The Big Eco Show – the only large-scale event dedicated to helping businesses in North East England discover what the emerging green economy can do for them.
It will take place this Thursday, 18 April and please note that doors open at 9am and the first speaker will be on at 9.30am.
Please arrive at the café entrance at the Centre for Life – the event takes place on the Mezzanine level.
The day features three inspirational speakers; afternoon workshops; a lunchtime networking session; a wide range of exhibitors, demonstrating the growing number of green businesses in North East England; and a range of electric and low-emission vehicles to test-drive.
Keep up to date and join the chat on Twitter at @bigecoshow and use the hashtag #bigecoshow
The schedule:
9am: Doors and exhibition open
9.30am: Open and welcome with Ted Salmon, FSB North East Chair
9.35am: Tim Cantle-Jones of Green Deal Products
Tim, who has worked in the low carbon sector for the past five years, will address delegates on the importance of the green economy and put the spotlight on how they can grow, thrive and build their resilience in this sector.
10.30am: Tony Mullarkey of Potts Print (UK)
Tony will give insights on how running a green business can bring commercial rewards.
11.30am: Lisa French
Lisa will talk about the importance of personal resilience drawing on her experience of being injured in the terrorist bombings in London on 7 July 2005, and how the lessons she has learned can be used to develop a resilient mindset and resilient business.
12pm: Networking at lunchtime
This lunch-time networking session will be kicked off with Nicola Jayne Little, Daisy Green, who will introduce #ConnectFriday, the award-nominated Twitter networking hour aimed specifically at bringing like-minded businesses operating in the climate-resilient and low-carbon economy. Don’t forget your sandwiches!
Afternoon workshops 1pm-1.30pm:
Workshop 1 – the importance of personal resilience
Personal resilience is an important factor when running, and growing, a business. By developing strong personal resilience skills you can and equip yourself with the right skills to respond to the pressures you may face, something that is increasingly important in today’s constantly changing business environment.
Join Lisa French who will share first-hand and practical examples on becoming personally resilient drawing on her experience of being injured in the terrorist bombings in London on 7 July 2005. She will explain how the lessons she has learned can be used to develop a resilient mind-set and resilient business.
1.45pm-2.15pm: workshop 2 – get resilient
Today’s business environment is characterised by rapid, unpredictable change. But no matter what, you must be responsive and resilient in order to secure long-term survival, profitability and growth. This workshop will provide an insight into new training, which upon successful competition leads to a nationally accredited qualification, recently launched by ClimateNE and partners. Amanda Dudman from the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) will explain how the training can help you to identify risks, such as market forces, theft, skills shortage and severe weather events specifically relevant to your business, and begin developing a practical business resilience plan.
2.30pm-3.30pm: workshop 3 – introducing the North East Green Deal installer network Colin Robinson from Energy Friend will introduce the North East network of Green Deal Installers. Working together, this network will have enough resource between them to compete against large national organisations, thus customers have a trusted, local resource to go to, to get their green deal advice reports installed and delivering more work for North East SMEs, and lower bills for North East homes. The workshop will consist of a 30 minute presentation on the benefits of the network and 30 minutes questions and answers.
ALL DAY Cars to test drive
Choose from four cars to test drive during the course of the day – the BMW 3 Series 320d Efficient Dynamics Touring Automatic; the Nissan Leaf; the Renault Twizy; and the Kangoo Fluencehas.
The North East’s green businesses exhibiting at the show The Big Eco Show is a fantastic way to showcase the rapidly growing number of green businesses here in North East England while providing advice, information and inspiration for others.
4pm: Close
We look forward to seeing you there!


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