We are still enjoying the success of our first expo event, the East Kent Expo, which we held this month.

Others will follow but it will sound better if the locations can also begin with ‘e’ for marketing punchiness.

Needing an east Kent location, we were offered the use of the brand new ballroom at the Mercure Hythe Imperial, before it’s official opening that evening.

Luckily it was a beautiful day so we could enjoy the views across the Channel as we enjoyed breakfast. Speakers from East Kent College covered resources and workforce, while McIntyre Hudson spoke about finance in the area.

The Port of Dover brought us up to speed on the massive scale of their development and our keynote speakers for Dreamland Margate really brought alive the energy of what is happening over there.

More than 50 attendees came along and we look forward to receiving suggestions of topics and areas for future plans.

We are welcoming two new committee members to our fold. RAP Office Interiors director Julie Anderson and Hadlow Group director of finance and resources Mark Lumsdon-Taylor will help us to plan the right number of targeted events throughout the year. Their wealth of contacts and connections, and their experience in many business areas, will add to the strong committee looking after our members’ interests.

We had another popular MD Forum series, this time entitled The Strategy for Selling to the Blue Chips – A Pipe Dream, or a Possible Route to Greater Profitability for the SME?

It was great and not because I ended up facilitating it at short notice, but mainly because Fourayes were good enough to lend us their marketing director, David Hall, who had previously worked at Saatchi. The standard of conversation and advice was excellent.

Branch manager Lesley Bennett and I also hosted an excellent evening meal accompanied by the head chef of the Institute of Directors at Pall Mall, which we incorporated with a tour of the updated facilities. Thank you to all the partners who were able to join us.

Coming up, we have our company visit to KIMS, which is well worth a look if you have no idea of the work that has been going in to this state of the art hospital in Maidstone. Special mention also goes to two events which are both filling up fast: the Black Tie Dinner on November 27 and the House of Commons Lunch on December 1.

That sounds like a fun afternoon.