PMF North West Group – summary of 2014 events
Committee:
Chair: Scott Hadden – Aaron & Partners
Regional Director: John Ranson – PACE Partners
Regional PR: Richard Venables – Online Ventures Group
Dave Clark – APS Group
Matt Crimes – Turner & Townsend
Sabina Davis, Hill Dickinson
Rachel Kelly – PwC
Daniel Kondras – Network Marketing Group
20 February – DLA Piper, Manchester
2013 – The year mobile took over the world
For our first event of 2014, we were delighted to reveal the findings of a comprehensive
research study into the impacts and relevance of digital and social technologies. The study
was conducted by PM Forum, Managing Partners’ Forum and Elephant Creative, with almost
200 in-house professionals responding.
Helen Hammond, Managing Director of Elephant Creative presented the key findings. We
followed this with a panel discussion, including Partners from North West-based firms, to
debate the emerging issues from the study. Our panel also took questions from the floor.
The study findings and the resulting discussion will raise points that include:





Changing use and popularity of digital and social technologies in professional
services firms
Disconnects arising from differing purposes and outcomes from using this technology
The role of digital and social technology in promoting engagement, collaboration and
new business generation
How KPI data and knowledge is shared internally with Managing Partners and
practice leaders and used to influence decision-making
The role of training, experience and peer-networks in converting digital novices to
experts
18 March – DWF, Manchester
Winning and retaining clients: How does your firm measure up?
There is no such thing as maintaining the status quo in business - you are either going
forward or backwards. To avoid going backwards, especially in a flat or declining market,
winning and retaining clients is vital. You must keep the clients you have and take clients
from your competition. But how are you going to do this?
Chris Whyatt helped the audience to assess their own firms performance. He is known for
being highly interactive and challenging in his approach, which he describes as more
workshop than presentation. By the end of the session attendees had an initial benchmark of
their own firms and a clearer steer on priorities.
15 May – Mills & Reeve, Manchester
Getting up-close and personal
In a world of increasing business complexity and personal 'remoteness' there are fewer
opportunities for us to get up-close-and-personal with our networks.
In this breakfast event, behavioural development specialist Jon Hodgson, explored ways to
ensure that when the chances come along to engage with our networks, we take - and make
- the most of them. He:



Identified the 'three steps to heaven' that result in strong, sustainable relationships.
Outlined the daily behaviours of good networkers.
Explored how to create a culture of encouragement and accountability by supporting
fee earners in building their networks and intelligence.
17 July – Pinsent Masons, Manchester
The professions in a digital age
The professional sector is highly competitive and increasingly mobile and, like other
industries, digital is shaping the way organisations do (or should) be marketing themselves.
This bite-size conference features a host of leading experts from all corners of the digital
world. Topics covered included:



Current trends in digital marketing and, what is on the fast-moving horizon
Who best to engage with in an online space
Why wearing a suit should not mean a suppression in creativity!
Join us to hear these issues and more debated by a distinguished panel including:






Measurement, search and analytics: Dan Reilly, Ruler Analytics and Epic New
Media
Firm case studies: Scott Evans, Weightmans and Dan Clark, JMW Solicitors
The changing face of digital PR: Susie Hood, De Winter PR and Peter Davies,
RMS PR,
Capturing insight in a digital world: Miles McGoun, Manzama
The future of search: Dan Nolan, The E Word
Why is there no app for that?: Sabine Douglas, Apadmi Ltd
9 October – PwC, Manchester
Building a business-development mindset across the organisation
Should ‘Sales’ ever be just a department? In fact, are firms missing a trick if they think that
way? Ambitious leaders state that they want to make BD a belief that runs through the veins
of their firms at every level and in every function.
Pie-in-the sky dreams? Maybe for some, but for others it’s a critical business advantage to
have in markets that are revving up. You choose.
Following an extremely popular session in London, Anne Blackie from Grant Thornton
discussed how to create a shared endeavour that goes from the coal face straight to the top
line.
Learn how a BD-focused mind-set:

Enables employees to contribute to the firm's growth at a deeply personal level.

Helps to ‘out’ dissenters who sap management energy and create distraction away
from what’s important.

Empowers the organisation to adopt a sales-led culture where people at all levels are
developed to hunt in packs, spot opportunities and act as ambassadors.
27 November – DTZ, Manchester
Internal communications - How does your firm stack up?
Our next event shone the spotlight on internal communication and employee engagement,
showcasing the results of the latest of the 'State of the Sector' research conducted by
internal comms agency Gatehouse. Hot off the press, the results of this industry-wide census
highlighted challenges internal communicators are facing and where their focus will be over
the coming months. It investigated channel use and explored the impact of new and
emerging technologies like Enterprise Social Networks and Apps.
This report provided a comprehensive benchmark on internal communication activity across
numerous leading organisations throughout the UK and the rest of the world.
This was an opportunity for in-house teams looking to better understand what other
organisations are doing to engage their people, to explore how their own organisation stacks
up, and to give some recommendations on achieving excellence.