Ob Blog

I am Oliver Buckle, Marketing & Business Development Manager at Else Solicitors. I'm a proud dad. I love my girl, my boy & my dog – newfoundland's are the best. I am also a lifetime Manchester United supporter. My blog gives readers a behind-the-scenes insight into legal marketing (and football and fluffy pooches)

[oliverbuckle]

How To Get People To An Event: Breaking The Phoenix Lunch Club Record

The Phoenix Lunch Club is a long standing business networking event in Birmingham that has been around for more than 20 years.

Businesses take turns in hosting it and there is an 18 month waiting list to do so. It is a bit of an enigma because it is just a delegate list and has no governing organisation or body.

It is also quite a boozy affair with no set format or agenda apart from the start time - noon. Very fun, very relaxed, but an excellent way to bring lots of businesses together. The normal attendance being around 60 to 80 guests.

I first heard about it when I joined Else, and I was very excited. I instantly put our name on the waiting list.

As soon as I signed up I knew I wanted our Phoenix to be the best ever. I wanted to get a record number of guests and put the Phoenix back on the map as the most prestigious networking event in Birmingham.

I wanted to extend Else's network to show people the kind of event that we can pull off. I also wanted to help the firm's new staff members to build their networks.

18 months later we managed to encourage more than 140 people to attend - breaking the Phoenix Lunch Club attendance record. We were turning people away because the restaurant had reached capacity.

I think we achieved all of these aims. We gave our guests an experience and hopefully put them in front of some potentially key clients. They will want to continue coming to other Phoenix events and other Else events.

I think one of the important aspects in making this event successful was the venue – Pushkar, Indian fine-dining restaurant on Broad Street, Birmingham city centre. It has justly won more awards than I can remember! Pushkar is a shining beacon, an example of how to run an indian restaurant.

Rai Singh, the owner, knows the importance of putting on a big event and bringing lots of business people to his restaurant. I know him personally and he is a good guy. And he put on a private lunch for me and Sheila Kelly-Trow from Gem Media and I could tell he was passionate about his events. He takes care of all the little details like table cloths at right angles and fresh produce etc.

He has a sixth sense for empty glasses too. Our guests were never without a prosecco cocktail, craft beer, or vintage wine – whatever was needed was available because of Rai's planning and knack for hosting.

Pushkar had the right ambience, the food, and the atmosphere we needed. Our Phoenix Lunch would not have been what it was without it.

Another thing that helped us break the record is our networking history. The Phoenix has a very healthy database and when that was coupled with our own and referrals from our usual attendees it made for a considerable list of invitees.

We made sure that the invitations were clear and listed all the benefits. These formal invitations and recommendations from our partners were also supported by a strong social media campaign, which helped create a buzz online.

Talking of partners, Shelia plays a vital role in all of our networking events. Gem are the official media partners of our Birmingham Professional Network and she draws in a lot of our attendees through her natural ability to connect with people. She gives them a legitimate business reason why they should attend an event and introduces them to the right people when they do attend.

Her best quality is her warm, welcoming, genuine nature. She was looking after all our guests at the Phoenix and we didn't even ask her to. What she doesn't know about networking in Birmingham is not worth knowing.

Moving forward, there are a few details that I would change to make our next Phoenix Lunch even better.

I think we will need to provide the same value in terms of quality of food and level of hospitality. However, I think I would like to increase the level of interactivity and make sure that every guest was able to have conversations with the professionals they set-out to meet. I still want this to be done in an informal way but I want to make sure this happens.

I would also like to have an inspiring industry speaker at the next event. Someone that is a shining example in the city that will inspire the guests.

If you would like to find out about Else's future events please visit www.elselaw.co.uk.

[oliverbuckle]

Talking About The Build Big Network In Business Desk West Midlands

I have recently had an article published in Business Desk West Midlands about Else Solicitors's first sector-specific networking event in Birmingham, Build Big.

Build Big is a networking event for Else's construction and commercial property clients in Birmingham.

In the article I explain the reasoning behind the event, the venue choices, and Else's expertise in both construction and commercial property law.

To read the full article please click here.

[oliverbuckle]

How To Choose A Successful Networking Venue. Relocating To St George's Park.

I was looking for new venue to inspire and re-engage with the Burton business community to bring in new and existing contacts to the Else’s Professional Network, which we've hosted alongside Burton Chamber Of Commerce for around ten years.

What better venue to use than the much talked about St George’s Park – home to the FA and the England football teams.

As well as the usual drinks and lunch, we offered attendees the opportunity to tour St George’s Park and see first-hand the world-class expertise, facilities and technology normally reserved for those in elite sport. They were shown the state-of-the-art hydrotherapy suite, strength and conditioning gym, human performance lab, rehabilitation gym, the iconic indoor 3G pitch and the Wembley Replica.

I feel that offering something out-of-the-ordinary will always provoke curiosity and encourage people that dislike traditional networking events to participate.

With excellent facilities that many of the public have yet to visit, St George's Park (and the dinner at adjacent Hilton hotel) sparked peoples' interests because it represents new investment, big brands, and national sport in a local location.

Marketing the event was an instant success. All the tickets were sold out within two weeks of our advertising launch and we recorded our largest attendance at the Burton Professional Network to date.

I have to be honest, the idea to host the Professional Network at St George’s Park ironically came about through networking. Rachel Emery from Perform, the official healthcare provider at St George's Park, attended one of our Professional Networks and we got talking.

Over lunch I asked Rachel that one essential question that everyone should have in their networking armoury, “What can I do to help you?”. Rachel said one of her primary objectives was to get more professionals and businesses to visit Perform at St George’s Park, promoting their facilities and getting the message across that it is very much open for business to the public and professional community.

Rachel and I worked together to arrange the tour of the facilities and with lunch being served at Hilton also on site this proved be the perfect backdrop for a stellar event.

Find me on twitter @ojbuckle, LinkedIn or email [email protected]

[oliverbuckle]

Muggins - as depicted on the Meet The Team page on the Else website.

[oliverbuckle]

The First Ob Blog Post – Why Write A Blog?

I joined Else Solicitors in July 2012 as a Marketing Manager from purely a hospitality background. Having embraced the challenge to work in the legal sector, I am now responsible for creating, co-ordinating, and monitoring all marketing activities at Else. I also focus on business development, constantly helping to grow the firm by building upon strong relationships and identifying new opportunities.

I decided to write a blog because I wanted to share my thoughts and reasoning behind my ideas and activities that I perform in my role at Else and to what success they achieve. Hopefully, the challenges, experience and knowledge I share can help others in similar roles.

Writing a blog was recommended to me as a way of creating my own PR machine that can enhance the projects and activities that I am working on and help the firm’s activities to gaining greater awareness and popularity.

I believe the process of writing a blog will help me become a better writer, an area I have identified for personal development. Communication is an extensive part of my role; how to communicate, type of language used, what stimulates our clients – I hope to learn and develop from my customers and peers through comments and feedback to ensure our marketing activities are current, appealing and valued.

Blogs are a great way to reflect on your past and improve the future. By documenting my thoughts in sequence, like a sort of journal or notebook, I will be able to look back and reflect on how my ideas and opinions evolve over time.

I feel blog writing is yet another way to reach out and meet new people further extend my own and the firm’s network of trusted advisers, customers and contacts. This will inevitably provide me with an opportunity and platform to recommend good products or services that I have experienced that can help others in their personal and business lives.