South Coast: Virtual business webinar attracts 100 people
Smith & Williamson’s South Coast office has hosted a virtual Business Breakfast Club, attracting more than 100 participants.
Traditionally held as morning face-to-face events in Southampton, Bournemouth and Portsmouth where guests would enjoy a full English breakfast, this time it was held digitally and calorie free due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening the webinar, Southampton’s office managing partner Andrew Edmonds reflected on the last few months since the World Health Organisation declared Coronavirus a global pandemic and the UK itself went into lockdown on March 23.
He commented: “We have remained open for business throughout the lockdown by quickly moving to a remote working environment for the majority of our people and have been helping clients address a variety of needs.”
He added: “We know that for some businesses the trading environment has been extremely challenging. Lockdown measures are starting to be relaxed and business has now begun to slowly recover for some, while others are still fighting for their survival. However, it has been great to hear how some businesses changed their manufacturing processes to support the PPE efforts to combat the virus.”
The Business Breakfast Club attracted leaders from a large range of businesses and organisations representing many sectors across the South Coast. Guests heard Elise Sheppard, an audit trainee, on her perspective of how she has adapted to working at home. There was also a thought-provoking panel discussion and Q&A with senior staff members representing different service lines in the Southampton office. They addressed general topics of concern from cashflow and the furlough scheme to insolvency management and corporate finance measures.
Michelle McClean, sector growth manager from Business Hampshire, who attended the webinar said: “Bringing together business leaders to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on both the economy at large and everyday practices was commendable. The breadth of topics covered gave people valuable intelligence to take back to their businesses. Smith & Williamson is offering a number of online events and webinars that are focussed on helping businesses rebuild and recover for the future. We are very excited by what will be next.”
Business Hampshire has launched a campaign #HampshireIsGreat which is a video series on how Covid-19 has impacted upon working practices and also the opportunities it has presented.
The webinar was recorded and can be viewed https://vimeo.com/432459127
