How-Do - The Speeding up in a Slowdown Conference

This conference will attract a wide range of owners and directors of businesses within the media, marketing, PR, creative and digitals sectors, as well as forward-thinking professionals from the public sector who want to implement best practice from the private sector into their activity. In addition business owners and directors from other sectors are equally welcome, as the ideas, insights and strategies that will be revealed can be effectively implemented across different sectors.

Delegate tickets cost £85 + VAT (early booking discount – limited number available) or £115 + VAT for a standard booking. For more information please call Cathryn O’Grady on 07918 174176 or email her at cath@how-do.co.uk

Speakers

Andrew Barke – Industry Head of Agency, Google

                                                                                                                                    
Andrew is responsible for Google’s operations in the North of England. His role includes liaising with agencies and creative/digital businesses to help them get the most out of Google. An experienced public speaker, Andrew is committed to ensuring that as many businesses as possible are able to effectively utilise the internet to enhance their operations.

Andrew will be delivering a presentation focusing on "What's working online". His presentation will concentrate on areas organisations should consider when targeting consumers online. Areas that will be covered include:

How Search is a barometer of consumer behaviour.

How different will a slowdown in a digital age be?

Trends that Google are seeing and how to take advantage of them.

How winners get ahead in a slowdown - tools that will help.

Andrew's presentation will offer delegates easily implementable ideas that will have an immediate beneficial effect on how they conduct their online activity.

 Bill Gleeson – Business Editor, Liverpool Daily Post

Bill needs very little introduction to Liverpool audiences. After 12 years at the Liverpool Daily Post, the last ten as business editor, it would be fair to say that Bill knows pretty much everything that there is to know about the Merseyside business community. Prior to the Post, Gleeson, 46, was a freelance PR having previously spent two years as business correspondent with the Independent newspaper in London.

Bill’s presentation will focus on how companies can successfully engage with business media (both regionally and nationally) in order to ensure that as many people as possible are aware of who they are, what they have to offer and why they and their products/services are so beneficial. Bill will talk about how business journalists operate and what they are looking for, what makes a good story - and what doesn't! - as well as sharing a list of does and don'ts when engaging with the media.

Eva Berg-Winters - Associate Director - Strategy, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Eva has gained substantial experience over the years working in and with companies in the media and creative industries sectors. Now based with PwC in London, Eva has undertaken numerous assignments including:

•    Creating and developing strategy development and strategic reviews for different media players including leading newspapers, broadcasters and advertising agencies
•    Focusing on the impact of the current economic downturn on media companies
•    Carrying out a number of due diligence assignments, including commercial reviews of  newspapers, online portals, advertising agencies, broadcasting groups in the UK and in a number of continental European countries
•    Supporting the Internet Advertising Bureaus Europe and UK in a number of their surveys. She recently developed and is currently managing the first ever UK mobile ad spend survey on behalf of the IAB UK
•    Publishing several articles and speaking about the downturn impact on advertising at several conferences across Europe – including SIME (a digital conference in Sweden)

Prior to joining PwC, Eva worked for T-Online (part of Deutsche Telekom) in Germany where her work included development of the T-Online portal strategy, M&A projects such as the acquisition of leading German classifieds group Scout 24 and management of the group’s online portfolio companies.

She has also worked for McKinsey & Company in Germany where she was part of an e-commerce start-up interim management team.

Eva's presentation will focus on how companies can benchmark their on-line presence against that of their competition. She will provide information on how to identify your competitors, how to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of their on-line presence compared to your own and how to apply the information you glean in a way that will positively impact the business.

 John Leach – Managing Director, Winning Pitch

John is Chairman and Chief Executive of Winning Pitch plc, a business whose mission is to build high performing individuals and organisations. Over the years John has observed and researched the behaviours of fast growing businesses and distilled the insights into a practical set of tools that deliver sales growth.

He has been instrumental in building and selling a number of successful SME businesses and is passionate about the role of strategic and ethical sales approaches, an area he explores in depth in his successful book “Pitch Perfect – Feel the Impact of a Winning Sales Approach” (John Wiley & Sons Ltd December 2004)

His business recently won, against international competition, the NWDA high growth programme to support the fast business agenda in the Region. His practical grounded no-nonsense approach to selling has benefited literally thousands of entrepreneurs keen to realise their full potential. His latest book explores the spirit of entrepreneurial selling and how the power of mental toughness can deliver exceptional results.

John will be presenting on how best organisations – particularly those without a structured or clearly defined business development department – can develop and win new business in these challenging times. John will be sharing tried and tested ideas on  developing and winning business in a recession.

Paul Rouke – Founder and User Experience Director, PRWD (Productivity Without Difficulty)

Paul worked for 7 years helping run user experience at the UK’s biggest home shopping group, Shop Direct Group, before founding PRWD in 2006. PRWD, a usability and software development agency, focuses on working with clients to develop web sites and services that allow users and customers to be more productive and efficient with their time whilst having an enjoyable, problem free experience. 

In a nutshell, Paul’s role kicks in once a customer has actually arrived at your website and it encompasses how best to move the customer through the stages to the point where he/she commits to a purchase in a way that is natural, easy to follow and enjoyable for the end user.

Paul is passionate about both delivering and sharing best practice usability for SME and blue chips clients, with a particular focus on improving the performance of e-commerce platforms and internal business systems. Examples of his desire to share his expertise can be seen in the large number of training courses and usability events that Paul plans and delivers. 

Paul has worked with a range of clients, across sectors, sharing his tried and tested methods and ideas, including: ShopDirect Group, the Co-operative Group, British Gas, JD Williams, Nationwide, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), Fortnum and Mason, The Scout Association, The Cotswold Company and Manchester Airport Group as well as with a large number of SMEs and Owner Managed Businesses.

Paul methods involve developing an efficient and effective process to drive traffic and custom through a website and he emphasises that they are equally applicable whatever the size, type or sector of a particular company.

Paul is a usability advocate, championing and delivering the benefits of usability and user experience for any project where end users are using IT based systems and websites. Paul’s approach is to develop web applications and software systems which focus on allowing users to be more productive and efficient with their time whilst having an enjoyable, problem free experience and ultimately spending more money. This, combined with delivering against key performance indicators for businesses, allows Paul to consistently deliver exceptional levels of return-on-investment to clients.

Programme

 Speaker presentations will be made available to all delegates as downloadable PDFs from a post conference micro site subject to speaker approval. Access details will be provided in delegate packs.

Venue:   Liverpool Science Park, Liverpool

08:45 – 09:15 Registration & Coffee.
09:15 – 09:20 Welcome
09:20 – 09:55 Andrew Barke, Google
10:00 – 10:35 Paul Rouke, PRWD
10:40 – 11:15 Eva Berg-Winters, PricewaterhouseCoopers
11:15 – 11:40 Break for coffee and networking
11.40 – 12:15 Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post
12:20 – 12:55 John Leach, Winning Pitch

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch and networking

All speakers are confirmed however we do reserve the right to make changes to the line up in the event of circumstances beyond our control

Booking Information

Delegate tickets are £88 + VAT early booking / charity rate (for bookings before 22^nd May), £118 + VAT thereafter. Places are limited. For more information please contact  Cathryn O’Grady on 07918 174176, or e-mail cath@how-do.co.uk