Last night (Wed Nov 29) we held our annual dinner. This year it took place at the Crowne Plaza hotel and our special keynote speaker was John Fleming, President and CEO of Ford (Europe) and Group Vice President of Ford Motor Company.

Mr Fleming, a native of Liverpool, praised the city for its industrial economy. He also said that Ford’s Halewood plant, where Jaguars and Range Rovers are made, is now one of the best in the Ford group.

As well as listening to such an illustrious business giant, our guests were also treated to a top-notch meal and the opportunity to mix with other business leaders from the city and region. A good time was had by all!

Liverpool Chamber has won an award at the annual British Chambers of Commerce annual awards ceremony last week.

We were winners in the ‘Business Improvement Through Technology’ category. The citation especially singles out Liverpooltenders.com as an example of best practice, nationally, but other features of our use of ICT were also praised.

Liverpooltenders.com is an innovative service that allows local businesses to be alerted of upcoming tenders, helping them to win contracts and boost productivity. Well done to all involved in that project, and also to all our IT staff across the Chamber.

We were also shortlisted for ‘Chamber of theYear’, but this was eventually awarded to Thames Valley Chamber. Well done them. We’re not jealous at all. No.

Liverpool Chamber’s main website will soon be undergoing some re-development to help improve our services to Liverpool business and our members.

These changes will include:

• secure online payment facilities to let you book and pay for events, buy our goods and services and even join the Chamber with a click of the mouse
• RSS feeds to keep you up to date with local, national and international business and economic news
• online newsletters so you are kept informed of all our news, events and offers
• a members-only section of the website giving direct access to services and information as well as exclusive support to help your business grow.

What we’d really like to know, though, is - what do you want to see on our website?

What online services, offers or functions do you, as a local business, think would help you work better? Whether you are already a member or planning on joining, let us know how you’d like to see the site change.

You can leave your comments here on this blog and get a debate going, or you can email Nick Jones at the Chamber with your views. If you don’t tell us, we won’t know, so help us to help you.

Thanks!

A new exhibition is on display at the Merseyside Maritime Museum looking at what’s in store for Liverpool’s world famous waterfront.

The display has been created by city centre regeneration company Liverpool Vision. It reveals how the £200 million project will transform the area into a visitor destination of international quality and create some of the most exciting public spaces in Europe.

The exhibition runs for four weeks and entry is free.

Call the Maritime Museum on 0151 478 4499 for more details.

Over 160 guests attended Liverpool Chamber’s last Construction & Development lunch of the year. On a cold day, the guests appreciated lunch of roast beef.

Liverpool Marina was an appropriate location to hear Martin Clarke, the Regeneration Manager of British Waterways, speak about Leeds/Liverpool canal project linking up Liverpool to the inland waterways network, highlighting the positive impact on urban regeneration that the UK’s canals can provide.

Shown above, l-r, Emma Wheeler - British Waterways, Jack Stopforth, Chief Executive Liverpool Chamber & Martin Clarke - British Waterways

Don’t forget - tomorrow, Wednesday 22 November sees the latest IT-focussed event from MERIT.

At this exciting free event, Five IT will demonstrate the latest technologies that allow you to create a virtual office that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

Imagine having your own desktop computer that is fully accessible wherever you go - in the office, at home, on the move or even abroad. All of your favourite programs, websites and email set-up just as you like them but with the performance, security, backup and reliability of systems normally only found at large blue-chip companies.

This technology is not just limited to desktop and front office services, entire computer rooms and data centres can also be rationalised drastically reducing power, cooling, space and support costs by as much as 70%.

Technologies covered in this event will include Application Virtualisation, Server Virtualisation, Storage Virtualisation and Communication Virtualisation.
Presented by Five IT Limited, Virtual Technology Consultancy

Visit the MERIT website events page to book your free place.

Sit tight and listen keenly!

Tonight on Radio Merseyside’s Drive Time Business slot (that’s about 5.30pm to you and me), the Chamber’s policy guru Steve Pearse will be live on air.  Tonight,  he’ll be discussing Christmas shopping  - today sees first special fare to encourage use of rail for accessing the shopping centres, Christmas Lights switch on on Sunday at 5pm and success at St Johns & Clayton Square.

As well as retail issues, Steve will also be speaking about Liverpool Airport’s 5 millionth passenger this year, new rail franchise tenders and consultation on routes.

So turn on, tune in, and, er, listen to what Steve has to say.

Laura Williams, administrator for Liverpool Chamber’s New Entrpreneur Scholarship programme, has won an award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the scheme.

The awards are for the Entrepreneur of the Year, but there is a special regional award for a member of one the teams. Laura was the outstanding candidate for the North West.

As well as being new to the role, Laura has helped Pete and Amanda settle into their new jobs, as well as expertly handling the admin for the programme. Pete says: “We are delighted that Laura is receiving this award. Both Amanda and I appreciate her outstanding administration and organisational skills, as well as being a highly valued colleague.”

Well done Laura!!!!

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce held one of its regular platform lunches at the Suites Hotel in Kirkby. The lunch was well attended by many of the businesses in the area to network and hear three chamber members talk about their businesses.

Representatives from Medicash talked about how they turned around the focus of their business to helping people to keep fit and healthy. Jerry Hopkins from Fit Direction, operations consultants, gave a presentation about making your business fit for purpose. Canon UK’s Mark Broderick spoke about improving business systems.

Pictured above, l-r, Lisa Burrows & Paul Gambon of Medicash, Carole Crosby Deputy Chief Executive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, Jerry Hopkins of Fit Direction and Mark Broderick of Canon UK.

Dr Kegang Wu, Director of ChinaLink, appeared on Radio Merseyside’s Drive Time business slot this week. He was talking about his recent visit to the Canton Trade Fair, one of the largest events of its kind in the world. He went into detail about how major changes to this event in the future will effect how British companies do business with the fair and how Liverpool Chamber can help them make the most of these opportunities.

Other topics covered included how Liverpool’s twinning with Shanghai has been developed and the business benefits this has brought, as well as the work done by ChinaLink to make overseas trade less daunting and more profitable for Liverpool companies.