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TeamTalkEmpolyer/UnionRelationships

TechnologyForbusinessWemeetTechHaze.com’steamandtheybringus3greatarticles.

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TEAMTALKTEAMTALKTEAM TALKWhat is a union?Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unionA trade union (or labour union) is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working con-ditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labour contracts (Collective bargaining) with em-ployers. This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. The agreements negotiated by the union leaders are binding on the rank and file members and the employer and in some cases on other non-member workers.

Originating in Europe, Labour unions became pop-ular in many countries during the Industrial Revo-lution, when the lack of skill necessary to perform the jobs shifted employment bargaining power al-most completely to the employers’ side, causing many workers to be mistreated and underpaid. This gave rise to the concepts of Marxism and Communism.[1]

Trade union organizations may be comprised of individual workers, professionals, past workers, or the unemployed. The most common, but by no means only, purpose of these organizations is “maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment”.[2]

Over the last three hundred years, many trade unions have developed into a number of forms, influenced by differing political and economic re-gimes. The immediate objectives and activities of

trade unions vary, but may include:

Provision of benefits to members: Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provid-ed a range of benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral ex-penses. In many developed countries, these func-tions have been assumed by the state; however, the provision of professional training, legal advice and representation for members is still an impor-tant benefit of trade union membership.

Collective bargaining: Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognized by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions.

Industrial action: Trade unions may enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals.

Political activity: Trade unions may pro-mote legislation favourable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or fi-nancially support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labour Party in Britain) for public of-fice.

All in all, a union is a good thing. It was previ-ous harsh dictator types that forced the formations of the unions as early as the 1800’s. The Unions formed to protect the workforce from bullish behav-iour. Over time the unions became very powerful and the balanced tipped in their favour relating to workforce democracy. This wasn’t to last. When Thatcher was elected as PM she made a couple

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TEAMTALKTEAM TALKtrade unions vary, but may include:

Provision of benefits to members: Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provid-ed a range of benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral ex-penses. In many developed countries, these func-tions have been assumed by the state; however, the provision of professional training, legal advice and representation for members is still an impor-tant benefit of trade union membership.

Collective bargaining: Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognized by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions.

Industrial action: Trade unions may enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals.

Political activity: Trade unions may pro-mote legislation favourable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or fi-nancially support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labour Party in Britain) for public of-fice.

All in all, a union is a good thing. It was previ-ous harsh dictator types that forced the formations of the unions as early as the 1800’s. The Unions formed to protect the workforce from bullish behav-iour. Over time the unions became very powerful and the balanced tipped in their favour relating to workforce democracy. This wasn’t to last. When Thatcher was elected as PM she made a couple

of changes that put the power back into the hands of the employers who where obviously p**sed off with the unions and wanted revenge. They made sure that they took full advantage of their new found power and tipped the scales back the other way. For many years there was no balance be-tween employers and employees and the battles continued until the law eventually caught up and the legal system was able to help employees as it gave them rights and a sure and understandable structure was in place for employers to follow.

Union/Employer relationships don’t seem such a bad thing. Both if I’m not mistaken are working together to get the best for the employees. The relationship is to help the employees understand their rights and help the employers make the right management decision without potentially damag-ing the moral of the employees and upsetting the workforce.

Now, to me this seems to be a bit of a no brainer, to have a format in which to co-operate effectively with the workforce in a formal and professional manner without having to worry about upsetting the boundaries is a very good thing. In fact it takes away a little bit of pressure from both the employ-ers and the employees as there is a mutual com-mon ground for resolution and to take the business forward together. Everything is “hunky dory”…

Errmmm… No it isn’t. What seems to be the case is employees see an employer as a pot hole in the pavement that they are working out a way to trip over it and cause minimum damage to themselves but get the maximum reward for their misfortune. In this case the Union is the solicitor.

That’s probably not completely accurate either. Well especially for the larger organisations such as the recent strike action threats from British Airways employees and the recent action from the Royal Mail employees.

From one angle it looks as though the union lead-ers instigate the strikes and cause the problems. After all it’s not like the employees are on bad wag-es. In most cases they are paid more than most others in the same position or at least have greater benefits and their jobs would be more secure due to the market share their employer has. It seems that in these cases it is the union digging the pot holes and telling people how much they can get for tripping over.

Ok, this a bit harsh, after all they want the best money and working environments for their mem-bers, but it has to be said that it seems a little ir-responsible to take such action in such a financial climate when most would be grateful to even have a job at all never mind being well paid for doing it. Maybe this is a prime example of how the media will twist a story to get people talking about it and generating biased opinions and confrontation from both sides.

It’s not just the employers who are tied down by regulation. The unions are too. Because of the Employment Relations Act 2004 (revised from 1999) the law has made sure that both parties must follow a certain set of processes. Before any strike action takes place a ballot must take place and fall in favour of those who wish to strike versus those opposed.

Should the negotiations fail to produce a mutually beneficial outcome the union can still decide to strike. As an employee in this situation your hands are tied firmly behind your back and you are almost forced into submission. Is this not the unions bul-lying the employer? After all the “attack” would be

pre-meditated. The union and its members would work out what they want and what leverage they have to give them the best possible outcome.

Do the union and its members look at the bigger picture? My guess is not. It doesn’t take a ge-nius to understand that a strike will almost cripple a business. The key areas to effect would be the services they provide to the clients. But what does not seem to be taken into consideration is the knock on effect of this action. Stopping services to the clients means that they will shop around for another supplier therefore making the cash flow more restricted than before, risking more jobs, and making more cut backs. If this was the initial rea-son for the strike, why does the union think that the company will just pull a couple if not, a couple of hundred million pounds out of its back pocket?

To me, a strike is not in the best interest of the com-pany and it certainly doesn’t help protect your job. In my eyes you are less of a team player, less co-operative and more resistant to the ever increasing amount of change. If you where/are one of these people (member of a union or not) in plain black & white you’re not employable in today’s society.

If you continue to act this way as a person or union you will bring the employer to it’s knees. Not in the good way either. You will force the company to shut up shop due to the potential of increasing debts. You will be left without a job and will be seen as one of those people that where involved in the contamination of a company.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for positive employ-ment and rewards, pay rises and all related happy stuff but it’s sometimes the case that you have to go backwards in order to go forwards and that is the same for employees too.

The past 5 paragraphs or so have been a bit of a rant, mainly on the situation the Royal Mail and

CraigBrake

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pre-meditated. The union and its members would work out what they want and what leverage they have to give them the best possible outcome.

Do the union and its members look at the bigger picture? My guess is not. It doesn’t take a ge-nius to understand that a strike will almost cripple a business. The key areas to effect would be the services they provide to the clients. But what does not seem to be taken into consideration is the knock on effect of this action. Stopping services to the clients means that they will shop around for another supplier therefore making the cash flow more restricted than before, risking more jobs, and making more cut backs. If this was the initial rea-son for the strike, why does the union think that the company will just pull a couple if not, a couple of hundred million pounds out of its back pocket?

To me, a strike is not in the best interest of the com-pany and it certainly doesn’t help protect your job. In my eyes you are less of a team player, less co-operative and more resistant to the ever increasing amount of change. If you where/are one of these people (member of a union or not) in plain black & white you’re not employable in today’s society.

If you continue to act this way as a person or union you will bring the employer to it’s knees. Not in the good way either. You will force the company to shut up shop due to the potential of increasing debts. You will be left without a job and will be seen as one of those people that where involved in the contamination of a company.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for positive employ-ment and rewards, pay rises and all related happy stuff but it’s sometimes the case that you have to go backwards in order to go forwards and that is the same for employees too.

The past 5 paragraphs or so have been a bit of a rant, mainly on the situation the Royal Mail and

British Airways are going through. As I said ear-lier, not all unions and employers have this kind of breakdown in communication.Maybe if we had Ali G facilitate the meeting and provide some of his herbal tea, everyone would get along nicely and have a bit of a party after some pleasant discussions.

Apart from Ali G and his herbal remedies, other alternatives to companies could be more realistic and have a much greater effect and develop rela-tionships much further than any union could ever imagine. Here are a few ideas:

• Allow time for employee focus groups to meet and discuss in house how to improve the working standards.

• Provide these focus groups with access to heads of departments so that their questions and concerns can be addressed immediately.

• Be completely honest with your employ-ees. This could mean you provided them with the financial records (i.e. profit & loss, forecasts etc…) and set clear targets for company achievements. By turning to your workforce for suggestions they will feel important and can offer some great sug-gestions to try and make things better. This can be anything from working an extra half hour for free to going part time or even voluntary redundancy.

You never know what resources you have in house until you try them out. My suggestion is no matter how big or small your organisation is get to know everyone and what they like. It’s called bonding. That includes you dinosaurs of the business com-munity too.

TECHNOLOGYforBUSINESS

Welcome to this ever changing and growing section of Your Business eZine. Once again technology for business is on

the rise and to keep up we have drafted in some of the best people from around the world to keep you (the business commu-nity) up to date and completely in the know.

On my travels (in twitterverse), I came across TechHaze.com which much to my suprise i found out is brand new. After a quick email to the technology blog i had a prompt responce from Florian Wardell, Founder of TechHaze.com. Enthusiasm from both Florian and myself started to grow as we discussed sharing these great stories and reviews with our business com-munities.

I would like to formally introduce the TechHaze .com team...

Florian Wardell is the founder and editor of TechHaze. Born in Austria to a French mother and British father, he always had a taste for long trips and unknown destina-tions. At the age of 13, he was fortunate enough to skip a whole year of school and to travel all around Asia. He has visited places like Tibet, Pakistan and Myanmar and lived in Italy, France, Austria and Cambodia, where he met Raimondo and Calixte Pictet, Red Lebrun and Timothee Salze Lozac’h who are now part of the Tech-Haze team.

Now, Florian studies at the Insitut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris. During his free time, he writes for TechHaze, roams the internet, designs websites and takes pictures. He used to be a hardcore PC user, but a year ago, light shone upon him: he switched to Mac after giving a shot at Linux. You can visit his personal photography website or contact him at florianwardell@techhaze.com

Native of Seoul, South Korea, Steve Kim has lived in New York for 10 years and graduated from Phillips Andover. He founded his first business at age 16 and created two new Internet ventures upon graduation. He is interested mostly in RIA, Adobe Flex, and SaaS. Holder of several communica-tion and UX-related patents, Steve is

now concentrating his efforts to go into the field of intel-lectual property aggregation. He is currently an under-graduate student at the Insitut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris and wil cover the business section of TechHaze.com. Please feel free to write to him atstevekim@techhaze.com

Mariano Calixte Pictet was born in a barbaric land in Western Europe but grew up in Africa and Asia. He had to leave civilisation less than a year ago for his studies, and is still regret-ting it (appart for his bandwidth, he loves that). He’s a constantly irri-tated fan of falling-edge* technology,

because using an application for more than a month is boring. He’s ideologically pro-freedom (i.e. open-source), but likes to consider himself open-minded as he does not always believe in the viability of an open model. He’s also pro- everything that’s supposed to be ideologically cool (love, anarchism, democracy, ecol-ogy, open source, pink elephants, and people rubbing his back). He uses mainly open-source software be-cause he’s a cheapskate and because he’s lazy (apt-get is his God) but he gets frustrated from time to time and secretly daydreams of switching to Mac. Calixte has used several Operating Systems as he grew up (Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux and others). He hates any interface that exists by principle, loves configuring them to his needs and tastes and firmly believes that the less they are configurable, the better. Calixte is the contributing editor of TechHaze, you can drop him a line at calixt-epictet@techhaze.com

French, Swiss and somewhat Italian, Raimondo Pictet lived in Burkina Faso and Cambodia for about twelve years, before moving to Switzerland to study mechanical engi-neering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Laus-anne (EPFL). He’s passionate about machines that glide, machines that lazily hang around in total

emptiness, and machines that do other cool and use-less stuff. He loves playing drums. Raimondo has very strong opinions, and is always eager to have an intense debate on what makes space exploration essential to human survival or what defines quality in music. Rai-mondo will write about aeropace engineering and other really complicated things. You can contact him at raimondopictet@techhaze.com

Red Lebrun is an a r t / t e c h n o l o g y enthusiast. Fasci-nated by the thin line that separates technology from culture, he often seeks to challenge society’s pre-con-ception that tech-nology belongs only in comput-ers, though it has been shaping the way we live our lives for decades. Most often this is

subtle, like cities being structured around roads, but he is always on the hunt for the next eccentric clash of the digital realm with our analog lives. Red currently lives in Singapore where he studies at the Lasalle College of Arts. Feel free to ask him questions at redlebrun@techhaze.com

“Innovative Converged Devices (ICD), a world class design and engineering company in the mobile and computing industry, today unveiled Vega, their first in a future line of Android products of low priced, full featured High Definition entertainment and information devices that feature 3G connectivity, a Tegra processor, full streaming media, and a touch interface. [There will be] 7-inch, 11-inch and 15-inch devices.”

Ok, that’s just some yada yada for bloggers who will repeat it in their own words (notice I haven’t). To know the truth, just look at the image.

Innovative Converged Devices (gotta have a simple name!) already does two products. An “innovative photo-frame” (way cool) that automatically streams pictures from Windows Vista and a Windows Mobile phone. Interestingly their next device will be based on android instead. ICD announced this sleek tablet (do it fast before Apple unleashes their tablet and we’re all crushed death by sheer marketing power). There will be an “emphasis on ease-of-use and sleek and attractive design”. Just like everybody else, right? Well, we don’t know about the ease of use yet, but you might want to check the design.

It will be low-cost, but nobody outside the company has any idea of what that could mean. For the more techni-cally inclined, here’s what you would find if you’d try to disassemble it (please don’t ruin it, it looks sleek how it is).

The list is copied from the website. As only the 15 inch device is detailed, I’m guessing that the 7 and 11 inch devices will have less horse-power, ram, etc.

- Android 2.0 Eclair- 373mm x 254mm x 16mm- 15.6″ Touchscreen- NVIDIA Tegra- 512 DDR / 512 NAND- 1.3 MP Web Cam- Micro SD- Bluetooth 2.1- Wireless 802.11 b/g- USB 2.0- 2g/3g Data- Cellular- 3.5mm Audio Jack- Magnetic Docking- Tablet/Dock Charging- Accelerometer- Ambient light sensor- Dual digital microphones

The magnetic docking seems pretty neat. They also precise that it will have 262,000 colors (6 bit). Not ex-ceptional, but why not. Notice that the processor is built by NVIDIA. It seems like a smart move to me, but leaves me doubting on the actual use of the tablet. A muscular photo-frame with bad colors and a few apps would probably not shake the industry. I’m hesitating: is the Vega doing too much, or too little. Or maybe I’m just too skeptic. We’ll have to wait until next year.

It seems like a big move for a company making picture frames and mobiles. Do you think it will catch?Oh! and I forgot to mention it’s “kitchen-friendly”!

By Calixte Pictetcalixtepictet@techhaze.com

www.Techhaze.comwww.convergeddevices.net

Last week, the world’s largest video sharing site, YouTube, has launched a new ser-vice, named YouTube Direct . Through this latest offering from the Silicon Valley firm,

conglomerates in journalism will be able to use YouTube’s open API and other public source codes to implement tailored video sharing platforms on their own websites, allowing freelancers, civilian reporters, and amateur video journalists to upload their videos directly to some of the most prominent newspaper sites. This concept is different from the conventional method of uploading videos to You-Tube, as professional editors of various news re-porting firms hold the right to review and screen videos transmitted to them by amateur reporters of all kinds. In other words, the public now has an opportunity to share their stories through notorious organizations, such as The Washington Post, ABC News, and the American NPR. For these news gi-ants, the upside lies in the fact that they are now able to plant YouTube’s stable video sharing plat-forms directly within their online presence without dipping into the negative zone for budget. Consid-ering that many of them are experiencing deficits, YouTube Direct might garner some enthusiastic media supporters.

YouTube believes that this service will pave the path for a new era of civilian journalism, while be-stowing organizations the possibility of publishing firsthand, realtime video reports from various parts of the world – including those hit by abrupt natu-ral disasters or wars – without having to dispatch their own professional reporters to the spot. You-

Tube thus proclaims that their newest offering will prompt maturity of civilian journalism. Fortunately for the news organizations, YouTube Direct’s of-ficial page already provides API that will bring the concept into action, as well as a detailed guide-book that will help the firms customize, plant, and exploit the video sharing platform – even in a per-sonalized widget form.

As of today – in addition to those previously men-tioned – various other firms, like The Huffington Post, which is already perceived as a leader in ci-vilian and blog journalism, San Francisco Chron-icle, and a Boston-based broadcasting company, WHDH-TV, are expanding their interaction with the public by using YouTube Direct. The Huffing-ton Post, for instance, is currently holding a vid-eo contest, through which it will select a civilian journalist to be sent to the UN Climate Change Conference, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark between December 7 and 18, 2009. This contest is coordinated in conjunction with a nonprofit orga-nization, called Hopenhagen (www.hopenhagen.org), to choose 10 finalists from a pool of public journalists, civilians, and bloggers, who will submit their own videos using the platform offered by You-Tube Direct. Among these 10, one winner will be selected earlier next month, named Hopenhagen Ambassador, and dispatched to the UN Confer-ence in Denmark. This Hopenhagen Ambassador will carry on an active role as a civilian journalist, interviewing politicians from 192 member states, social activists, and environmentalists, as well as reporting behind-the-scene footages of the con-

ference. The stories and videos submitted by the winner will be directly published on the Huffington Post website and YouTube.

Another renowned media, the American National Public Radio, is also holding a contest called The WONDERSCOPE: Sciency Stuff Through Your Eyes. Readers of the NPR will be able to upload a short video, ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, by December 17, 2009, and the winner selected by a panel of professional editors will see his or her video introduced on the homepage of the NPR site. The general topic for this contest is time, and readers can submit videos about any relevant curi-osities, like “Why does it feel like time flies quicker as we get older?” or “Can time be scientifically measured?” Again, the contest is made possible by YouTube Direct, and the awarded video will be published both on NPR and YouTube, simultane-ously. Besides from these rather serious competi-tions, The San Francisco Chronicle is encouraging its readers to upload videos of local festivals and street performances to portray the Thanksgiving season in the States. ABC News is also receiving videos through YouTube Direct platform to publish Thanksgiving messages from its public viewers.

The New York Times recently analyzed that You-Tube Direct will become a strong threat to CNN’s iReport (www.ireport.com), which also allows ama-teurs to freely upload videos to the site. The Re-uters also claimed that YouTube Direct will serve as a catalyst to the expansion of news organiza-tions’ interaction with the public, as the firms can now implement a reliable video sharing platform at no extra cost and receive reports and commu-nications submitted by civilians. While the service was launched with the active use of several news reporting behemoths, YouTube Direct may also be utilized widely in the private commercial sector. For one, companies can plant YouTube Direct into their corporate sites and blogs to promote their newest

products or services by holding various marketing activities based on free video submission and pub-lishing. As an extension of that thought, one can also imagine potential exploitation by nonprofit or-ganizations, politicians, and even government of-fices to plant the YouTube platform within their own web domain to increase interaction with the public.It all seems brilliant, but there may also be some critical aspects of this new service. For example, by pulling media and news corporations onto their sides, YouTube is now actually capable of col-lecting their upcoming contents for free. If this is seen as an unequal capitalization on the part of YouTube, it certainly will not bode well for its par-ent company, Google, who has already created a deep gorge of conflicts with some prominent me-dia firms by gathering and amassing their contents at no cost – all for the sake of its content search objectives. And as for professional journalists hired by the firms, they cannot rest at ease at the sight of this emergence of YouTube Direct, as it creates a whole new array of possibilities for civilian journal-ists and amateur reporters to gain more authority. If the freelancers and their reports become more attractive in the future, all the penny-saving news media corporations will surely prefer the public over their salary-seeking professionals.

Even at this moment, the boundaries between journalism and public and distinctions between professionals and amateurs are crumbling down all thanks to YouTube Direct. But, be careful: Google’s intents, as exemplified by this rather sneaky backdoor entrance into journalism under the sweet guise of free platform renting offer, may not be so innocent and generous in the long run.

By Steve kimstevekim@techhaze.com

www.TechHaze.com

Exclusive Interview With Jóhann Þorvaldur

Welcome to our first ever TechHaze in-terview, the first of many. Stay tuned, because we have much more coming up!

The 50 million of us lucky enough to have iPhones spend a good deal of time playing games on them, especially when two iPhoners meet where there is wireless internet. Whether or not we look silly is not a question worth answering, where these games come from, however, is. We interviewed a slightly geeky 22 year old Icelander named Jóhann Þorvaldur who recently joined the world of iPhone game creators and asked him about his creative process and what software was essential to it.

So Jóhann, who are you and how did you get into making iPhone computer games?I am a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That’s the kind of man I am. I also have a B.Sc in Mathematics from The University of Iceland and felt so exhaust-ed that I decided to try to do something ridiculously creative. So I founded the game development stu-dio Dexoris, that currently focuses on iPhone and iPod touch games. We have released two titles to critical acclaim: the harrowing sheep herding ad-

venture of Peter und Vlad and Audio Puzzle, the game that reinvents the jigsaw puzzle and allows you to rediscover your music collection through engaging game-play.

How do you get your ideas?Before I started working on games I hadn’t realized that the easiest part of the whole game creation process is getting an idea. We were obviously look-ing for the next big thing, so I started writing down every idea I got; every dream that I remembered and every mundane thing that I felt might be inter-esting. My mantra was that every little thing was potentially important and as a result I got most of my ideas sitting in a bus on my way to work. There is an very interesting palette of people who accom-pany you for a short time every day and they just get my creative juices flowing.

This idea process quickly filled up a small notebook and I discovered that the really difficult thing about ideas is the part where you sift through the sprawl-ing ideas and try to spot the great ones amongst the ordinary ones. I think that everyone gets a lot of interesting ideas but it takes a lot of skill and practice to recognize the good ones. My current rule of thumb is that if it is hard to explain your idea then you should probably think harder.

How many people work together?When we were developing Peter und Vlad, we had a team of 5; two programmers, a graphic design-er and two marketing experts that also served as game designers. In a small company like Dexoris, you quickly realize that it is necessary for everyone to be able to change roles, – we talk about wear-ing a lot of different hats – so while I am mostly in charge of game design and programming, I’m also responsible for the music and sound effects, script writing, the marketing material and even editing the promotional videos. I have therefore become quite the juggler as I juggle these different roles from day to day.

What technology / software do you use?We decided to focus on the rapidly growing iPhone platform so we obviously had to use Apple comput-ers and software. When we started out we shame-lessly acknowledged the fact that although we had good experience in software engineering, market-ing and design, we didn’t know anything about the creation of computer games. We therefore decided to start by choosing the right tools that would allow us to bypass most of the solved problems, such as how to draw an image on the screen or play a sound file, and allow us to focus on the things that made our game special. After a brief search we found Cocos2D, an excellent framework for creating 2D games for the iPhone and iPod touch, that served as a thin layer that encapsulated all the stuff that we didn’t need to learn yet.

Peter und Vlad took approximately 3 months to develop and market and we couldn’t have done it so quickly without the use of Cocos2D, as then I would have had to reinvent the wheel over and over again, and I simply like the wheel as I discov-ered it in the prehistoric era.

Is making computer games difficult?Studying mathematics is really difficult so I thought that I was prepared for anything, but the process of creating games still took me by surprise as it is genuinely difficult! There are so many layers of

expertise needed to succeed and the level of com-plexity grows very quickly. It is, however, a very giving and enjoyable process as it allows you to put to use much of the seemingly useless stuff you learned in college/university.

Is there a major difference between your two games? What is new about your game?Although our games have some things in common, for example a high level of polish and instant play-ability, they are quite different beasts as they origi-nate from two different design principles. In Peter und Vlad, we wanted to create a small, narrative heavy, arcade game that would allow us to get a feel for the whole process of creating games; from a simple idea to the complex implementation that involves the creation of an artificial intelligence, composition of music, level design and play test-ing.

With Audio Puzzle we had a more focused goal as we wanted to create a game that turned your music collection into game-play; i.e. allowed you to experience familiar music in a new and excit-ing way. So we created Audio Puzzle, the world’s first musical jigsaw puzzle! Instead of using boring panoramas to create the jigsaw puzzle, the game uses the tracks from your iPod library and there-fore allows you to rediscover your music.

Are you planning to make real video-games later?What is a real videogame? One that has a budget of millions of dollars? One that is created by a team of 60? There are approximately 50 million iPhone and iPod touch users in the world. This is a market of approximately the same size as the Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3 market but has the advantage of requiring no distribution costs and the user can immediately reach our product. I would say that a game developed for the iPhone is just as real as a game developed for the XBox or PC. This is just a question of scope and focus. We surely intend to grow and create more games, and as we grow and learn, we’ll be able to expand our scope and at-tempt to execute more ambitious ideas. Currently we are proud of creating small games that achieve their goal of providing short burst of entertainment to your phone.

A big thank you to Jóhann Þorvaldur for finding some time to answer these questions!

Kamma Thordarsonkammathordarson@TechHaze.com

www.TechHaze.com

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Thissectionofthemagazineisforyou,thelocalbusinesspeopleofMerseyside. It isa platform for you to voice your opinionaboutanythingyoufeelyouneedtosay.

If you’reparticularly not happywith something,maybe it’s somethingholdingyouback, then letusknow,wemayevenbeabletohelp.Also,ifyouare particularly happy with something or some-one,tellusaboutithere.Wearenotanewspa-perandwedon’tneedtopushdoomandgloomtopushourreadership.Webelievethereisalotofpositivityaroundatthemomentandit’sgoodtosharethat.Sowearehappytoprintgenuinetesti-monialsforpeople,(notablatantadvertthough).HereatYourBusinessE-zinewealsobelievethatworking together makes us all stronger. Peoplewhomyoumayhave traditionally thought ofasyourcompetitorscanactuallybeyourgreatestal-lies.Ifyouneedsupportinacertainareaofyourbusiness,whynotletusknow,wecouldputyouintouchwiththerightpeopletofillyourparticulargaps.Maybeyouhaveaproposaloranideathatyoujustwanttoputoutthereandseewhatre-sponseyouget,thisistheplaceforyoutodothatto.Your Business E-Zine also believes that businessshould be fun. There is nothing wrong with en-joyingwhatwedoandevenourextracurricularactivities.With this inmindwehaveaproposalwewouldliketoputtoyou.Wewouldliketoor-ganizeaneventfornextsummer.Somethingfunthatwecanallgetinvolvedin.Mythoughtsaretorunasoapboxderby.Eachcompanybuildingthereownmachine, fully logo’dupof course, andwewouldget a suitable roadclosedoff somewhereinoraroundthecitycentre,buildabitofatrackandracedownit.Prizesforthewinnersofcourseandevenapodiumwithchampagnesprayingetc.Whatdoyouthink?Isitsomethingyouwouldgetinvolvedin,eithertakingpartorhelpingtoorga-nise?Letusknow,oranyalternativesuggestionsyoumayhave.Thepreviouseditionofthismagazinehadinex-cessof50,000views.Thatwasourlaunchedition,it’sonlygoingtoincreasefromthereandincreasesubstantially.Souseustoyourbestadvantageandhave your say, we will put your name and yourcompanynameafteryourpiece.Letmetellyou,theexposurewon’thurt.Welookforwardtoyourcomments.

Have Your Say & emailhaveyoursay@yourbusinessezine.com

HAVE YOUR S A Y

If social media can get Rage Against the Ma-chine to No.1, what can it do for your business?When Rage Against the Machine secured last year’s Christmas number one, it finally made people sit up and take notice of the power of social media. Businesses are now beginning to plan their 2010 marketing strategy with far more focus on social media.

Big brands used to spend millions on making big budget TV adverts as it was the only mar-keting strategy that provided big results, not anymore. Times have changed and we are now beginning to see these brands embrace social media.

This generation are far more interested in reading online reviews than fancy tag-lines; they want to see a YouTube video demonstrat-ing a product, not a famous celebrity just pos-ing with the item. Today, your customers want to find out for themselves how good your prod-uct is, what others think and whether it’s value for money.

Last year, there was an element of confusion surrounding social media, with people asking, “How will Twitter make me money?” In fact, so-cial media is a far cheaper marketing option than others and when used correctly, can be ten times more effective.

So this year, forget about blowing your budget and make 2010 the year you took advantage of the all the opportunities social media can offer your business.

Charlotte PenkethPH.Creative

www.ph-creative.com

Looking Forward to 2010As I look back through the events of 2009, I realise how lucky I am to have survived the recession, both personally and professionally!It has been a real struggle for small businesses especially and what has been very apparent, is the strength of business support amongst the Merseyside community. Those of you who have worked very hard to create a presence for your business or rather a foundation that will stand the test of time will understand what I mean.

We ourselves have created a small business “family” and during the difficult times over 2009, a hand extended to get us through. Thanks to those involved, you know who you are!

Business support is a pretty vague statement, but I truly believe that it should include a com-bination of advice, guidance, creditability and most importantly respect for each other’s busi-ness attributes.

There are still some struggling out there within employment and business in this competitive market and my wish for them is a bright 2010!

Nancy SuttonCorrin Kenny

www.corrinkenny.com

haveyoursay@yourbusinessezine.com

What Makes A Good Password?We regularly come across systems with pass-words that could easily be cracked within a few minutes using readily available tools. Here are a few ideas as to how to avoid this. · Don’t use personal data like a name or any other information that someone could eas-ily discover about you from other sources

· Don’t choose a word (English or other-wise), proper name, a TV show

· Put a number at the start or end, write a word backwards or simply substitute a letter for a number

Ideally a password should be a minimum of 8 characters although longer passwords are recommended (Windows XP supports a maxi-mum of 127!)

Selecting a password …

· Have a mix of letters, numbers, punc-tuation marks and upper/ lower case

· Make up an easy to remember sentence, take the first letter of each word, add in the punctuation and substitute letters for numbers I like to play golf at the weekends. becomes I1tpgatW

· Take two random words, join them with a non alphabetic character or two and change a letter to a substitute letters for numbers July & Golf becomes Ju1y%G01f

· There are many other simple methods (try just searching passwords on Google for ideas)

How do I remember all these passwords ? Try Keepass (http://keepass.info) or Robo-Form (http://www.roboform.com). In addition to storing passwords Roboform also sits on your PC in the background and when you nav-igate to a web site with a UserID / Password entry box it will allow you to pre-fill the informa-tion with one click on the toolbar. It can also be used to complete those web forms with name & address details.

So stay safe and make sure you have secure passwords

Pam CasePC Support Group

www.pcsupportgroup.com

T I C K L E D P I N K

Wine is like football. There are dif-ferent levels of interest and in-volvement. Firstly you get your armchair viewer, who will have

the occasional kick about in the park. These are the most numerous of all the supporters and the wine equivalent would be someone who likes to watch the occasional foodie type programme on the telly and buy’s 3 bottles for a tenner from Asda. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s your thing you’re in popular company and if you enjoy it, it’s the cheapest way to en-joy wine. Then you get your Sunday league player, maybe even going to your favourite team’s matches. The wine equivalent of this would be someone who does a little reading on the subject, will go to specialist outlets to shop for their wine and can distinguish be-tween some of their favourites, possibly even having a favourite region for a particular grape as opposed to just the grape itself. Then you have your professional footballer. Someone paid to play the game whose skills and abil-ity goes to a whole new level. In wine terms this could be many people, from a grower to a critic, a retailer or a collector.

The problem is, just like football, there’s al-lot of crap talked about wine, at every level. So what’s good and what’s not and how do we know. Allow me to explain where I fit in my own categories. I like so many others am an armchair fan, with aspirations of becoming a Sunday leaguer. The thing is, I have recently come across some people who can help me on my way.

Tickled Pink Boxes is a corporate gifting com-pany whose speciality is very much wine. Not just any wine though, the wine they provide all comes exclusively from their partner compa-ny, Winehunters. Winehunters is owned and run by Alan Hunter, a French trained chef with qualifications from the wines and spirits edu-cation trust and over 35 years experience in the wine and food industry having worked with some of the top names from both. The wines they provide are all old world wines produced by small but very professional, not to mention passionate producers. They pride themselves on their originality and authenticity. Many of the estates are passed down from generation to generation and the locals are very protec-tive of each area within their region. Currently, many of the wines supplied by Winehunters come from the Languedoc region of southern France. This region has a history of more than 2000 years of wine production and is widely considered the worlds premier vineyard as well as considered the next ‘Grand Crus’ re-gion of France.

The wines supplied by Winehunters are what Alan calls real wine. That is they are not from an industrialised production system. In fact much of the wine Alan supplies simply can not be bought anywhere else in the UK, never mind on your local supermarket shelf. There are 2 reasons for this. The first is that many of the estates have very limited production and secondly, many of the producers have actually said that they would rather go out of business than see any of their wine on a supermarket shelf. In fact Alan told me of a story about one producer who had sold some of his wine to a dealer and a few weeks later found out from a friend that it was being sold at a small su-permarket some distance away. A few phone calls later and the wine was removed from the shelves the same day.

There are also some fantastic stories to tell about some of the producers in the region, which you usually only get when people are so passionate about a subject and one in particu-lar that Alan told me when we met was both heart warming and sad. I’ll let Alan explain it in his own words.“Alain Quenehen, frustrated with the pressures of working in the fashion business in Paris,

had a burning ambition to be a wine producer of note, despite being disabled from birth and confined to a wheelchair he was determined to fulfil this dream. One day, in the course of his work, fate took a hand in the guise of a crossed telephone connection.

Alain experienced an immediate rapport with the person at the other end of the line, Na-tacha Villiers, and over time they conversed regularly, developing a romantic relationship. They shared many interests, particularly their love of wine and a mutual strong desire to be-come owners of heir own vineyard. With the backing of 33 of their joint friends they suc-cessfully secured the purchase of Chateau Prieure Borde-Rouge in Corbieres and so be-gan a new journey of creation and discovery.

Alain always referred to Natacha as his ‘Angel’ and one of his top creations was named af-ter her, cuvee ‘Ange’. This wine was featured in a prestige wine trade tasting in Brussels in 2001 where 4,000 wines were tasted, 1300 were French and only 18 medals given. Cuvee Ange received the highest award, the Medai-lle d’Or Concours Mondial. Sadly Alain died in 2005 but his legacy lives on with his vineyard manager, Olivier Fouquet working with the new owners to continue with his passion and style.”Winehunters or Tickled Pink Boxes are the only places where you can now buy this wine in the UK and production is extremely limited. A rare gem indeed. So what’s the difference in buying for example a chardonnay from a mass producer to getting one from a small estate that produces ‘real wine’? Well think of it this way, Mc Donalds go to great lengths in order to maintain consisten-cy in their products. So theoretically, you can go into any Mc Donalds restaurant anywhere and get a Big Mac and it will be the same. You know before you walk through the door what it will be like and how it will taste. Now imagine going to a Michelin star restaurant and order-ing an Aberdeen Angus fillet steak. You would be able to ask the waiter where your steak came from, which will no doubt be a farm that takes that bit extra care of their cattle, rear-ing them in a natural an environment as pos-sible, they may even know the type of grazing the cattle had and it’s overall care during it’s

lifetime. When you order this steak you don’t know what it will look like, or even exactly how it will taste, although you would have high ex-pectations for both. Now both your Big Mac and your fillet steak are actually going to do the same thing; stop you being hungry and if that was your only goal, then you would most likely plumb for the cheaper Big Mac, but if your looking for something more, for something that you know is of better quality and when you eat it, an experience that you will savour, then per-haps you would choose the fillet steak. The difference in price from your burger to your fil-let steak may be 50 fold, but not so with your wine from Winehunters or Tickled Pink Boxes. They give you the best possible quality wines for the best possible price. So what you end up with is the best possible product for only a little more money than you would pay for an averagely priced supermarket wine.

Buying wine of this quality as a gift for some-one, whether it be a client, a colleague, or a loved one is always appreciated. With Tickled Pink Boxes you can choose from one of their standard arranged boxes, or you can speak to them and arrange something bespoke. All of the boxes also come with some very fine chocolates for your recipient to enjoy with their wine. Jill Clayton is in charge of sales in the north of England and she is more than happy to speak to you about your requirements. You can even include a gift that you have supplied in with the box, for example, and I don’t want to put ideas in your head here, but perhaps a dia-mond ring in a valentines day box for a loved one, or if your not that adventurous, or flush for that matter, how about tickets to a show. The point is, Jill is happy to work with you to make sure that whoever is on the receiving end of your gift, they will be Tickled Pink when it ar-rives.

www.tickledpinkboxes.net

AskTheExpert

Ask The Question

Your Business E-zine is looking for people who are experts in the fields of business and life coaching. We also seek a commercial solicitor and a tax accountant for Our “Ask The Expert” section of our online publication.

Our chosen resident experts will provide impartial advice on a subject of their choice, in their field, along with a short biography of their self and the company. It’s a great opportunity to put yourself in the heart of the business community, and to gain considerable exposure through brand awareness.

As a resident you will have the chance to meet our members at our quarterly meetings, and to answer their email queries. Along with our resident experts, we will be publishing a “Guest Expert” in each edition. If you don’t fit into our specific sectors, but feel you can offer sound advice in regards to business, then this may be for you, whatever your field!

Experts from our Liverpool publication have been used for this edition as a preview. Our guest expert is a PR company based in Manches-ter. If you would like to have the chance to become an expert for Manchester, just email your cover letter and background information of your company and a member of YBE will be in touch directly.

editor@yourbusinessezine.com

AskTheExpert

Ask The Question

Your Business E-zine is looking for people who are experts in the fields of business and life coaching. We also seek a commercial solicitor and a tax accountant for Our “Ask The Expert” section of our online publication.

Our chosen resident experts will provide impartial advice on a subject of their choice, in their field, along with a short biography of their self and the company. It’s a great opportunity to put yourself in the heart of the business community, and to gain considerable exposure through brand awareness.

As a resident you will have the chance to meet our members at our quarterly meetings, and to answer their email queries. Along with our resident experts, we will be publishing a “Guest Expert” in each edition. If you don’t fit into our specific sectors, but feel you can offer sound advice in regards to business, then this may be for you, whatever your field!

Experts from our Liverpool publication have been used for this edition as a preview. Our guest expert is a PR company based in Manches-ter. If you would like to have the chance to become an expert for Manchester, just email your cover letter and background information of your company and a member of YBE will be in touch directly.

editor@yourbusinessezine.com

Humour Expert

Tax Accountant

Commercial Solicitor

Life Coach

Business Coach

International trade

Guest Expert - Sales

BusinessCoachAskTheExpert

RichardstartedoutinhisworkinglifeintheNavy,wereheservedforanumberofyears,travellingaroundtheworldlearningsomefantasticskillsandmeetingpeoplefrommanydifferentcultures.Afterleavingthenavy,Richardenteredtheworldofbankingandfinance,endingupinaroleasEastMidlandsRegionDevelopmentManagerforahighstreetbank.Richardthendecidedhewasreadyforanotherchallenge,soheleftthebankandsetuphisownnationalinsurancebrokerage,whichheranfor5years,untilsellingthebusinessin2005.GivenRichardsextensiveexperienceovertheyearsindealingwithbusinessesandmoreimportantlybusinesspeople,Richardfelthewouldmakeaverygoodbusinesscoach.HethentrainedandwasaccreditedbytheAdlerSchoolofInternationalCoachingandtookonafranchisefromOlogyCoach-

ing,whichgiveshimthesupportofamultinationalcompany,whilstatthesametimestillbeingabletogivealocalpersonalservicetohisclients.Wearevery

pleasedtohaveRichardonboardandaresureyouwillbenefitfromhiswisdomandexperience.

Richard Dickinson

“Don’t Know What You DO Know???” (10 reasons why)

In many companies information and knowledge exists in many forms but for some reason it’s not shared. Leveraging the knowledge that exists in a business could be the difference

between success and failure; acting before it’s too late; creating a competitive advantage by the reapplication of existing knowledge. Yet in many instances knowledge isn’t transferred resulting in many companies really not knowing “what they DO know!”

As behavioural experts we have recognised the following are some of the major reasons behind why companies exhibit this failing:

1. Bad news rarely travels upwards in or-ganisations: Everyone dreads telling the boss bad news. It also doesn’t travel down either -- execu-tives are famous for soft-pedaling bad news, or for living in denial until it’s too late to fix the problem. 2. People share information generously peer-to-peer, but begrudgingly upwards, and sparingly

downwards in organisational hierarchies: most people hate preparing reports for ‘superiors’, since at best they are paperwork that has no value to them personally, and at worst they are self-incrim-inating. Information in most organisations flows down only on a need-to-know basis, which is why the grapevine is generally a faster and more ac-curate source of information than the boss.

3. People only accept and internalise informa-tion that fits with their mental models and frames: Ask people after a presentation what they learned and what they thought was the central message, and you’ll find that most people will respond with something that reinforces what they already be-lieved, which is often very different from, and sometimes even contradicts, what the speaker ac-tually said.

4. People cannot readily differentiate useful information from useless information: Most people are not very good at separating what’s important from what’s not.

BusinessCoach5. People know more than they can tell, and tell more than they can write down: We all have expertise and understanding of things we cannot express in written words, and what we can express is much more effectively expressed orally and it-eratively than by capturing it in some database. 6. People can internalise information present-ed graphically more easily and fully than informa-tion presented as text, and understand information conveyed through stories better than informa-tion presented analytically:. This is why we trust face-to-face conversations more than telephone conversations (we are, largely subconsciously, processing a huge amount of data from people’s facial expressions and body language). It is also why we like charts and photos much more than text and ‘bullet points’, which force us to create our own mental images before we can be informed by them.

7. Most people want their friends and even people they don’t know, to succeed, and people they dislike to fail and this has a bearing on their information-sharing behaviour: The more politics are at play in the office, the more likely the flow of information is likely to be impinged.

8. People are averse to sharing information orally, and even more averse to sharing it in written form, if they perceive any risk of it being misused or misinterpreted: So it’s safer not to share such information with anyone

9. People are generally reluctant to admit they don’t know, or don’t understand, something: The higher in the hierarchy you are, the more this applies. So higher-ups tend to consult with other higher-ups, leading to groupthink, and also dele-gate searches for information to underlings some-what cryptically.

10. Some modest people simply underesti-mate the value of what they know:

So what can we do: • flatten the organization • introduce personal coaching • develop trust and better team working • provide staff with informal places to meet and exchange information with peers, • provide more information in graphic, dy-namic model, mind map and story formats, and in web blogs and other context-rich ‘containers’,

Tap the ‘wisdom of crowds’ and the wisdom of wall-flowers whose voice is rarely heard in organisa-tions

ToaskRichardaQuestion,Pleaseemailhimat:

richard.dickinson@yourbusinessezine.com

orvisitOlogyBusinessCoachingatwww.ologybusiness.com/richarddickinson/

LifeCoachAskTheExpert

Lisa MadariagaLisaisalifecoachofsomedistinction.Sheiswhatyoumightcalloneoflife’sachievers.Allowmetoexplain.LisaisaqualifiedBarristerandaCharteredAccountant.ShehasworkedaroundtheworldforbothNYSEandFTSE100companies.Thenoneday,inNovember2005,shecollapsedinherLondonof-fice.Notonlywassheunabletowork,butcouldbarelygetoutofbedfor5months.Asherhealthslowlyimproved,shewasabletoreevaluateherlife.Lisafoundthatwithheruniqueexperiencesoflife,shewasabletohelpoth-ers.SheretrainedandisnowalsoqualifiedwiththeInstituteofLeadershipandManagement,(ILM),asalifecoachandexecutivebusinesscoach.LisaisthefounderandtraineroftheFinanceCoachingAcademyofRSA,(formerlyRoyalandSunAlliance).Soontopublishaselfhelpbookforpeopleliving

withorrecoveringfromME,wearetrulyprivilegedtohaveLisacontributeforus.So,don’tbeshy,usethisfantasticopportunityandaskLisasomequestionsanddon’tmissherarticles,theymayjustchangeyourlife.

Did you enjoy Christmas? We all love a bit of Christmas don’t we, presents, nights out, catching up with people we don’t see the rest of the year. It’s a fabulous excuse to be in a brilliant mood for a few weeks! But, last month I heard so many people muttering to themselves, or complaining to others how they ‘have’ to do this, ‘must’ buy that or ‘need’ to visit whoever. When I hear these phrases, the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I think, “You don’t ‘have’ to do anything”. Do you agree? Please let me explain.

Everything we do or feel is a choice. We can all choose when we do things, some people plan and make lists, others are last minuters (apologies Mark for my last minute submission of this very article!) Some of us are early ris-ers who are up and ready bright and breezy in the morning, others are night owls, who prefer to stay up and watch the TV into the wee small

hours, so yes, we all have natural tendencies toward certain habits and ways of life.

However, we can choose our day to day ac-tions and therefore, some of us had our Christmas shopping done, presents wrapped and cards written by the end of October (yes, I know such people, I’m sure you do too). Some of us still had no clue what to buy our nearest and dearest up to the last minute; we hope inspiration will strike as we stand at the perfume / after shave counter of Boots on 24th December at about 2pm. All of this though, is our personal choice.

So, it stands to reason that whether we choose to do something or not is also our choice. That duty-bound visit to Great Auntie Enid (we all have an equivalent) which we groan about but insist we “have” to do – do we really? Honest-ly? Or are we actually doing it because deep

Let the Santa Dash feeling rule!

LifeCoach

ToaskLisaaQuestion,Pleaseemailherat:

lisa.madariaga@yourbusinessezine.com

orvisitLisa’ssiteatwww.lisa4coaching.com

down we are a nice, decent person who re-alises that Great Auntie Enid is loved and we realise how much she appreciates our visit, al-though she may not show it, except with a soft, stale biscuit and a cup of water-weak tea? If you really believe that you go out of duty, then here is a test for you, next time don’t go! Just don’t go. Then, afterwards, see how you feel, if you feel nothing, then that’s great, it means you have saved wasting some time and you have no nasty after effects so you need never go again. If however, you do feel bad or guilty (the biggest waste of energy ever the feeling of guilt, it achieves nothing, what a waste!) then you have just proven to yourself that you choose to want to go to Great Auntie Enid’s and by default, I’m afraid, you’re a nice, decent person.

The point of all this? Well, for those of you who have now realised that you did actually want to go and see your poor dear aunt, why not enjoy it? Yes, really, why not choose to enjoy the visit? Your head, your thoughts and therefore your emotions can all be changed and the visit can be turned into a joyful experience, let’s face it, you’re going to go anyway, so why not have a laugh? Take a nice, fresh packet of biscuits with you – or go mad and take a few cakes! Insist that they are opened there and then, as Great Aunts have a tendency to “save for best” such treats. You could even offer to make the tea yourself and throw an extra tea-bag in the tea pot! Go with some funny stories to tell, or some old photos that Enid can tell her own stories about – and see how the time passes more quickly!

Of course I am not suggesting that we all go

out and find a Great Aunt, the same principle can be applied to everything, shopping trips, walking around town in this freezing cold, school plays (the bits where your children aren’t performing of course!) etc

So, in summary, let’s all turn next Christmas into what it should be – a great big ball of fun, where we do say “Happy Christmas” to the meeter and greeter in the Asda – go on! It will make his day and yours! I know this mood ex-ists as I experienced it last month at the Santa Dash – thank you to all those who organised it and made it as enjoyable as it was, and a big well done to all those who took part. It was a fabulous day, where the traditional Red San-tas ran, jogged, dawdled or wheeled along-side the Blue Santas with an atmosphere of camaraderie that was inspiring. So we know we can do it, why not do it for longer?

With a big smile I wish you all a wonderful 2010 – have a great time and enjoy it, every minute!

SolicitorAskTheExpert

Gorvins is a regional full service Law Firm with an established commercial practice compromising of specialist teams working across the disciplines of corporate, commercial property, commercial litigation, and employment.

With offices in Manchester and Milton Keynes we act for a diverse portfolio of clients including blue chip organisations, SMEs, entrepreneurs and public sector and regulatory bodies.

We are client focused at all times and work with you to provide cost effective advice helping you to achieve your commercial objectives whilst adding tangible value to each transaction. We seek to con-tinually improve our reputation for excellence and see investment in our people and processes as the foundation to creating an effective and inspiring environment which contributes to the delivery of results for our clients.

We believe you will appreciate our joined up approach to working which delivers a seamless and con-sistent service coupled with an excellent track record of offering proactive and innovative solutions. Our sector expertise with years of experience in your market place means we understand the restrictions and opportunities you have to work to. We will provide cost effective delivery with a focus on identifying the best possible outcome at the outset giving you realistic estimates whilst reviewing and communicat-ing updates to keep you in the picture. We recognize the need to work in partnership with our clients and provide hands on approach with enthusiastic and highly motivated people and a single point of contact to manage a dedicated team providing the right expertise at the right cost.

Litigation – Can you afford (not) to?

Litigation is the name given to the process of settling a dispute by recourse to legal pro-ceedings. It usually occurs when the par-ties involved have explored other avenues

like discussion, exchanging correspondence, tak-ing expert advice or agreeing mediation but still failed to reach an agreement.

By embarking on litigation they explicitly accept that if their legal advisors are unable to resolve the matter by further argument and negotiation, even-tually a Civil Court will adjudicate on the merits of the case and decide on the value of any settle-ment.

Unlike the criminal Courts, in which the Crown ex-

ercises its responsibility to enforce the law and is empowered to impose penalties according to the level of culpability of the defendant and not the de-gree of loss of the victim, the outcome of civil ac-tions is that the parties will be bound by an Order that one or all of them obey.

This might involve more than mere money chang-ing hands. One person - perhaps an individual, group or organisation - might be prevented from acting in a certain way toward another or com-pelled to behave in a manner prescribed by the Court. The Court can dictate rights and obligations. A simple example of this might be a ‘right of way’ dispute where the claimant wants to gain access to somewhere that would mean crossing another’s

Solicitorproperty. If access is being denied, the Court will have to decide whether this action is lawful or not. There may or may not be financial implications. There will certainly be legal costs implications. Handbags!

Humans are an argumentative lot by and large so the range of things about which they fall out is vir-tually limitless. Money, of course, is high on the list but ownership of property of one kind and an-other (intellectual, private, corporate), inheritance, breaches of contract, the proper conduct of busi-ness matters, and one party’s rights and responsi-bilities toward another are all front runners in the litigation derby.

Seemingly intractable disputes often arise when one party is seen to be infringing another’s human rights or other legal rights.

Insurance litigation is another typical example. An insurance company may have a very firm idea about the degree of compensation to which an injured party is entitled, given the circumstances of an accident and the extent of the damage to a person and property. The claimant may have very different and inflated expectations. If all efforts to bring them into the middle ground fail, litigation is the only way to settle the matter. It is, generally speaking, the case that the losing party must pay the reasonable costs of bringing the matter to Court and this can be the source of further acrimony and bitterness. If you lose, by the time you’ve paid both sides’ solicitors fees, court costs, counsel and expert witness charges and out-of-pocket expenses, out-of-pocket is what you’ll be.

If it’s a contentious matter involving substantial sums the total costs may run into five or six figures. The golden rule of litigation is don’t get involved in it unless: * You’re confident you’re going to win * You can afford to lose * You’re prepared for a long drawn out process

* You’ve taken good professional advice and heed-ed it * You’ve already tried every other way to resolve the dispute and it’s failed

Business Of course, in the commercial and corporate world the issues tend to have lots of noughts on the end and the costs tend to represent a much smaller percentage of the potential gain while the pockets of the antagonists tend to be deeper.

A bank or insurance house with profits measured in billions may see recourse to the law as a viable way of resolving a tricky problem or removing com-mercial obstacles but the directors of owner-man-aged businesses and SME should always look at the worst case scenario before throwing their hats into the litigation ring.

Righteous indignation at being shoddily treated by a supplier, customer or competitor should always be allowed to give way to cool commercial logic before becoming embroiled. There’s no point in devoting so much time, effort and money to win-ning the case that you’ve put yourself out of busi-ness in the process.

However, if the dispute is of a degree of magnitude that a fair resolution of it is imperative, then seek appropriate professional support and litigate for all you’re worth!

For further information please contact

Mark DeverellHead of Commercial Litigation (Gorvins)

Email: mark.deverell@gorvins.con

www.gorvins.com

TaxAccountantAskTheExpert

PatCobhamusedtobeataxinspector.Shehasmorethan30yearsexperienceinaccountancy.Mostlyfromthesideoftheinlandrevenue.PatsetupCobhamstaxconsultantsandaccountsin2004andhasnotlookedbacksince.WithanononsenseandplainEnglishapproachtoaccountancy,Cobhamsisgoingfromstrengthtostrength.Younotonlygetknowledgeableone-to-oneadvice,butyoualsogetitatafractionofthecostyouwouldpayalargecompany.Theyevengothatbitfurtherandofferaone-to-oneserviceoutofhoursshouldyourequireit.Withbackgroundinthecorporateworld,theyarebetterplacedthanmosttohelpyouwithyourcorporationtaxandwhetheryou’reasoletrader,smallbusinessorestablishedcompany,theywillmakesureeverythingisdonequicklyandefficientlytomeetallHMRCdeadlines.

Pat Cobham

Difficult Times

Given the current chilly financial climate I thought I would dedicate this article to some help and possible allowances out there to assist.

Business Payment Support Service

In November 2008 HMRC introduced a new ser-vice designed to help businesses manage their tax, VAT debts etc. Prior to the introduction of this service it was quite difficult to get HMRC to agree to payment of tax debt via instalments. However, the support service has proved to be very sympa-thetic and in most cases all that is needed is a tele-phone call and generally a decision will be made there and then.

In the Budget 2009 the Chancellor announced an extension to this service. A number of businesses are anticipating making losses in the current year. Prior to the extension a business could only claim for carry back of losses once the accounts have been drawn up and the figures proved. However, if a business can reasonably estimate the loss then this can be taken into account as part of any re-

scheduling of corporation tax or income tax owed on the previous years profits. HMRC might ask for some evidence in support of the anticipated loss depending upon the size.

In the pre-Budget in December the Chancellor an-nounced that the business payment support ser-vice would continue for the foreseeable future.

Note that the service is for new enquiries only. The support line is open seven days a week on 0845 302 1435.

Further information can be found by going on to the HMRC website www.hmrc.gov.uk.

Loans to Traders

If a person has made a loan to a UK trader whether incorporated or unincorporated and the loan be-comes irrecoverable then that person can make a loss claim. This may be of limited use as the loss cannot be claimed against income but only against capital gains. If the person has no capital gains in the year of loss then the loss can be carried for-

TaxAccountantward ad infinitum for set off against future capital gains.

The above also extends to payments made under guarantees.

Losses on Shares in Unlisted Trading Companies

In most cases if a person disposes of shares at a loss or they become of negligible value then that loss can be claimed as a capital loss as above. In certain limited circumstances the loss can be claimed as a loss against income tax which in most cases is more useful.

The shares must be ordinary shares in a qualify-ing trading company for which the individual has subscribed.

A qualifying trading company is one which is UK resident, is unlisted and carries on a trade-as is obvious from the definition.

Low CO2 Omission Cars

Traders, whether incorporated or unincorporated, can claim tax allowances for cars. The size of the allowance per annum depends upon the CO2 omissions. The allowance is a percentage of the purchase price. For cars with CO2 omissions ex-ceeding 160 grams/km the annual allowance is 10%. For cars with omissions between 121 and 160 it is 20%. However, for cars with CO2 omis-sions of 120 or less the allowance is 100%.

If the business is incorporated then personal ben-efits arise on the person who has use of the car. The benefit is calculated as a percentage of the list price- again depending on CO2 omissions. Note that the figure used is list and not the cost of the car to the company.

For your average family car the benefit based on list price is 20% for petrol cars and 23% for diesel. However, for a low CO2 omission car i.e. 120 or less then this is reduced to 10% for petrol and13% for diesel.

As an example, an Audi A4 meets the 120 g/km requirement and the cost new is about £24,000. If this was purchased new for, say, a company direc-tor then the company would get a tax allowance for £24,000 in the year of purchase. The benefit to the director would be £3,120. Note that this is not the cost to the director, the cost depends upon whether the person is basic or higher rate. For a basic rate tax payer this works out at £12 a week and for higher rate tax payer £24 a week.

On a final point regarding cars, in addition to the car benefit itself there is also a fuel benefit if the employer pays for the fuel. There is no hard and fast rule but in most cases it is far more tax efficient for a person who has the company car to pay for their own fuel and claim a fuel mileage allowance from the company rather than have the fuel ben-efit.

ToaskPataQuestion,Pleaseemailherat:

pat.cobham@yourbusinessezine.com

orvisitCobhamsatwww.cobhams.co.uk

HumourConsultantAskTheExpert

DirectorandFounderofLaughology,StephanieDavieshasover10yearsexperi-enceworking in thepublicandprivate sectorwhichhasgainedheranunsur-passed reputation for designing and delivering laughter and humour interven-tionsforbusinesses,practitioners,clients,youngpeopleandadults.StephanieisrecognisedasoneoftheUK’sleadingvoicesinlaughterandhumour.ShewasrecentlyinvitedbytheUniversityofChestertodevelopanddelivertheUK’sfirstMAcourseinHumourintheWorkplaceandwillsooncompleteanMAonThePsy-chologicalBenefitsofLaughter,HumourandPersonalGrowth.

OnleavingLiverpool InstituteofPerformingArtsin2002shebeganperformingstand-upcomedy,firingherfascinationwiththepoweroflaughterandhumour.AfterattendingDrKataria’sLaughterLeadercourseStephaniewasacceptedasaparticipantinworld-renowned,DrPatchAdams’sHealthCareIntensiveTrainingintheUSA.SheworkedwithPatchexploringtherelationshipbetweenhealth,humour,communityandthearts.

Ontopofherbusytrainingschedule,Stephanieisoftenaskedtocontributetopopulartelevisionprogrammes,suchasTrisha,TheBankofMumandDad,BBC’sHeaven&EarthandITV’sStand-upJenny.SheisalsoaregularonBBCRadio

StephanieDavies

December a Cracker of a Month

As the new year sets in and I reflect on what has been, I find myself thinking December is a funny month. When it arrives people are constantly surprised

saying things like “I can’t believe it’s December and Christmas has crept up on me again this year”. This always brings a smile to my face and a chuckle to my chuckle muscles: it’s not as if the months change order each year and December is sprung upon us. In fact we have 12 months to re-alise it is on the way, but still each year the same comments are heard, I even catch myself saying it. You would think by now when it gets to October people would be thinking well here’s October, that means the next month is November then it’s De-cember, then it isn’t so much of a shock. So take

heed, you now have twelve months to start prepar-ing for next December. I always joke that as you get older a day is taken off each year so actually it does come around quicker, which would be a good explanation for why it’s such a surprise to us all when December does comes around. Perhaps it’s because as we become older we pack so much into our lives that the days, weeks and months go quicker and we don’t spend as much time actually in the moment and enjoying life as we do when we’re younger. We become involved in life and work that we forget to look up and recognise what date it actually is. There are lots of festivals going on this time of year that are celebratory and make us stop and think for a moment about families, ap-preciating what we have and miracles. Christmas

HumourConsultantStephanieDavies being the obvious one, but we also have the Bud-

dhist day of Bodhi: which celebrates the birth of Buddha and the founding of nirvana by Buddha. Ashura is a Muslim festival. this is a day of fasting for Sunni Muslims. The day that Nuh (Noah) left the Ark and the day that Musa (Moses) was saved from the Egyptians by Allah. It is also the month when the Jewish festival Chanukah celebrates the miraculous victory over persecution in the holy land and also commemorates the re - dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem and the mir-acle of the burning oil. In Hindu culture as well as other dates there is Vaikunta Ekadashi which is said to be the date that the gate to Lord’s In-ner Sanctum’ is opened. And of course Christmas day celebrates the birth of Jesus who Christians believed was the son of god and there is also Yule in pagan celebrations the time of winter solstice. If I’ve missed anyone or religion out I apologise and happy celebrations to you also for anytime of the year. Looking back the one thing that strikes me about December, discounting religion, is the difference in the way people act. There seemed to be a joyous air about people and in the cities, especially Liverpool I noticed this year there was more street theatre and entertainment. Which on a number of occasions made me laugh out loud (which isn’t always a good thing when you are on your own) and other activities which brightened up the town centres and created a vibrant and good humoured atmosphere. So why is it that Decem-ber seems to brings out the best in people? Is it because we are thinking about others by com-ing together to celebrate or remember significant dates in religious calendars? Or is it because we make and buy gifts for others? Or is it because we have a day off where we can spend time with our loved ones knowing that work can take a backseat for a couple of days and we don’t feel guilty about doing so? Whatever it is and it is different for each individual, I found myself embracing the feeling and being in particularly good humour and happy myself in December. I even found myself laughing at the dreadful cracker jokes that are regurgitated each year and if spent a little extra and bought a

pack of crackers that were more expensive, not only do you get a better quality of toy but some-times if your lucky although the same joke there’s even a topical twist on it.

I have found myself reflecting on December and wondering why do we wait until the end of the year to feel like this, come together and be what can only be described as jolly and in good cheer. It’s of my opinion that we would benefit from feeling more like this at other times of the year and taking time to appreciate people in our lives. I thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations this year, spending time with people in a fun way, playing games like cha-rades and making gifts for others and will make it my new year’s resolution to continue this jollity into the new year and would encourage others to also. I wonder if I can get away with using mistletoe mid-year too as that’s a tradition I enjoyed and if I can use it as an excuse to jump on unsuspecting hunks at other times of the year I definitely will. Though it’s not so funny when you have to oblige others that perhaps are less desirable.... So continue the good humour, joyfulness and even, dare I say kiss-ing into the New year, you really don’t have to have the excuse of December to do so.

AskStephanieQuestionbyemailingherat:stephanies.davies@yourbusinessezine.com

YoucanvisitAlanswebsiteatwww.laughology.co.uk

InternationalTradeAskTheExpert

Alan’s early career was in IT (when this included punch cards and paper tape). He quickly moved from programming into analysis which gave him the opportunity in the mid-1980’s to work for an insurance company in the Bahamas. This gave Alan the bug for travelling and he has managed to cover five continents to date on his travels, South America still eludes him.

His career in IT eventually developed into project & business change management and Alan has been involved in a number of large projects of this type. This lead him and his business partner to set up their first business together, a business change consultancy (PSI), in 1993. PSI initially grew in the UK & South East Asia and, once acquired by a FTSE-quoted parent, it subsequently expanded to forty-five people across five continents.

He has now been developing businesses both in the UK and Internationally for over six-teen years. During this time he has built a global network of contacts including senior level decision makers.

As a seasoned professional Alan is able to help a business to focus on the definition and delivery of its development strategy, ensuring drive & momentum are maintained to achieve the company’s strategic goals. This is non more evident than in his passion for international business development where Alan is able to leverage his global network of contacts to generate significant business development opportunities.

An adaptable character, with a pragmatic approach, Alan has an open (if determined) mind and the ability to make a significant con-tribution to a team delivering a product or service to a clearly defined market.

Alan lives on Merseyside with his wife and two children and has recently returned to university part-time where he is studying for a Qualifying LLB Law. Of all of the places he has visited San Francisco (and nearby Sausalito) and Singapore remain his favourites.

‘Evangelising The Possibilities’In September 1997 two excited business people were sat in the departure lounge at Manchester Airport wait-ing to board an Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai on their way to Singapore.

The trip was the result of a casual comment over dinner a year earlier in Singapore during a visit to the region by one of them on holiday. Their company provided busi-ness change/project management consultancy services specialising in procurement and payments. A local law-yer friend observed that there were opportunities in the region for this form of consultancy. After some consid-eration they had decided to take the plunge and investi-gate the market further.

The result? Within eighteen months they had secured a six-figure contract with the regional office of a global financial organisation. The company established a lo-cal office and a team of consultants based in Singapore which serviced this contract over a three-year period.

This team managed projects in: South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Their presence in the region was also a contributing fac-tor to their consultancy company subsequently being acquired by a FTSE-quoted software company a few years later. This then lead to them expanding further to forty-five people on five continents. I was one of those two excited people.

And the moral of the story? Well, there are several points that can be highlighted.

Firstly, UK products and services are eagerly sought by customers in many of the markets around the world. The UK has an enviable reputation for innovation and quality. So there are contracts to be won. Secondly, such opportunities are not the preserve of large compa-nies. Any large multinational has at some stage spread its wings and expanded abroad. So why not your com-

AlanTaylor

InternationalTradepany? Thirdly, when UK companies do think ‘interna-tionally’ they often turn to markets in the USA and/or Europe and miss the opportunities that can be found in other regions. Language and culture need not be barri-ers and in many countries (Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa and the Scandinavian countries included) English is widely spoken.

Finally, although such opportunities can be uncovered by chance, as in my example above, global expansion will be more effective if it is planned.As traditional home markets falter UK companies are being urged to look at overseas markets for ways to maintain their revenues, or to even expand.

Exporting, setting up an office in an overseas market, finding a local partner or appointing a local sales agent can be scary if you have not gone through the process before. A multitude of questions must be answered: commercial, legal, financial and logistical. And all of this must be dealt with without jeopardising your existing UK core business.

But, I can tell you from personal experience, there is nothing more exciting than signing your first contract in a new market and working to set up the facilities needed to deliver it.

And companies are not alone if they do decide to expand into international markets. The UK government has re-alised that the UK’s economy will not recover quickly without help from exports and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is the government department charged with en-couraging UK companies to embrace international op-portunities. This department has a number of UK re-gional offices and links to British Embassies and High Commissions around the world which enable it to offer a range of services to support companies to do so. UKTI also organises regular market visits around the world and companies are not restricted to the visits organised by their region. In many cases there is also grant sup-port available to help with the costs of such visits.

There are also consultancies that offer support to com-panies wanting to open up international markets, many specialising in a particular country and/or region with di-rect experience and business contacts. Many contacts are companies that are able to consider risk-sharing joint ventures in their home country and/or the sur-rounding region.

But the first step is to make the decision to consider international markets and be open to opportunities from wherever they may arise.

The BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are seen as offering strong growth in coming years but many smaller economies such as Singapore are al-ready making a strong recovery from the recent eco-nomic downturn.

So, this is the focus of this new regular monthly feature: ‘Evangelising The Possibilities’ and encouraging com-panies to be the first to exploit international markets and international opportunities.

In coming months articles will (amongst other things): offer advice on how to expand your company abroad, feature companies that have already been successful internationally, present interviews with people involved in exporting and turn the spotlight on particular markets around the world.

And you are encouraged to take part. If you know of a company that you think deserves highlighting as an in-ternational success, or have a particular question about trading internationally that you would like answered, or are interested in a particular market that you think should be featured then let me know. I will endeavour to include as many of these as I can.

So, I urge you to think outside the ‘UK box’ and perhaps you will find yourself in a similar position to the one I did years ago, on the brink of something new and exciting.

What is stopping you?

AskAlanQuestionbyemailingherat:alan.taylor@yourbusinessezine.com

YoucanvisitAlanswebsiteatwww.ttnp.co.uk

GuestExpertAskTheExpert

Bra Manufacturers go bust.Builders go to the wall.Clockmakers wind up.Glaziers crash.Launderettes are taken to the cleaners.Paper manufactures fold.Plumbers go down the pan.

Kevin Hartley is a Manchester based highly motivational enthusiastic inspirational and humorous public speaker. He has appeared on television in his capacity as a public speaker and currently presents a radio programme. He speaks internationally and has 29 nationalities of client in 21 dif-ferent countries.

SalesGuestExpert

I would suggest that this does not happen to businesses because they lack expertise in what they do. In my experience very few businesses fold due to a lack of technical

skills. Many businesses lack success due to one fundamental, they do not have sufficient paying customers to maintain a viable profit. Why is this? When the Government is encour-aging people to be bold and start up their own business? Why would they do that when so many are closing their doors? The Govern-ment will offer assistance to any person want-ing to start a new business. This help is in the form of business development courses. Or skill courses, they have several agencies all designed to help a person ‘go it alone’.

The one thing many of these agencies have in common is their lack of expertise in the main aspect of business that is their inability to want to advise people to prospect for new busi-ness. They can explain charging structures even show you how to complete your ‘Self Assessment Tax Form’ but what about ‘grass roots’ help in procuring new business? Almost unheard of. I have been on some of these courses in order to assess the value. With-out doubt they prepare people for the pitfalls of business. What they don’t do is prepare them to become a hunter of new business. At best they will broach the subject of finding customers by advising people to advertise in Yellow Pages or put adverts in the local shop windows. Nothing wrong with these methods however experience tells us, these methods

will not keep any trade in sufficient profitable work, not for any length of time.

The famous Phillias T Barnum said.

“Without prospecting for new business, some-thing Terrible happens”

“NOTHING”.

That is not far from the truth!

Like every other skill……….

Like every other skill ‘prospecting for new business’ is a skill that can be taught and easily learned. Using the correct method of prospecting for new business and learning to identify your target market, it rapidly becomes obvious that people are prepared to ‘buy’ your products and services and there is no need to ‘sell’ them your products and services.

Few people like to be sold to but most people like to buy.

To Ask Kevin a Question Please emailKevin@prosellingtips.com

www.prosellingtips.com

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Business Scene was founded in 2006 by Warren Cass. Warren previously worked in an events background and travelled throughout the country networking as he

went. Something Warren quickly realised is that whilst there were many really good networking groups, there didn’t appear to be any cohesion. So one day whilst back home in Swindon, Warren decided to set up an on line business network for the Swindon area, which listed all the networking opportunities in the area and allowed businesses to effectively network online, as well as having a quarterly connections network event of his own. Within 6 months 40% of the Swindon business community were registered on the site and War-ren decided that there is obviously a real need for what he was offering so would roll it out nationally under the name of Business Scene. Warren soon got speaking to Eric Hearn. Eric lives in the North West and describes himself as an early adopter. He loved the idea of what Warren was trying to do, so a deal was done and Eric took over the North West of England for Business Scene. Over the last couple of years Eric has managed to take the membership in the North West from zero to a very impressive 52,000 members and from an empty events page to 12,500 events listed per year. In fact, nationally Business Scene now has an amaz-ing 750,000 members and for the vast majority of them, the service they receive from Business Scene is completely free of charge.

Much of what business scene provide is online. But that doesn’t mean that if you register with them you will be connecting with businesses from the far reaches of the British Isles, (although you can if you wish). Business scene is very much a local or-ganisation, connecting local business people who wouldn’t otherwise meet, but backed by a national brand, so you can also make those national con-nections if you need to. They have been described as the Ticketmaster of business events, but are keen to stress that they are not an open access social media site, whilst they do have their place, you won’t receive any pokes, hugs or invitations to Farmville or Mafia Wars here. The idea is you put a professional profile up on the site, not an on line sales pitch, but something that would give a pass-ing stranger an idea of who you are and what you do. It’s like networking on line. You need to put a bit of your personality into it, because after all, people buy from people.

Another big part of what Business Scene do is their quarterly connections networking events. These informal, laid back events, held of an evening and with a relative and informative guest speaker. They are normally very well attended, the numbers of-ten exceed 200 although this is dependant on the venue. These events are designed to get people face to face, creatively networking, sometimes out of their comfort zones and in front of the right peo-ple. After all, the overall aim of Business Scene is to provide a vehicle for their members to raise their visibility and access knowledge and opportunities.

Being a member of Business Scene also has a cu-rious by product. It improves your search engine optimisation. That is your profile text, any press re-leases you put on the site and articles you publish will all help promote your search engine rankings. Business Scene also syndicate their text into Tele-graph Business Club, Microsoft Small Business Community and various other publications, like Business Matters, which also helps with members rankings. In fact publishing an article has multiple benefits. You will also be seen as an expert in your particular field and this will also further raise your visibility to other businesses in your area and be-yond. Of course there is the problem that some business people simply haven’t got to grips with this technology yet. In fact Eric is amazed how many businesses are still trying to use traditional printed media directories in order to promote their businesses. There is also a certain level of suspi-cion amongst some other membership based or-ganisations that don’t understand the concept and think that Business Scene is competition to them, all this achieves is their own members missing out on some fantastic add on benefits.

Business Scene has just had an amazing couple of years going from strength to strength. With their dedication to their members and their business ethics, along with the support of their sponsors, Microsoft, Santander Group, Blackberry and oth-ers, this growth is set to continue for many years to come.

Check out Business Scene for yourself, simply click on the links below and raise your profile.

www.business-scene.com

Eric Hearn - Regional Leader Merseyside & Wirral

The Monastery

The Monastery

We get to see lots of places do-ing this job. Bars, restaurants, hotels, offices, meeting venues, the list goes on. Some are really

nice, some quite bland, some have carved out nice little niches for themselves and some are just quirky or very interesting. A few months ago we were told about a venue that would make a good feature story in our magazine, “it’s a Monastery”.” Sure I’ll look into it” I said, (thinking what has a Monastery got to do with business), but I didn’t. Then about a month ago, again someone said, “I know a great venue that would make a fantastic feature in your magazine, it used to be a monastery you know”, “oh yes I’ve heard of it, I’ll look into it”, but I didn’t. Then a few weeks ago I was in a meeting with a colleague in Liverpool and an events management company and we were chatting about venue’s in Manchester and guess what, they said “I know a fantastic venue in Manchester called The Monastery, you should have a look at that”, “It’s funny you should say that, we have heard of them, we’ll give them a call” and this time we did.

Of all the venue’s we have seen, there are many different reactions when you go inside. This was the first jaw dropping one.

As we drove through the council houses of Gor-ton heading towards the Monastery we were ex-pecting to come out of the housing estate into some majestic landscape and see the Monastery perched on a hillside, with sun beams reflecting off the stained glass windows, birds singing and a magnificent driveway leading up to the impos-ing entrance of the building, but it wasn’t. In fact this huge structure was smack bang in the mid-dle of the housing estate. Oh! We pulled into the car park, and we were very early. We walked up to a very smart looking annex to the building and rang the bell. As we were so early, Paul Griffiths who we were meeting was yet to arrive. As it was lunchtime, a very nice gentleman suggested we go to the Gorton Community Centre and have a bite to eat whilst we were waiting. As we waited for our food we chatted to some people there, telling them we were up to look at The Monastery and we were fascinated to hear how proud the local com-munity was of The Monastery and how they felt it belonged to them.

Back at The Monastery we were led to the Fri-ars Pantry where we were to wait for Paul to ar-rive, (we were still early). As we sat in this room, you could really get a feel for just how beautifully and respectfully renovated this building has been done. It is very clean and modern in here and yet completely true to the history of the building. Soon enough Paul arrived and began our tour of the building. Walking along the corridors with their beautiful arches and stained glass windows to our left before turning right into the main space, what used to be the main chapel of The Monastery. Up to this point the building was just beautiful, I say just because when you walk into this part of the building, this is where your jaw drops. This build-ing was originally built to serve around 300 Catho-lics in a suburb of Manchester, and yet it has the proportions of a cathedral. This main space itself is 200ft long around 100ft wide and staggeringly 100ft high. The building was designed by E W Pu-gin, whose father designed the Houses of Parlia-ment. It was built as a parish church and Francis-can training centre. The monks actually built the church themselves with the help of the local com-munity. Towards the end of each working day the monks would travel to the local factory gates and as the men left the factory’s they would grab them saying, “you have worked today for your money, now you must work for god”, then take them to help with the building work. Work began on the friary in 1861 and was finished in 1863, and then they began to build the church which was finished in 1872. The building remained as a monastery right up until 1989 when with only 6 elderly Franciscan monks remaining and a dwindling congregation,

the Catholic Church took the decision to move out and they sold the building to developers to be con-verted into flats.

The developers now began to strip the monastery in preparation for its conversion, unfortunately in 1993 they went bust. Receivers were appointed and the building ended up in the ownership of the Royal Bank of Scotland. From 1993 the building was left abandoned, which is when thieves and vandals moved in, destroying much of the 5 alters and stealing anything of value, such as lead, mar-ble, etc. In just a few short years this magnificent building was turned into a partial ruin, the windows smashed, the roof very heavily damaged and the pigeons had taken up permanent residence. They do say that on the darkest nights, the brightest stars appear and Gorton Monastery was about to get its star.

Paul Griffiths was born and brought up in Gorton. He was an alter boy at the monastery and has very fond memories of the building. He had long since moved away from the area. One day Paul had to travel into central Manchester for a busi-ness meeting. He got the train in for convenience, but it was on his journey back out that changed the fortunes of The Monastery. As Paul sat on the train, he saw the dilapidated building as he passed by. He hadn’t realised the train actually passed be-hind the monastery, which he says was a bit daft as he used to play on the tracks as a child. Seeing the building in such a state of disrepair really up-set Paul. He couldn’t believe that such a beautiful place that held such fond memories for so many people could end up in such a state. Right then and there Paul decided that he was going to save The Monastery. This came as a bit of a shock to his wife Elaine, who didn’t actually know anything about the monastery at the time. Paul convinced Elaine to come back to Gorton with him and take a look at the building and to tell her some of what he remembered of it. From that moment on, both Paul and Elaine were completely committed to the restoration of Gorton Monastery and set up, along with a group of volunteers, The Monastery of St Francis & Gorton Trust. In 1997 the team managed to get the building listed on the World Monument Fund watch list of 100 most endangered sites in the world, alongside Pompeii, Taj Mahal and Val-ley of the Kings. Later that year the buildings were sold to the trust for £1 by the bank and then major grant applications could be made and fund raising began.

A long winded and stressful Couple of years fol-lowed, getting further each time with funding ap-plications. Elaine gave up her job to work full time

on the project and in 2005, with £6 million of an estimated requirement of £7 million raised, in De-cember of that year, at last restoration work be-gan. In 2006 the BBC ran a half hour documen-tary on national TV in their series called “Passion for Churches”. Things continued to move on at a pace, with things like a visit from HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall in February 2007, then in June 2007, after more than 10 years, The Monastery at last opened for busi-ness hosting conferences, meetings, and events as well as weddings, concerts, fashion shows and community celebrations. Also in June 2007 Elaine was awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List, for her services to heritage.

Things continue to move on for The Monastery. Thanks to the dedication and tireless support from the entire team at the trust and the local commu-nity, the future of this magnificent building seems to be secure. In fact they now have a further £1 million of funding to repair water damage to the main alter area and surrounding walls. There are so many fantastic and amazing stories associated with this building, like the 30ft high crucifix that was missing and had been sold to an American collec-tor, but managed to be bought back and returned, or the 12 life size statues of Franciscan Saints that where being sold at auction in London as garden ornaments but were bought by Manchester City Council to be refurbished and returned to The Monastery, I could go on and on, unfortunately I could never do it justice in the space. My advice to you is don’t do what I did and put off going. Get yourself down there and have a look, take a tour, book a meeting room, have an event, not only will you not be disappointed, you will be awe inspired.

For further information about The Monastery, or to contact them, simply click on the link below;

www.themonastery.co.uk

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