Lead Events, the organiser of seminars for professionals, plans a business breakfast tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs at the Intercontinental in St Julian’s in October, one of three conferences lined up of the rest of the year.
It’s great fun and the networking is invaluable
Technology professionals and managers will listen, learn, and discuss Jobs’ vision, his attitude to innovation, his life philosophy, and his management skills.
Seeking to build on the “encouraging” response to its first two major events in the past few weeks, Lead Events managing director James Grech is also busy organising one of the seminars on the official Malta programme for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012. Scheduled for mid-November and themed ‘Creativity in Business’, the event will include presentations, workshops and an energiser session geared to encourage entrepreneurs to use their imagination to re-examine their business processes.
Mark Chillingworth, the editor of business technology leadership portal http://cio.co.uk , will be the keynote speaker at the ICT Malta 2012 event in early December. It will be hosted by Smart City Malta at Ricasoli business park.
Late last month, 85 people turned up for the first-ever seminar for members of the Business Professionals in Malta LinkedIn group, organised by Lead Events, which focused on personal branding.
Earlier in July, Legal Team 2012, a conference for in-house legal teams was deemed such a success Mr Grech announced it would be held biennially.
Mr Grech, an auditor who runs a firm with his wife Anneliza, established Lead Events only last April with an objective to hold focused workshops and networking opportunities in an environment conducive to learning. Each one factors in a fun activity or team-building exercise.
Bursting with enthusiasm for this new venture, Mr Grech is nurturing a collection of ideas for events aimed at a range of professional groups.
He readily admits to being inspired by Business Leaders Malta, the network behind the eponymous vibrant highlight on Malta’s annual networking calendar usually attended by a few hundred executives and managers.
“I watched a YouTube video of their third event and admired the organisation, the format, and the spirit of it all,” Mr Grech told The Times Business. “That video inspired me to pursue my own ideas and to aspire to reach those standards. It’s a huge commitment and so much hard work, but it’s great fun and the networking is invaluable. I’d like Lead Events to be recognised for offering a ‘knowledge top-up’ to participants. That’s the ultimate aim.”
Bringing busy people together for a few hours is a major feat on any occasion. To reach its target audiences efficiently, Lead Events has partnered Business Professionals in Malta, which, at more than 2,600 members, is the island’s largest group on LinkedIn. The group is administered by Jeffrey Romano. Lead Events has a smaller group on the social network, with just under 300 members, but it is growing.
This week, Mr Grech turned to Lead Events’ group to seek feedback on a new idea – an evening seminar for Malta-based expatriates focusing on income tax, the local economy, heritage and culture, planned for next month.
“Plans for the next few months include workshops and case study discussion meetings,” Mr Grech said. “These will be small gatherings for carefully targeted audiences. Time is at a premium for everyone. But if an event delivers what it promises, people will make time to attend.”