Running from March 1-5, Local Enterprise Office Laois will host Local Enterprise Week which will feature a series of virtual activities designed to support the ambitions of aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The week will be a good opportunity for people to learn from the experiences of others and get practical advice. All events are free of charge but booking online is required.
Throughout the week potential entrepreneurs and small business owners/managers will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of online seminars and workshops.
The schedule also includes ten national ‘Spotlight’ events which are open to every business. Local Enterprise Week will also feature one-to-one mentoring clinics for your business in the areas of business planning, digital marketing, website management and Brexit advice.
Alongside the 10 Spotlight events, Local Enterprise Office Laois are running additional seminars. One of these is ‘How to Start your own Podcast for your business’ where you will learn how to start a podcast for your business in this step by step podcasting workshop.
Ken McHugh, Creative Director of Lefthand Production, has over 20 years experience in the entertainment business. He has developed and presented lots of workshops on video, visual storytelling, social media marketing, podcasting and artist development for brands. The podcasting workshop will take place on Monday 1st March at 2.30pm.
Another event is ‘An Introduction to Public Relations for your business’ which will be delivered by Sally McEllistrim, Owner of ‘Get It Across PR and Communications’ and former journalist.
This one hour workshop will offer an insight into the most basic knowledge of what exactly PR is and why it continues to be a highly effective method of getting a message across.
It is aimed at small and medium sized businesses in Laois who may not have the budget to engage a PR Agency, but who do need to attract publicity for their business. It will cover topics including how PR can benefit a business, the importance of a PR plan, how to devise angles and hooks to build a story, how to write a Press Release, how to identify the relevant media for the message as well as common mistakes and how to avoid them.
It will be a practical introduction to PR, offering plenty of useful hints and tips to help businesses make the most of the opportunities they can make, or follow, to publicise their business.
Jo Collins of Sales Performance will deliver an interactive workshop on the 3rd March on ‘Getting Virtually Confident’. Jo has a very practical approach to sales and works with her own material on a daily basis to build her own business.
As virtual selling becomes the new normal, join us and learn some tips, skills and insights that will help improve your confidence in a virtual selling world. All of us are adapting to a new way of working, and that includes our customers. Virtual selling brings challenges and opportunities.
This 90-minute session is designed to be a practical guide on things you can do before and during your call to help support you and your business. Jo will focus on how to build a rapport with customers, how to improve engagement on your calls, virtual selling skills and exploring what is important to the customer.
The full calendar of events for Local Enterprise Week is available below and you can book online via www.localenterprise.ie/laois or www.localenterprise.ie/week for all National Spotlight events.
All events are free of charge except where otherwise stated. If you have any queries about Local Enterprise Week 2021, please contact Local Enterprise Office Laois on 057 8661800 or email Honor Deevy hdeevy@laoiscoco.ie.
SEE ALSO – Book you event on the Laois Local Enterprise Office website
