By 
As we dismantle our stands, massage our throbbing feet (especially those of us who are used to being wheelie chair bound most of the day!) and prepare to re-home ourselves back in our respective offices, it is time to evaluate the second annual Hawkes Bay Business Expo.
For my part, I think that those who attended and those who exhibited will be able to testify that this is a one of a kind event (and opportunity) for Hawkes Bay businesses to come together show what they do best. It exposes the great little and large businesses that hide or shine throughout our great region in one, easy to access location – providing equal footing for everyone to access the wider business community and learn more about each other.
And while this event (like any) had its hiccups and flaws, I think it’s important to remember that this is an event that will evolve with each year that it is run. The perfect mix of marketing, organisation and setup will be refined each year (as the mistakes of the year before are assessed, analyzed and taken into account in the future) until it is just right.
It is clear that there is a need and demand for this event and if the vast improved on the 2010 expo, when compared to the 2009 expo, is anything to go by, then 2011 is going to be “must exhibit/visit” year.
Kudos to the Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce for having the vision to develop and provide such a great opportunity for local businesses.
13:39, 10.09.2010
It was a good expo, the guest speakers were a great group, and well done Shaun for putting Google on the front stage (Fruitbowl got some great exposure there!).
Hopefully word gets out this year that little bit more, and we have more businesses coming to see what is going on.
Mark Robotham’s talk was the most interesting part for me, and we are going to change our sales pitch with RepHub as a direct result.
I hope to see even more of you there next year.