December 2016 Meeting Shorts

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Business

It was an early start for Newark Business Club members as they met on Friday 2nd December for the final club meeting of 2016. Chairman, Amy Codd, and other members of the executive styling out suitably festive Santa hats, welcomed around 80 business people from companies throughout the town.

Amy commented on the number of attendees who joined her in celebrating the season by wearing Christmas jumpers or hats and during the coffee break Hannah Sang from Datcom handed out prizes to the best three.

Back to business, Amy advised that she would be attending a rail summit meeting on behalf of the club on Friday 9th December with Robert Jenrick MP and James Fountain, Chair of the club’s Action Group.

Amy publicly thanked the efforts of Bob Pointer, who has carefully collated much of the information ahead of the meeting. Amy and James will take three main questions to the meeting for the rail network representatives to answer.

Shop Local and Park for Free

On behalf of the Retail Group, Jill Brown took to the stage to promote shopping locally this Christmas time. From local food producers to independent gift and clothing shops, Jill encouraged everyone to choose Newark, with its free parking on Sundays, over nearby cities.

The next big date in the diary is Sunday 11th December when the Newark Christmas market will take place. Boasting 100 stalls and music and entertainment from local bands and dancers, it promises to be a fun filled day

Are You Cyber Savvy?

This month’s sponsored presentation was delivered by Hannah Sang from IT specialist Datcom.

To kick of the presentation, Hannah asked how many people had experienced a cyber attack. With a sea of hands in the air Hannah went on to share that 93% of large companies (those with more than 200 employees) have suffered a cyber attack. Smaller companies don’t escape the threat, with 74% experiencing an attack.

Hannah explained that it’s often an average of 256 days before you realise you’ve been hacked and that putting it right costs an average of £65,000.

As business development manager at Datcom, Hannah’s recommendation was for individuals strengthen their passwords and be vigilant. Meanwhile businesses should review their cyber security and ensure they’re doing all they can to protect themselves, their staff and customers

The meeting was drawn to a close by Vice Chair, Simon Shaw, who thanked all the presenters, sponsors and club members for attending.

He went on to thanks Chattertons for kindly sponsoring the mince pies which were enjoyed during the networking coffee break.

If you’re new to the area, thinking of setting up a business or you want to make some new business connections please consider joining the club. The next meeting starts at 7am on Friday 6th January 2017 at the Everyday Champions Centre.

As well as networking the club is pleased to provide presentation and meeting sponsorship opportunities. In January, Emma Munton from design, print and website specialist Nettl of Newark will be delivering a presentation.

In the meantime, you can check out the club and its members via the website www.newarkbusinessclub.co.uk, follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/newarkbc or join the Facebook group. Just search for Newark Business Club.