Business Owners Forum

The Art of Networking

This will be the last Business Owners Forum event for 2009 – and we have brought the date forward from the usual third Thursday of the month to avoid the worst (and the best!) of the silly season. The December Business Owners’ Forum will feature a panel discussion on “The Art of Networking”.

This event will be hosted at the ElevateCA offices on 3 December from 5:30pm (sharp) to 7:00pm.

As always with BOF events, discussion will be driven by those who attend on the night – and the panelists will keep things moving along quickly. This time we have three great panelists, and here’s what you can expect to be covered over the hour and a half:

Fraser Hurrell, a director of ElevateCA Limited will talk about his experience with using social media tools such as twitter, facebook and blogs to drive leads and sales. He has some good practical advice from the coalface on how to get results networking online without letting these tools become couterproductive and consume your time.

Geoff Grigg didn’t follow the more usual banker’s career path from the bottom up through the ranks – he joined the BNZ as a Business Relationship Manager without the benefit of a banking network built up over the years. Luckily Geoff’s past life as a Sales Manager meant that he knew exactly how to build his business network from scratch. Geoff will share some insights and practical tips from this journey.

Sarah Lochead-MacMillan, author of “The Naked Networker” says that entering a networking event for the first time can generate the equivalent feelings as attempting to socialise naked. She will give some tools and techniques to get past these feelings – and enable you to form and drive a sustainable network. *Spoiler: There will be no naked networking at this event*.

Format is casual over pizza, beer and wine – and Business Owners Forums are always lively events! These events are targeted to owners of businesses with $1 million turnover and more.

Business Owners Forums are supported by ElevateCA Limited, BNZ, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, The ICEHOUSE and Webb Ross Lawyers.

The ethos of the Business Owners’ Forum supporters is to give back to the business communities which support us. In line with this ethos, Business Owners’ Forum events are always free of charge.

If you would like to be invited to this event, please contact ElevateCA.

Employment Issues

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Business Owners’ Forum at The ICEHOUSE yesterday. There was some quality discussion around employment issues from the panel and the participants. The panelists tonight were:

Paul Diver, a lawyer, employment specialist and HR Partner at the ICEHOUSE, who shared some of the latest and emerging legal issues relating to employment in New Zealand – particularly around bargaining and dismissal. Paul raised some interesting issues such as the risks of those “without prejudice” discussions with employees – and some of the pragmatic solutions to exiting certain employees.

Rebecca Brennan, a director of ElevateCA Limited, discussed some good practical strategies around performance management and performance measurement. Rebecca drove home the importance of communication and measurement, and got down to the real “how to” nuts and bolts of the subject. Rebecca’s presentation was packed full of useful content.

Michael Masterson, a former CEO of a large Asia Pacific contact centre, shared some practical and amusing anecdotes to make his points about keeping your team fully engaged in their work. He advocates what he calls the three f’s – fun, focus and fulfilment – in the workplace, and talked about leading from the front and the little things that make a huge difference.

As always, format was casual over pizza, beer and wine – and the event was attended by business owners who got plenty of tips and points to take away from the evening.

Business Owners Forums are supported by ElevateCA, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, BNZ, The ICEHOUSE and Webb Ross Lawyers. The ethos of all the supporters is to give back to the business communities that support us, so these sessions are always free of charge and are open to business owners – particularly of businesses of $1m plus turnover. There is never a sell from the supporters – that’s not what these sessions are about at all.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Auckland and Whangarei venues.

If you would like to be invited to the next event, which is on 3 December at ElevateCA in Whangarei, fire us a quick email.

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Employment Issues

The November Business Owners’ Forum will feature a panel discussion on employment issues. It will be hosted by The ICEHOUSE, Level 2, The Textile Centre, 117 to 125 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell – and will be held on 19 November from 5:30pm (sharp) to 7:00pm. As always with BOF events, discussion will ultimately be driven by those who attend on the night – and the panelists will keep discussions moving along quickly. We have three great panelists, and here’s what you can expect to be covered over the hour and a half:

Rebecca Brennan, a director of ElevateCA Limited will discuss the use of tools for performance management and performance measurement – and some great pragmatic ideas and concepts around getting the most from your team. Rebecca will get straight down to the “how to” nuts and bolts of the subject.

Michael Masterson, a former CEO of the largest contact centre in Australasia who took the business to over 6,500 staff in a short time. Michael has some humourous and pertinent insights from this experience – and is a great advocate of “leading from the front” in order to keep your team fully engaged.

Paul Diver, a lawyer, employment specialist and HR Partner at the ICEHOUSE, who will share some of the latest and emerging legal issues relating to employment in New Zealand. Paul is the Plastics Industry multi-employer collective agreement advocate – and also negotiates collective agreements for the Order of St John, Restaurant Brands, Chubb, Otis, DHL and United Group.

Format is casual over pizza, beer and wine – and Business Owners Forums are always rather lively events! These events are targeted to owners of businesses with $1 million turnover and more.

The ethos of ElevateCA Limited and the Business Owners’ Forum supporters is to give back to the business communities which support us. In line with this ethos, Business Owners’ Forum events are always free of charge.

If you would like to be invited to this event, please contact ElevateCA.

Managing Cashflow

A big thank you to all who participated in the 17 September Business Owners’ Forum held in Auckland. Business Owners’ Forums have of course been running in Whangarei since the depths of the winter, which seems a long time ago now – but this was the first to be held in Auckland. Thursday’s meetup was at the ICEHOUSE premises in the Textile Centre, Parnell – and the topic was “Managing Cashflow”.

Many in the room on Thursday were of the view that the worst is behind New Zealand businesses from a cashflow crisis point of view – and that those still standing today are likely to survive and prosper rather than become victims of the opposite scenario. But we are of the view that prudent cashflow management is as relevant in good times as in bad, so the topic is as relevant today as it was six months ago.

The skills which the business owners in the room have honed over the course of their business carear – and particularly over the past 18 months – were very useful to share and hear. These will enable stronger cash management going forward – and I’m sure everyone in attendance got something useful from the session.

On the panel at The ICEHOUSE Business Owners Forum event was Michael Masterson from The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, David Caddie, a Commercial Business Banking Partner from the Auckland CBD BNZ – and myself representing an Accountant’s view of cashflow management.

As panelists, we were pretty much let off the hook by a knowledgeable, varied and interactive group of about 40 participants. Our role became facilitators of quality discussion from the floor rather than presenters – which is exactly what Business Owners’ Forum meetups are all about.

So where to from here with Business Owners’ Forums over the rest of 2009?

14 October – @elevateCA space. The topic for the next BOF – in Whangarei – will be Employment Relations. On the panel will be Rebecca Brennan discussing performance measurement and management, a solicitor from Webb Ross discussing some topical legal issues around employment management – and Michael Masterson sharing some insights from his time managing a large multinational team. More >>

19 November – The ICEHOUSE. The topic for the next Auckland meetup will be around shareholders current accounts. This will be a repeat of the successful session on the same subject which was held in Whangarei back in August. More >>.

17 December – @elevateCA space. The final BOF for 2009 will be in the ElevateCA space. The topic has yet to be decided, and will be by popular demand and feedback. If you have any ideas or preferences for this or future subject matter, contact us. More details will be posted on this session during November.

The Business Owners’ Forum is of course supported by ElevateCA Limited, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction Limited, BNZ, The ICEHOUSE and Webb Ross Solicitors.

Thanks again to all those who came along on Thursday, shared on the night and contributed to making this a useful session.

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Managing Cashflow

The September Business Owners’ Forum will cover the topic “Managing Cashflow”. This is the first Business Owners’ Forum to be hosted in Auckland, and will be a repeat of this popular topic which was presented in Whangarei in June. From here on, Business Owners Forums will be held on the third Thursday of every month – and will alternate between Whangarei and Auckland. The September BOF will be in Auckland, October in Whangarei – and so on.

Managing Cashflow is a big topic – there is a lot of content to cover. We have assembled a great panel of three to bring some healthy discussion and alternative viewpoints to the evening. On the panel is Michael Masterson from The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, David Caddie – a Commercial Partner from BNZ and myself – a Director of Elevate CA Limited.

Together we will cover off some practical tips to manage cashflow in your business, the business and tax implications around cashflow issues – and some insights around current thinking from the banks regarding business cashflow issues.

In September, the Business Owners’ Forum will be held at The ICEHOUSE, Level Two, Textile Centre, 117 to 125 St George’s Bay Road, Parnell. This is a great venue – click here for directions. Format is casual over beer, wine and pizza.

September’s event will be on Thursday 17 September 6:00pm to 7:30pm.

The Business Owners’ Forum is supported by Elevate CA Limited, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction Limited, The ICEHOUSE, BNZ and Webb Ross Solicitors. The ethos is to provide a forum for business owners to meet and discuss relevant business issues amongst their peers in a casual environment without a sell from the supporters.

Entry to The Business Owners Forums is by invite – and there is no charge. The target audience is owners of businesses with a turnover of $1 million and above. If you’d like an invite, and you’re not on our list just contact us at forums@businessownersforum.net.nz

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.