Networking has been Kirsty’s field of expertise for over 15 years, overseeing over 10 business event brands as well as 1 charity, 3 social enterprises and various community networking projects.
2023 sees a new look for her business with some of her brands being cut as she consolidates all events and services under a single new brand – Kirsty James Consulting.
Kirsty will be speaking at the WBEx meeting on 9 May where she will be sharing parts of her new networking skills workshop and providing all WBEx attendees with a voucher towards the course’s soft launch.
Meanwhile, we asked her why she had rebranded and what this meant for her events. She explains:
For years I have been a creator of event concepts. They’ve all been rolled out under different trading, event or project names but essentially they were all still me behind the scenes and that appeared to be causing some confusion. I also wanted to share a stronger message that events were just a part of what I did.
Most people see networking as being just about event attendance when it involves so much more. For 15 years I have worked with businesses to build their networking identity and reputation, set networking strategies and goals, communicate their messages on or offline, coach networking skills, and design and produce marketing materials for networking purposes. This has often involved ongoing marketing project work to support campaigns and engagement but it seemed that all this was hidden behind my event activities.
Covid and other market factors, including the closure and cost of some local venues, took a huge toll on the events side of my business but 2022 has let me take stock of what I had previously achieved to reset my business goals. When I considered whether I wanted to rebuild all of my event brands, something felt missing. I decided to flip the business and put all the brands below my name, shelf some concepts, and create new ideas. I’ve rebranded with the ‘Marketing-Events-Networking’ tagline in order to reinforce the other services I offer.
As for renewal, well, the burning question I’m asked most is which events will continue and which will be wrapped in tissue paper, boxed up and popped in the loft for a bit - or maybe forever.
I’m delighted to report that the event concepts to see a renewal include: International Women’s Day, KTS Women in Business, Warrington Curry Club, Speed Networking, TEDxWarrington, SoupOnTheGo, and hopefully in due course the return of Club90, LinkedInLocal and Think Family Matters too.
In practice, this means I will no longer be running Colony Networking in the 6 regional venues I once did, nor offering the Colony Women or Colony Wellbeing sub-brand events either.
It also means events will be more adhoc but still of high quality and with extra content and creativity, and above all, they’ll all have my direct input. So, look out for the various event titles along the way and if you’re still confused about what events and services are offered, the sources of information are now much clearer too. Everything will be shared on my new website www.kirstyjames.co.uk, and my contact details and networking resources, such as the ‘Networking Matters’ event newsletter, are shown at: linktr.ee/kirstyjames