Member Article

North East Expo: a speaker snapshot

Ahead of this week’s North East Expo, Bdaily caught up with some of the speakers who are set to cover a diverse range of business related topics and issues.

Lyndsey Burdis, centre manager at MPH Training and Conference Centre is gearing up for her talk that will look at how the UK’s disabled population remains uncatered for across all manner of products, and the attractive business proposition this makes.

Lyndsey said: “Most business, both regionally and nationally, don’t think to target products towards disabled people. They’re worried about political correctness, but in reality there’s a consumer base of 10 million in the UK waiting to buy their products.

“The truth is, there’s money in it, and we’re all here as businesses to make money. It makes sense to have a product ready in case someone wants to buy it. Why not put some of your marketing info into braille.”

Also on the bill is North East McDonald’s franchisee Ahmed Khan, who will explain his experiences as a franchisee of a major multinational brand.

Ahmed said: “I’m going to be talking about the McDonalds Franchise model, and how it could benefit people looking to become a franchisee.

“I’ll be talking about my experiences too, which will give people some insight into what it’s like to operate through a company like McDonalds. The main difference in entering a major franchise like this is the brand, and the backup and support that comes with it. You become part of the system of a whole, and with that there is certain comforts, as well as challenges.”

Elsewhere, Mike Lever is due to take Expo attendees through his journey from “temporary job” to a day-to-day mission in seeking out new experiences.

Mike said: “It’s about change. I’m going to share some of my experiences, and what lead me to pursue change on a daily basis.

“This isn’t just about me talking for 30 or 40 minutes. I’m going to be laying down a challenge for people, and I want them to go away and make some of the changes I’m going to talk about.

“The comfort zone is something that a lot of people talk about. It’s like a strange force field. Once you break out of it, and continue to do that on a regular basis it becomes a lot easier.”

Giles Johnston of Smartspeed Consulting Limited is going to demonstrate how you can get to grips with the minutiae of work, from smart list building, through to optimising all that time spent emailing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .