SfG and Plexus Teaser Event - Inverness 13th March

On 13th of March we were treated into a real insight into what makes a successful collaboration by Plexus and SfG Software that had recently worked together, with HSPC, on a project to redevelop the way HSPC provided information to their customers via their website and through their shop in Inverness City Centre.

David Garvie from SfG talked about how he was initially approached by HSPC after they had been visited by a consultant ITspecialist from Edinburgh who had proposed a very expensive solution to the issues they were having. David visited HSPC shortly after this initial contact and then put together a proposal which looked at what they were currently doing - much of which worked really well infact. Instead of advising them to reinvent the wheel he advised them to fix the 20% which wasn't working as they wished. This turned into a project that involved Plexus Media who provided the website and quite a bit of the technical support they currently used and were very happy with infact, the main issue was that they had a separate system which didn't work in tandem with Plexus and this caused lots of issues keeping the systems up to date, in sync etc.

The Secret of Business Success is Potatoes

At long last we have discovered the secret of business success and it's clearly related to the humble spud.

At the Fusion conference in November 2011 Peter Crome opened his speech by telling the audience his first job in catering and hospitality was peeling potatoes and he did this for three weeks solid. He was very proud of his potato peeling skills to the current day.

A recent news article about Steve Langmead of Capita UK stated that he started life as Mr Chip walking the streets of Aberdeen accompanied by his friend Harry Haddock.

Looking at the Equality Act with Gillian Shaw of Harper MacLeod

On the 1st of February Fusion attended the Women's Educational Event at Eden Court which always features an interesting speaker. This event was no different with the speaker being Gillian Shaw from Harper MacLeod. The session was looking at the Equality Act which could have been quite dry material to go through but Gillian included lots of recent examples of cases to make it all much easier to digest.

Global Energy Group - Plans for Nigg

At the recent FSB event in Inverness about Real Life Entrepreneurs Alastair Kennedy gave us a quick overview of what Global Energy was doing at present and it's plans for Nigg.

There are currently 23 companies within the Global Energy Group and they are on track to turnover £280 million. They have 40 offices and operate on 6 continents.

4 of the rigs currently on test at the EMEC facility in Orkney were built at Isleburn in Invergordon and Global are currently working on wind turbines at the old Alcan smelter in Invergordon.

Business Gateway Event - Elgin

On the 29th of November Fusion attended the Business Gateway roadshow at the Laichmoray Hotel in Elgin. This event followed the normal format of exhibitions, questions and answers and then informal networking. The venue was great with plenty of room for everything to take place. The questions and answer session included some pre-submitted questions and some time was spent debating public procurement. In Moray everything over £30,000 is put on the Public Contract Scotland site for tendering and for any spend between £5,000 and £30,000 the procurement team require 3 quotes with these going onto the website through their quick quote process. The Moray team also use the Supplier Finder service which enables organisations to put all their marketing information on the website. The Moray procurement team are encouraging the public sector in their area to look locally first and to get more than 3 quotes where possible.

The Federation of Small Business - Real Life Entrepreneur Event Inverness 29th November 2011

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Stadium opened it's doors to business players from across the region who were attending the Federation of Small Business event about Real Life Entrepreneurs. Hamish Fraser the Chairman of the Highlands and Islands Region of the FSB welcomed everyone to the event by outlining what a real life entrepreneur was - someone who starts a business. He outlined the FSB view that these people need as much recognition as those more famous business people we might think of when we visualise entrepreneurs.

Create Awards at Inverness College - Itison.com

The second speaker at the Create! awards at Inverness College was the really engaging Oli Norman of DADA and Itison.com. He runs an events and marketing agency that has worked with lots of customers including Dominos & Hilton Worldwide to name a couple. They have 80 employees and specialise in experiential marketing. Oli told a great story of when they hired a double decker bus and had Miss Scotland on the top of it whilst in Parish for a match. They had no permission to be there whatsover and when the police chief appeared Oli thought they would be told to move on. His fears were unfounded though, the police chief just wanted his photo with Miss Scotland and they then decided it would be a good idea to use the bus to lead the thousands in the crowd to the match venue.

Oli seems to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time and his natural enthusiasm and excitement for business really shone through during the evening.

Create Awards at Inverness College

Fusion recently attended the Create! awards at Inverness College. The evening started with a speech from Alastair Kennedy of Global Energy who gave everyone an update on plans for Nigg. Firstly though he gave a bit of a feel of what it was like to work for Roy MacGregor - a man clearly passionate about his business as Alastair described him as "living and breathing it". Roy it seems is someone who looks for the right people and then finds a job to fit rather than the other way round, job descriptions are flexible and he expects commitment from every member of his team. His unorthodox approach seems to have worked extremely well ad Global now has a turnover of £250 million and employs 5,000 people.

Alastair then gave an update on plans for the Nigg yard. About £10 million of investment is required to get Nigg up to standard so Global have an interim plan to try and attract rigs into the base for longer term repairs and refits of £5-£10 million in value in the next couple of years whilst they work on the yard and try to source a windfarm company to be based at Nigg. He advised that a training academy with modern apprenticeships is planned for the future.

How lucky we are to have Nigg locally - it is the largest dry dock in Europe and it has the biggest fabrication buildings in the UK.

We look forward to hearing much more about Global and the developments at Nigg in the coming months.

Conference Biography - Councillor W. J. “Ian” Ross OBE, FICF, FRSA

Ian Ross is chairman of the Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee and previously chaired the Council's Sustainable Development Committee for six years. He is a forestry graduate from Aberdeen University; a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and the Royal Society of Arts; past Chairman of the Forestry Commission Scotland’s Highland & Islands Forestry Forum and member of the Scottish Forestry Forum. He is a Highland Councillor for East Sutherland and Edderton.

Ian is a visiting lecturer on forest and social policy and sustainability at the Scottish School of Forestry, University of the Highlands and Islands.

As a councillor he has been actively involved in a number of sustainable development initiatives and projects. He is a Director of Highland Opportunity Ltd – the Highland Council’s Enterprise Trust and is also currently the vice-convener of the Northern Joint Police Board.

Conference Biography - Janet McDonald, Janet the Coach

Janet MacDonald is an internationally-certified life coach, having undergone a rigorous training with the Academy of Coaching Excellence and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation She works mainly with individuals, small businesses and teachers. Her clients include financial advisors, film makers, lawyers, coaches, educationalists, creative artists, personal development practitioners, sales people, designers and local authority personnel.

Janet has been helping people to improve their lives for over 25 years, having a wide experience of working with individuals and groups as a life coach and in the field of complementary medicine. She feels that the skills and experience she gained from her earlier career as a shiatsu therapist, teacher and assessor informs and enriches her current work as a life coach. Both involve interacting with people, understanding their needs, directing them to look at areas of their lives that are not working effectively, and supporting them through changes that they wish to make in order to improve and enhance their health and lifestyle.

As a coach her aim is to empower her clients beyond their self-imposed limitations in order for them to create and attain exciting and meaningful goals that will enrich their lives. She works by drawing out the best in people, focusing on their strengths and encouraging them to do the same, whilst holding them accountable for their choices and actions. Janet is warm and inviting and will support you to lead a life full of possibility and promise. She aspires to coach with rigour and compassion

She lived much of her adult life in London and Bristol but in 2003 returned to her roots, a place of outstanding natural beauty in the Western Highlands of Scotland. A large percentage of her work now takes place over the telephone, Skype or in a residential setting.

Women in Business - Battle of the Sexes

Inverness has seen many epic battles over the years but maybe none so epic as that which took place at Toastmonsters on the 23rd of November at the Glen Mhor Hotel. The battle was to decide who was better - men or women and the event was based around the theme "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus". 5 intrepid ladies went along for an evening of banter and of course public speaking practice. They all rose to the challenge and introduced themselves wonderfully well and several also took up the Table Topics challenge which is to speak on a subject for 2 minutes with no notice. After a break in the bar it was back to battle and two very different speeches. The speech for the ladies was themed around the toilet seat and how it related to the differences between men and women. This speech used scientific facts and figures to demonstrate that women are better leaders, make better investors, can multi-task efficiently, are better drivers - infact the list went on. The speech for the men picked up on the toilet seat theme but took a different approach and tried to explain how  men thought - this was quite an eye opener to some of us there. It certainly gave us some helpful hints on how to ask questions, when to ask questions and what to expect in the way of answers of our menfolk.

At the end of the evening we discussed the event and how everyone had felt. Everyone seemed to have got something out of the evening and enjoyed attending with the Fusion group as this had given "safety in numbers".

Well done ladies for making this such an enjoyable evening and rising to the challenge on behalf of womankind and of course Fusion!

Conference Biography - Alastair Kennedy, Global Energy Group

Alastair studied Marketing at Napier University where he also secured his Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma in Marketing. A well-known marketing man, Alastair has put his talents to many uses including taking a prominent role in raising the profile of Ross County Football Club from a successful but almost unknown club outside the Highland League to one of the most prominent Scottish football clubs and now contenders for the Scottish Premier League.

Alastair’s “day job” is Communications Director of the Global Energy Group, the Easter Ross based oil and gas supply and support company which has just taken over control of the former Nigg Fabrication Yard. The past fortnight has seen Alastair put his talents to work as the Global Energy Group Board of Directors have played host to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Inverness MP Danny Alexander. 

Conference Biography - John Currie, Director of Scottish Energy Centre, Edinburgh Napier University

With over 25 years experience in teaching, research and practice John was formerly Chief Engineer with Carlsberg-Tetley Brewing where he was responsible for a number of multi-million pound process development projects, as well as representing the Industry at national level to bring about significant reduction in brewery energy utilisation. 

Outside the Scottish Energy Centre, John heads the Energy and Sustainability Research Group at the Transport Research Institute and contributes research input to the Building Performance Centre at Edinburgh Napier University. The main focus of his research interests currently include modelling building thermal performance, monitoring and modelling pollution in the urban environment and the development of novel solar heating systems.

John retains strong professional links with external organisations and is a Fellow and Past Chairman on the Energy Institute.  He is involved in a diverse range of projects with companies of all sizes, representing various sectors across Scotland, including a number in the Highlands and Islands.

Fusion Conference - Rising From Recession 18th November 2011

The morning started relatively early for some Fusioneers - 8.30am for a buffet breakfast where many conversations picked up from the previous day and some new delegates arrived.

 Then it was into the Macleod room for a fascinating insight into the Williamson Foodservice business courtesy of Gary Williamson. He covered being a family business, dealing with some difficult situations and also being open to opportunities. He seems to have an ability to keep his eyes and ears open all the time and is able to act on these opportunities very quickly. He covered how his business has grown and his future plans - plenty of what he had to say clearly resonated with the delegates.

The "Do I Need Social Media" Session

 

 

 

 

 

The "Stuck or Frustrated" Session

Fusion Conference - Rising From Recession 17th November 2011 Afternoon Sessions

After a lovely lunch we headed back into the Macleod room to hear Peter Crome of the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle talk. Peter started off talking about his early career as a potato peeler and how his career nearly ended over a mix up with a desert fork. He gave some incredible insight into his career and some of the lessons he has learned along the way. There was much note taking as well tried to keep up with some of the tips and the book recommendations he gave us during this informative session.


Breakout sessions followed Peter and we dispersed throughout the Kingsmills to take part in those we had signed up to.

The "What I Wish I Had Known" Session

 

 

The "How Do I Start Marketing" Session

 The Fusion AGM was well attended with members getting an update on the financial status of Fusion as well as the plans to develop in the future, how we intend to fund our activities and our plans for events for 2012 including the conference. After that it was a quick change and back down to the bar for a pre-dinner drinks reception. Dinner was in the Macleod room. The Fusion Innovation award was presented to KP Technology and there was much joviality during Craig Anderson's after dinner speech which included a great anecdote about politicians, dogs and lamp-posts amongst other things!

Fusion Conference - Rising From Recession 17th November 2011 Morning Sessions

The first day of the Fusion conference kicked off at 8am with a healthy breakfast and a run through of the programme with Mark and Jim

The conference opened with coffee in the Adams room

 We then moved through to the Macleod Room to hear the first speaker of the day Mike Neilson who talked about the Scotttish Government plans to increase exporting and to stimulate growth amongst many other things.

 

After Mike Neilson's session it was through to lunch where much catching up took place and many new contacts were made so the extra networking time was much appreciated.

Member Profile - TEFL Scotland

Member Spotlight

TEFL Scotland

High Street, Dingwall

joe@teflscotland.co.uk

www.teflscotland.co.uk

Scratch the surface at TEFL Scotland and you will find that TEFL Scotland is infact just one of a network of TEFL organisations run from Dingwall at their new home in the High Street, Dingwall. Joe Hallwood was previously an English teacher and he worked in Greece in his 20’s. He helped start up what is now a competitor’s business and gained a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification specialising in online marketing.

Having spent many months beavering away writing course content in their garden shed TEFL Scotland was born in October 2008, 6 months later TEFL England came along, September 2010 saw the arrival of TEFL Wales and TEFL Ireland has launched this year.

The suite of TEFL sites are aimed at anyone wanting to teach English abroad with lots of enquiries coming from teachers unable to secure a full time teaching post, students looking to fund their travel and older students looking to take gap years as well as retirees. A jobs board available only to students helps demonstrate the type of work available and is a good sales tool together with the fact that the courses are all ILA approved so can often not cost the learner anything directly.

Women in Business - How We Can Have It All

On Tuesday 6th of December we met at the Kingsmills Hotel for a workshop session led by Jo Adams on How We Can Have It All. Despite only have just over 30 minutes Jo made us work really hard and packed plenty in. We learned about setting priorities, motivation, goal setting and looked at the values that were important to us. Jo also challenged us to make one change towards one goal by Wednesday morning and by 8.30am emailed us with a gentle reminder and an encouraging story to help.

Whilst we had varying goals, motivations and values one of the key themes was the work/life balance - for women in particular there always seems so many things to do - managing the household, managing the children, dealing with family matters etc. Another common theme was financial security - for several women it was important to be financially secure as this gave them the opportunity to choose what they wanted to do, how much they wanted to work etc.

The session was a great example of how we can help each other and learn from each other also. Jo clearly demonstrated why she was an expert in this area and also an inspiration having peppered her session with some real life examples and stories.

Find out more about Jo by visiting her coaching website here
You can also visit her HR site here
Visit Jo's Linked In profile here



The next Women in Business event is on the 23rd of November - it's Battle of the Sexes at the Inverness Toastmonsters - it's free to come along but you do need to register so we can set up the evening accordingly and you don't have to speak if you don't want to.

2nd November SCDI Influencers Dinner Golf View Hotel, Nairn

On the 2nd of November I attended the SCDI influencers dinner at the Golf View Hotel, Nairn for Fusion. The small bar area was jam packed as people mingled and caught up on news and happenings. We then headed through to dinner and enjoyed a great meal, as usual at the Golf View. The evening was all about skills and education with many questions coming from the audience on this topic and plenty of interesting points made.

SCDI events are always a great way to meet lots of great contacts in one evening - David Fraser was there with an even bigger moustache than the previous week and networking away as usual.

I made several connections that I hope will be useful to Fusion members and hopefully one or two more people learned what Fusion was all about.

SCDI Influencers Dinner 2nd November Golf View Hotel, Nairn

The SCDI once again put on a very interesting Influencers Dinner with a great group of people attending and an interesting speech given by John McClelland, Chair of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council as well as Interim Chair of Skills Development Scotland.

During his speech John McClelland covered a great many topics to do with skills and education and was clear that he felt more needed to be done to ensure young people leaving education were able to do the things needed to be of benefit to business - this included having an understanding of business no matter what area they were in. He also discussed the differences between various institutions, how educational establishments were rooted in the communities in various parts of Scotland with that providing a different challenge for the UHI. He felt that specialising in subjects was a good way to go rather than every institution trying to do everything - he cited the example of a particularly technical institution offering health and beauty courses.

Discussion before and after dinner of course also followed much of the same theme. During the event we also caught up with our illustrious moustached Chairman David Fraser and Rosie O'Hara of NLP Highland to name a few.

It was a very useful evening and we look forward to representing Fusion members at the next SCDI event.