Small Businesses Join Corporate Giants To Fly The Flag For Cheshire

Sept. 19, 2011 - PRLog -- DOZENS of Cheshire’s small to medium sized businesses were given the chance to fly their own flags at a major exhibition last weekend thanks to the quick action and smart negotiating skills of the Chester Business Network.

When the Network’s host Tracy Griffiths first heard that the Celebrate Cheshire business exhibition was to be staged at the Chester Racecourse she approached the organisers for more information on behalf of the members of her group.

“But when I heard the cost of a pitch on the site I immediately realised why all the exhibitors on their list were major blue chip companies,” explained Tracy. “The fees were going to be too much for our individual members to justify, yet I knew the exhibition could give our businesses a much needed boost in these challenging times.”

That’s when Tracy, who launched the Chester Business Network Chester just over a year ago and built it into a 100 plus member business networking group that meets in and around Cheshire every month, went into action.

She began negotiating a deal for exhibition space with the Celebrate Cheshire organisers and came up with an arrangement which meant Network members could pool their resources and be present at what is expected to be the Cheshire business community’s most important event of the year.

“As a result, our members were able to exhibit  alongside big names like M&S Money, Bentley Motors, Manchester Airport and Cheshire Oaks,” said Tracy who called on the expertise of her Network members to create an exhibition space which she is convinced was one of the stars of the show.

"Our members came together to collaborate and with massive contributions of time, talent and passion we were able to put on a show that was a real crowd pleaser-so much so The Lord Lieutenant David Briggs came to our drinks reception!” added Tracy.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming him and many other new Businesses to our future events. We have an even greater buzz than usual leading to our September event on the 28th at the Chester Grosvenor and Spa.”

Tracy said she also wanted to thank those member businesses who had given their expertise to make the event a success. They included Blue-Leaf who handled graphic design, Black Iris Exhibitions who created the stand, Spiral Colour for printing stand graphics and invites, Fox Graphics who designed the invitations for the drinks reception and who handled photography.

Clear Black Wine provided wine for the reception, Nunsmere Hall supplied canapés, Monitor Creative handled social media activity and Knew Productions oversaw the rolling video tape at the stand.