forward to seeing the finished product. And finally thank you to Domino’s pizza for feeding everyone at the expo with pizza, wedges and chicken kickers.
See you again at the next expo in 2014?!
