Following the success of the popular "Keep your Business Fighting Fit" workshops, Business Link invites you to attend a one day conference, "Fighting Fit 2011" on Wednesday 14th September 2011 at The Hilton, Newcastle Gateshead.

Throughout the series of workshops we have asked attendees "What do you need to be Fighting Fit?" and based on the feedback received from the North East SME community we have developed a programme which is relevant and meaningful in supporting your business and its growth.

You have told us that the current economic climate is driving major changes, from the need to utilize new technology to change the way you interact with clients to more obvious changes in workforce size and structure. It’s necessary to understand how to use change to your advantage to promote continued growth; Fighting Fit 2011 will address the challenges and opportunities that come with change, encompassing the digital movement that is prevalent today.

A full programme of action orientated workshops, motivational and inspiring keynote sessions and panel discussions featuring successful entrepreneurs will allow you to relate the experiences to your own business model, stimulating practical outputs and actions to take into the workplace and implement right away.

After nearly a year of popular bite size workshops and an inspirational annual conference, we can certainly say, businesses of the North East are now Fighting Fit!

The Fighting Fit 2011 conference was a fantastic climax to the KYBFF series. The main aim of the conference was to provide an event tailored around Small - Medium Enterprises (SME’s), focusing on change with the current economic climate - addressing the challenges and opportunities that come with change, encompassing the digital movement that is prevalent today.

We have had some fantastic feedback from the delegates that attended the event. Upon registration, some delegates even commented on how positive and electric the atmosphere was on the day, it was like they knew what they were in for!

The programme content was packed full of inspiring and thought provoking speakers. Key note speaker, Damian Hughes was a massive hit, with his motivational ‘Liquid Thinking’ strategy and catching enthusiasm. The workshop hosts guided the way with ‘one stop shops’ on Social Media and Sales, designed for delegates to get one step forward in their business plan. There was also an in-depth panel session with successful local entrepreneurs; answering questions that related to the delegates own businesses and their business models. And finally, finishing off with an insightful presentation from ex-CEO of Virgin, Roger Flynn, who gave a global perspective of business development and how delegates could implement these tools into their own businesses.

We also decided to mix business with creativity via a Twitter Forest, which was on display throughout the whole event to encourage our SME’s to ‘tweet’ their thoughts, engage and submit questions to use in the panel session.

We would just like to thank all who attended the event and for helping to make the Fighting Fit 2011 conference a great success!

Our keynote speaker is Roger Flynn, whose experience is unique having worked at a Director/CEO level in five global companies across multiple industries, including Virgin, at times of rapid change. Fighting Fit 2011 is the must attend event to be inspired, to learn, to network and to be Fighting Fit for the future!

	The event will be hosted by Sara Coburn, freelance broadcaster who works with the BBC on a variety of business programmes, including BBC World’s ‘World Business Report’.
	She will be joined in the morning by Damian Hughes, author and founder of the LiquidThinker Company which takes the methods used by great achievers and shows, in easy steps, how you can adopt them into your own life and business in order to achieve your dreams and ambitions.