Chamber Members Meeting Minutes
30th October 2024
Gareth welcomes all.
- Gareth – Chamber update and news.
- Barbara Tallis – MH in Bloom
- Martin Robson – Roman Britain / Allegiant – AI for Business
- Chris Moody – ASL Computer Services – The Anti Virus Guy, Passwords and Security
- DC Horne – Leicester Constabulary – Cyber Crime.
Chamber Update
Gareth opened the meeting and welcomed members and visitors. We have agreement with the council that there will be free parking on a Saturday in December – to help bring people in to shop and visit. Use local businesses etc.
We support HFM – Shop Local campaign. Adverts through December, the cost is good value. HFM likes what we are doing and what direction we as a Chamber are going in. Simple process to provide promotional news and interview information. We simply record a piece on WhatsApp and HFM then edit it, and it goes out live – this is why we are able to have pieces go out regularly. We have already recorded pieces on the Shop Local campaign.
We would like to help them to raise funds to replace their HfM Radio Outreach vehicle which is so important for covering local news and community engagement. Being able to continue to be out and about in the community is a bog part of their service. We would urge businesses to get involved. There js a QR code on their Facebook page, as well as on their website to collect donations and promote the appeal.
3 Christmas events on in Market Harborough this year. Harbs Local collective, run late-night shopping, no fayre, just Christmas shopping on Thursday 28th November. The Christmas Fayre is going ahead on 6th December. The Christmas lights switch on in the town centre will take place on Saturday 23rd November. Last year marketing got confused so the marketing this year has them all on one poster and clarified.
John Richardson, CEO of HDC is supporting engagement with schools in Harborough. Market Harborough does not have a recent tradition of providing great career pathways for young people, and businesses report finding it hard to recruit the talent they need locally. Gareth met the Chair of Robert Smyth. There is a chance that we are going to have a festival of skills in town, to help unlock potential. We need to work with educators to help businesses develop the right conditions for growth, and provide career pathways for young people locally.
Our November Meeting will be a budget special meeting. Tim from Crownhouse Management and Jim Walsh, Management Accountant will present their analysis of the budget speech, and the implications for businesses and business leaders.
We would urge all members to look at the consultation on the Government’s approach to developing a new Industrial Strategy. The strategy documents can be found here: Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy – GOV.UK, and the consultation can be found here: Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management Leicestershire is not a devolved area, and we are at risk of being left behind. We need our own growth plan.
In 4 weeks’ time there is going to be a new white paper on devolution, and also a white paper on welfare and health. DWP is currently getting ready to roll out (via Local Authorities) a new ‘Connect to Work’ program to help people with employment support. Local areas will also be required to produce Work, Skills and Health Plans, recently also referred to as the Health, Education and Employment Plans. They are designed to help bring services together locally to help people facing multiple barriers to prepare for and move into work.
DMU help to grow will be offering a day to visit in January, to have a tour and understand how they can help local businesses. It is proposed to be scheduled for the 29th of Jan, same day as the members meeting but will be in the morning. The members meeting will go ahead as usual in the evening.
Market Harborough in Bloom – A talk by Barbara Tallis.
Focus is just on the town. Is an unincorporated organization – not a charity. ‘We do it for ourselves, it’s a by product that the town looks great’.
Supported with some funding by HDC. Responsible for planting and maintaining the floral displays in MH town and Rose Garden in Welland Park. Represented RHS East Midlands in Bloom and Britain in Bloom competitions.
Lucky to have a base at Welland Park, a green house, and presence at St Luke’s and connections with the schools.
They decide how, what, where and why and also what goes in to competition.
Judging is usually in first two weeks of July, which is weird time of year as so many blooms are passing their best. Britain in Bloom is by invitation only. Every bloom must be perfect, no dog poo, no weeds. Not just about flowers, that is just 40%, It is very important to have a good community involvement too. Environmental, conservation factors, community participation, how do you get people involved the best way? RHS want to to promote their brand too.
Have achieved great awards to date; Gold award for the last 12 years, Gold Britain in bloom 2016. Overall winner of large town category in East Midlands in Bloom or the last 3 years.
Residents of MH express gratitude. Facebook is updated twice weekly, 1000+ followers. 350 interactions a month and growing, plus the website.
Challenges, there is a grant from council covers about 65% of funds needed, to buy 3,500 plug plants every year, as well as compost etc – water is very expensive and they buy roses too which are a significant cost. Funding is always a challenge. Octagonal planters were organized by the council. The silver plagues were cost prohibitive, what do the sponsors want, what more can we offer them? Town sponsorship – publicity on Facebook and website and billboard and stickers for shop window.
Questions??? How can we attract more sponsors???
Do you go out to little Bowden? Yes but only through the school. Community garden in little Bowden is completely neglected. This is where we struggle, the new friendship garden is huge, Church Langton wanted help but sadly they could not offer any time or resources.
How many hours do you spend looking after all the flower beds? 3500 man hours every year.
There is a direct link with the commercial side, it attracts people in, looks nice and less anti-social behaviours.
There are a few things set up from legacies.
Did advertise for a volunteer who would just focus on advertising and funding, though not been successful.
Suggestion was made to publish a QR code to help generate funding – simply click on it to contribute.
Town plan, there is no designated coach park for example. We get a huge number of visitors to MH. Difficult to get to the county to work with HDC and MH in Bloom.
Have you been affected by flooding? There is help available.
Martin Robson – AI for Business – applications and how it will make a difference.
Examples of how AI can have a real positive influence on small business.
Roman Britain – Allegiant – Martin has experience with improving commercial automations. Now Martin’s focus is helping smaller businesses to compete.
CHAT GPT – people are familiar with using it for writing emails, handing objections, etc. Gave example of where Chat GPT changed its answer depending on its intended audience and their comprehension.
Another example of jazzing up some boring text into a much easier and attractive format. Napkin.AI. Lots of different ways to present the same information. Think about your own companies and do you have any boring instruction/manuals etc.
Perplexity. Google is now a bit of a mess, loads of answers, can be very confusing.
Perplexity is an answer engine – not a search engine. Martin gave an example. Where he asked a question, and it gave a number of results with foot notes and references to substantiate the answers. This could be a very effective way to help/retain business and clients. AI needs to understand what you need, context is very important.
Martin has offered to help make a difference to your business. Get all the different elements talking to each other, automate it to compete with the big boys.
Watch his AI Business podcast hello@allegiantweb.com for anyone wanting help/advice etc on AI in Business.
DC Horne – Leicestershire Constabulary – Cyber Crime.
A Detective Constable with Leicestershire Constabulary and a self-confessed geek, his most recently in current role of cyber protection. Works with you to give us the skills to protect ourselves from cybercrime.
How is it policed – team cyber-UK. Each force has their own unit. Protect officers who go after the criminal and then there is the prevent officers. The latter aimed at prevention etc. above them the East Midlands cyber security unit. NCIC and GCHQ.
£27 billion a year is currently lost through cybercrime.
While listening to MH in Bloom presenting and asking for sponsorship suggestions, he designed a quick fake website and QR code – a dodgy one. Two minutes of messing around, people always find a way to do bad stuff. Random QR codes have appeared in Weatherspoon’s in and around Leicester, as well as on Car Park payment machines. Nigerian Prince scam is obvious, but the clever scams are hard to spot. Hesitation for previous suggestion to Harb
orough in Bloom for QR code donations on flower containers.
Questions on what can they offer to businesses to help? Staff awareness Training. Cyber security review, tabletop exercises, general advice and guidance.
We will share more information with members as it is received as this is a continuing area of concern for prevention and prosecution.
Chris Moody – ASL Computer Services
Helps individuals/sole traders/small limited companies/ single person businesses stay digitally secure.
The Anti-Virus Guy – always recommends analysis and scanning that happens in real time via a commercial level protection, rather than cheaper
retail outlet sold versions.
Chris is also The Password Manager Guy – sets up password management software that is used by large corporates, but he does it at small business fees, and as required.
Recommends to always use LSD approach to password formation; Long Strong and Different – Passwords. Guess it, steal it or reset it – Criminals are clever. You need to keep ahead of them. Use the three words method – random words are better, with numbers in the middle and a special character. He shared 7 top tips to stay safe and secure.
Come along to the next Chamber meeting and build relationships with other local businesses. Fancy presenting to our members and visitors on an area you are an expert on? Are you a Chamber member already with some new developments, services or knowledge to share? We would love to hear from you.
Next Chambers Members Meeting – will be held on Wednesday 27th November 2024 and will be an early evening meeting, with arrival from 5:30pm, with the main meeting starting at 6pm through until 7:30pm. More information can be found here. Please RSVP to secretary@harboroughchamber.co.uk
