Wired City Reconnected launches in Sheffield

Image by The Circle

Summer’s flown by without a break in the world of stellamedia. Hence the radio silence here on our blog!

But now we’re back with a snippet of news about what we’ve been up to behind the scenes…

As well as recently moving to our new professional home at Sheffield’s creative & digital hub, Electric Works, which we’re rather excited about, we’ve been helping to get the first of what we hope will be many proactive networking events off the ground in Sheffield.

Wired City Reconnected [WCR] Events, solely aimed at freelancers or businesses in the Digital, Creative & ICT [Information & Communications Technologies] sectors, are experiences I’d wholeheartedly recommend because they are relaxed and informal in feel, while at the same time they foster a practical and simple approach to helping businesses in these sectors extend their professional reach & collaborative opportunities.

Likened to TV’s ‘Blind Date’ for such folk, WCR events attract businesses from these specific sectors across Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire and operate a ‘match-making’ format which works in a focused and friendly way.

Sheffield Wired City Reconnected will take place on Wednesday 5th October, 6pm-8pm, at The Circle, Rockingham Lane, S1 and, like other WCR Events is organised by Alba Associates, in collaboration with Network Hub [the networking group I run with illustrator Richard Smith] – plus stellamedia is officially supporting this launch night, along with a number of other local digital/creative businesses such as Made by Pi, Sponduly, & Moogaloo.

If you book onto WCR Sheffield before 30th Sept, you’ll pay £12.50, which includes your choice of liquid refreshments plus buffet. If you book after this date, the cost to attend per delegate, which also includes food & drink, is £17.50.

Just click here to book. You might also like to connect with WCR via their LinkedIn groups -

Wired City Reconnected North West

Wired City Reconnected Yorkshire and North East

Wired City Reconnected Lincs

Hope to see you at The Circle!

From Sheffield to China: Chengdu trade visit hailed a huge success

Sheffield delegation get a warm welcome at Chengdu Blades (Photo: Creativesheffield)

Sheffield businesses who took part in a recent trade mission to China have hailed the trip an “out and out success”

The trade visit was organised by Creativesheffield and South Yorkshire International Trade Centre and led by Cllr Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield City Council. Paul’s participation in the visit to Chengdu came following an offer from the Chengdu Blades, the Sheffield United associated football club based in Chengdu, who strongly supported the trade mission.

The aim of the visit was to facilitate local businesses, with access to Chengdu’s business community through the links that Sheffield has built with Chengdu – Sheffield’s new partner city.

David Cross, Director of Coda Studios who took part in the trip, said: ”The Creativesheffield Trade Mission to Chengdu was an out and out success. What more can local businesses want when the Leader of the City attends to add weight and kudos to your trip? It is impossible to underestimate the importance of Cllr Scrivens attendance. He managed to open doors for us to businesses and organisations that would have taken many months to do alone. The fact that this trip was part funded and organised by Creativesheffield shows how dynamic and farsighted this city has become with regards to business and ambition.”

Another member of the delegation, Sheffield United’s group executive director Mike Farnan added: “This was probably the most important trip that representatives from Sheffield and Yorkshire have made since United’s chairman Kevin McCabe acquired the Chengdu Blades. It showcased the work that Kevin and the team have been doing in forging business opportunities for both regions.”

Joanna Lavan, International Manager at Creativesheffield who organised the mission, commented: “I am delighted that the businesses who took part in the trade mission have found it such a huge success. During the visit, Creativesheffield signed an MoU with EUPIC which will help support Sheffield businesses seeking to develop opportunities and cooperation in Chengdu. The attendance of Cllr Paul Scriven really helped to raise the profile of the delegation and the relationship between the sister cities.”

Councillor Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield City Council, concluded: “The mission has also really helped us to raise the profile of Sheffield in China. I was invited to give the opening speech at the Biopharmaceutical Forum at the EU-China Business and Technology Fair where I was able talk about Sheffield’s achievements and the city signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Chengdu Municipal Foreign Affairs and the British Consulate General Chongqing on Chengdu’s Sustainable Development into a World Modern Garden City. These will hopefully lead to further jobs and business for Sheffield.”

Single ladies and start-ups, stand up for being special

As someone who’s busy striving to find her feet in a new area of work, I’ve recently made it my business to find out every little nugget I can about what to do – and what not to do – when it comes being successful at selling your services to the corporate world.

This week, my latest lesson, learnt at a business event workshop for the self-employed, was a simple one : specialise, specialise, specialise.

As I sat listening to the Enterprise Champion of Business Link Yorkshire(yes, this is her official job title) explain the importance on strictly focusing on your potential market and firming staking your claim to this territory, I remembered the last time I’d been told this fine-tuning approach to cultivating a career was a canny move.

My former journalism tutor had the same advice while I studied for my Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism, 13 years ago. ‘Find an area to specialise writing in, make your name there, then you’ll have less need to look for work, as it will come to you…’

So, it was with this notion of cultivating my ‘specialness’ still ringing around my head, when a few days later, I read a piece in The Observer – albeit about an altogether different market – which threw this notion out of the window. And left me spitting feathers!

Lori Gottlieb, American author of Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr Good Enough, is urging women who haven’t found Mr Right by the time they reach 30 to settle for Mr Second Best.

Gottlieb attempts to qualify her laughable ‘theory’ by saying: ‘Every woman I know – no matter how successful and ambitious, how financially and emotionally secure – feels panic, occasionally coupled with desperation, if she hits 30 and finds herself unmarried.’

I’m not sure what left me more irritated and disappointed – the fact that Gottlieb was the latest in a long line of hollow mouthpieces who felt it their duty to dig out their rusty loudhailers to dictate to me and my peers on the grounds of gender, or was I more irked at The Observer for giving her such a prominent voice, in the shape of a half-page ‘news’ article on page 7?

Here’s the full piece: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/24/women-stop-looking-mr-right

Second best is never good enough, whether you’re talking couples or corporates.

Keep it special!