Almost 100% of business owners give free networking events the thumbs-up

3 November 2010

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Business owners have given a resounding thumbs-up to a series of free networking events held by a not-for-profit support organisation for smaller firms.

An overwhelming 98% of attendees said they were either ‘satisfied' (54%) or ‘very satisfied' (44%) with the regional breakfast events held by the Forum of Private Business.

Just 2% said they were ‘dissatisfied' with the events, which include expert advice on web design and search engine optimisation (SEO), and absolutely no attendees said they were ‘very dissatisfied'.

Additional statistics showed that networking was the top reason for attending the events among business owners (49%), closely followed by finding out more about SEO and web design (45%). The third most popular reason for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attending was to find out more about the Forum itself (25%).

Meanwhile, internet marketing emerged as the most popular choice when attendees were asked: ‘What are you interested in finding out more about?', finding favour with 44% of those surveyed. General marketing was the second most popular choice, on 39%, followed by web design and maintenance, on 36%.

Strategic business development was selected by 16% of those surveyed, followed by reducing key business costs (15%) and, at 13%, advice on regulatory compliance.

The Forum's research manager, Thomas Parry, said: "These figures show that a lot of SME owner-managers appreciate the importance of web design and SEO and are keen to find out how best to move with the times and market themselves online.

"However, the small business owners who attended our events also appear to be concentrating on the broader issues of marketing and business development. This indicates that a lot of smaller firms are determined to come out fighting and boost their companies' fortunes any way they can – it's testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of Britain's SMEs."

More than 300 business owners were surveyed by the Forum at the five events which have taken place so far.

Smaller firms can still take advantage of the Forum's three remaining events, which are all free to attend and will also feature seminars on web design and SEO, provided by experts from Forum partner organisation Creare.

The next one, aimed at SMEs in the East Midlands, takes place at Leicester's Ramada Jarvis Hotel tomorrow (Thursday, November 4), followed by an event for the Eastern Region at the Double Tree Hilton in Cambridge on Tuesday, November 30.

Finally, an event for business owners in Scotland is being held on Tuesday, December 7 at the George Hotel, Edinburgh.

All the events are completely free of charge, start at 8am and will run until approximately 10am.

Business owners should go to the ‘events' section on the Forum's website – www.fpb.org – to register or find out more.

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