The fourth annual Connected Business conference takes place at The Civic in Barnsley on Tuesday (October 13).
Hosted by Enterprising Barnsley, Barnsley Council’s business support programme, this half day conference helps to bring your business bang up to date with all that is happening in the world of online and digital technology.
Lifetime Communications Director William Bottomley (pictured below with Social Media Manager Andrew Lodge) is delivering a presentation which will include the unveiling of our new animation video.
Leading local, regional and national speakers will cover topics from building a technology powerhouse in the UK to blogging your way to business success. The morning conference will include a Digital Expo where you can mingle and meet with creative and digital experts and will be followed by a series of masterclasses covering social media, ecommerce and more.
The final line-up of speakers is as follows:
Richard Dennys has over 20 years’ experience starting, funding, running and selling digital businesses. He runs the Digital Business Academy (DBA) programme on behalf of Tech City UK and University College, London (UCL). The DBA provides free support to entrepreneurs wanting to learn the skills they need to start, run or join a digital business. Richard’s previous roles have included leading global digital projects for PwC, BBC, Nokia and now for Tech City. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Richard has led and advised start ups and leading digital companies. Tech City is a national project dedicated to accelerating the growth of digital businesses through programmes of support and events.
Bill Bottomley is Communications Director of Lifetime. Lifetime was established 13 years ago by a team of four directors and now employs 60 people, and provides financial advice to 3,000 clients. It is based at Dodworth in Barnsley. Lifetime have challenged the preconception that financial planning is dull through engaging social media work and an active corporate social responsibility programme. They launch a new animated video at Connected Business produced by Kath Shackleton of Fettle Animation and voiced by Bard of Barnsley Ian McMillan.
James Boardwell founded Folksy in 2008. Prior to that he worked for the BBC as a researcher, then producer in documentaries and current affairs and also in Future Media. He’s a design researcher with an MSc and PhD in social research and when not working on Folksy, works with clients on user research and service design of technology products. Folksy.com is a leading ecommerce platform for hand made craft and design products.
Lee Evans is the Managing Director of Vital Network Solutions, one of Yorkshire’s leading business IT service providers. A Microsoft Silver Partner for SMB services + cloud solutions, Vital were recently recognised among the top 2% of UK Microsoft Partners for their activity around modern office and cloud solutions. Lee has served as Chair for the UK community group of CompTIA, the International IT industry trade association, and has been recognised as one of the top Managed Services professionals by industry news source MSP Mentor.
Katie Portman is an award winning blogger, freelance journalist, PR and copywriter. She’s a contributor to Huffington Post and her blogs ‘Pouting in Heels’ and ‘To Dream of Dresses’ cover family, lifestyle and fashion attracting readers from across the globe. A proud mum to Elsie, this year has seen Katie tick off a lifelong dream of becoming a published author as she signed her first book deal.
Mark Asquith is a digital entrepreneur who still feels like a pretender to the crown. He is the co-founder of HACKSAW™, the creative agency that works with some of the world’s biggest brands; Excellence Expected, the podcast that helps small business owners define, challenge and conquer daily issues, featuring the world’s greatest business minds. Most recently he has created Podcast Websites, a software-as-a-service platform that helps you create your own podcast.
