St Andrews Principal heads speakers for 2017-18 season of changes at St Andrews Business Club

Professor Sally Mapstone, Principal of the University of St Andrews, heads the list of speakers for a 2017-18 season full of changes being announced by St Andrews Business Club.

People doing business in North-East Fife are being invited to join club members and their guests at most events, including on March 7 next year when Professor Mapstone will give the keynote speech at the ‘Inspiring Women’ event on the eve of International Women’s Day 2018.

The club is also revealing a number of changes in its events and their content designed to help it refocus on its founding purpose – to be the place in North-East Fife to meet and learn for business as well as promote the local economy.

Learning event topics have been chosen to provide essential information on key business issues which attendees can use straight away. They include latest changes in social media (September 20), personal productivity and leadership (October 25), surviving Brexit (November 8), the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (November 22 joint event with Fife Women in Business), Making Tax Digital (January 10), the business environment in North-East Fife in 2018 (January 24), marketing messaging (February 14) and Modern Apprenticeships (February 28).

Attendees will gain inspiration as well as career lessons and the chance to question the speakers at the club’s ‘Inspiring Women’ event and the University of St Andrews Enterprise Week Keynote Event on October 11 which the club is contributing to in partnership with the student committee. There entrepreneurs will join Alan Mahon, co-founder of craft beer social enterprise Brewgooder, in sharing their experiences and advice with students and business people.

To aid the networking part of its mission, the club is opening most events to non-members and adding informal facilitated networking lunches to its schedule on top of the networking time included in every event since last year. The first networking lunch will be held on March 28.

Members and their guests will also enjoy networking as part of exclusive tours of two local five-star hotels – the new Kinnettles Hotel on September 6 and The Old Course Hotel on December 6 – as well as at a barbecue on June 27.

Event format innovations this year include extending the season into May and June, holding a Pecha Kucha-style event on May 9 - where members will be drawn at random to present 20 slides of 20 seconds each on a topic of interest to all - and moving the daytime events from breakfast to lunchtime during the winter months – so no-one has to get up in the cold and dark to attend.

The club is also introducing a new corporate membership option and a range of new benefits for both companies and individuals.

Details of the full season’s dates, topics, speakers and how to join the club are on its website at www.standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk