The BMF South West Conference and AGM for the marine industry

The BMF South West annual conference and AGM is being held at the University Centre South Devon College, Paignton, South West England on Friday 8^th February 2013.  The event includes workshops and round table sessions, designed to help business owners and employees working in the marine industry.

The event will teach new skills, gain insight into apprenticeships, grants and local enterprise partnerships, and much more. 

The BMF South West annual conference starts at 9.30am with a welcome and short AGM. The morning continues with a choice of workshops and round table sessions followed by networking over lunch, and finishes with feedback and key lessons from the discussions. The day ends with a presentation from BMF president Howard Pridding.

The conference is free to members of the British Marine Federation and their guests. It offers unique opportunities for south west based businesses to network and speak to experts in a number of key areas, covering all sectors relevant to running, developing and enhancing a business.

The programme includes discussions about the impact of the proposed Marine Conversation Zones on businesses in the south west, as well as practical advice on grants, marine clusters and help available from Enterprise Zones and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Other sessions are designed to help businesses grow through the development and skills of their staff.  Two of the major employers in the area will be discussing apprenticeship schemes and providing hands-on advice about how they are run, the time required to set up the schemes and manage them.  This session will also include input from students about what apprenticeships mean to them. 

From the changing legal requirements on boat brokerage, through to how to sell a boat on the internet, there’s a host of new ways in which businesses and individuals can use the internet to talk about what they are doing and engage with their customers. A workshop at the conference will be talking about social media, its advantages and possible pitfalls and illustrate where and how it can be used to best advantage in business; while a round table discussion will look at the current brokerage system and discuss whether it’s still fit for purpose or requires a radical overhaul.

There will be time to network, share knowledge, exchange experiences and meet new people; the conference and AGM concludes with an update on the state of the industry and the BMF activities by Howard Pridding, the BMF President. 

For further information about the event and its location, visit the BMF SW website at www.bmfsouthwest.co.uk.   Registration is needed for any BMF member wishing to attend and can be completed online at http://www.amiando.com/BMFSW2013.html.