Events / Training Archives | Page 7 of 17 | Bristol Creative Industries

When: Wednesday 19th July 2023.
What time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Location: Huboo, 41 Corn St, Bristol BS1 1HT
Drinks and pizza provided.

Join us for the first Bristol MotherBoard community event! This event will be a networking event, with a panel talk starting 7.30pm.

With 50% of women leaving the industry by the time they are 35, we will be asking the important question “how we can retain more women in tech”.

We will offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.

If you have not been to one of our events before, MotherBoard is a community, event series and charter for everyone who believes we need more support for women working in the tech industry. We encourage everybody to join who is interested in understanding more about how to drive inclusion in the workplace.

We’re delighted to share that Unfold have taken on organising the Smart Cookies meetup group, started by the wonderful Nic & Nat Alpi, previously of Cookies HQ.

Smart Cookies is a quarterly meetup group of over 1,000 entrepreneurs, involved in the Bristol creative and digital industries, passionate about design, development and marketing.

We want to continue the events in the same spirit and ethos as our predecessors, promoting collaboration between disciplines so we can devise better solutions for all aspects of the creative process.

Each meetup will feature either individual speakers or an expert panel, where discussion will centre around a set theme related to building and growing digital ventures.

Whether you’re a tech professional, an entrepreneur, freelancer or student, there will be something for you. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, make connections and join a community of smart cookies.

Come along and be inspired or – if you’d like to share your own experiences – why not contact us about becoming a speaker?

From Amsterdam to London: Olivia’s Incredible Journey to Support Winston’s Wish

BrisTechTonic had the unique opportunity to sponsor the Walk for Winston’s Wish Black Tie Ball in March 2023, an event put on by family members to benefit the wonderful Winston’s Wish organisation.

10 years ago Olivia and Harvey lost their mum, and Russell his wife – Caroline.

For the past ten years in March, Olivia, Harvey, and Russell have planned a yearly walk in support of the organisation called Walk for Winston’s Wish. The family wanted to bring the neighbourhood together to recognise and celebrate Winston’s Wish while also wanting to collect some money for them. Winston’s Wish gave the family vital assistance after their loss.

Who are Winston’s Wish?

A UK-based organisation called Winston’s Wish helps kids who have lost a loved one or are going through a similar situation. The nonprofit organisation was established in 1992 to support grieving children, teenagers, and their families.

Winston’s Wish is aware of how traumatising and challenging it may be for kids to lose a loved one. To assist kids and their families in overcoming their sorrow and accepting their loss, they provide a variety of programmes and support.

Bereavement support is one of the main services provided by Winston’s Wish. The nonprofit organisation has a group of specialised practitioners that work with kids and teenagers to better understand and cope with their sorrow. Individual counselling, group therapy, and family support are a few examples of this.

Winston’s Wish also provides families with practical assistance, such as suggestions on how to talk to kids about death, details on legal and financial issues, and instructions on how to organise a funeral or memorial ceremony.

In addition to these services, Winston’s Wish also undertakes a number of projects and programmes to help encourage good mourning practises and increase awareness of the needs of grieving kids. These include research on the effects of loss on children and young people, community outreach initiatives, and training for professionals who work with children.

Winston’s Wish understands that every child’s experience with sorrow is different, and they cater their support to each child’s and family’s specific needs. The organisation has a kid-centred approach, which means they prioritise putting the needs and desires of the child at the centre of their assistance.

In general, Winston’s Wish is an essential resource for kids and families mourning a loved one. Through the charity’s services and support, families and children can find a way to get through the tough process of grieving and move on with their lives.

2023 – 10 Marathons in 10 days for the 10th Year

To commemorate their fundraising for Winston’s Wish’s tenth anniversary, Olivia, Harvey, and Russell hosted a Black Tie event. Attendees had a great time dancing, seeing entertainment, and raising money at the event, which was a major success.

Olivia and her companion undertook an amazing journey from Amsterdam to London while running 10 marathons in 10 days as a way to mark the event. Their efforts demonstrated that anything is possible with tenacity and endurance and helped generate awareness and money for Winston’s Wish. Some of what they did is visible on their Instagram feed.

The wonderful venue Moor Park Golf Club put on a visually stunning show for the evening, and BrisTechTonic was happy to sponsor the event.

Through Olivia’s efforts, this event raises nearly £15,000, bringing the campaign’s overall fundraising total to £45,000 over a ten-year period.

The Night

A memorable evening was had at the Black Tie Ball. Delicious canapés were provided throughout the evening, and a live band entertained guests with a mix of timeless songs and modern favourites.

Additionally, some of the event’s organisers and Winston’s Wish representatives gave speeches during which they discussed the impact of their organisation and the value of helping kids who are grieving.

However, it wasn’t all serious; there was also a lot of joy, laughter, and dancing. The occasion provided attendees with a chance to mingle, commemorate the fundraising efforts’ tenth anniversary, and express their support for Winston’s Wish.

The legacy Olivia left behind during her 10-day trip from Amsterdam to London was one of the evening’s highlights. Her extraordinary adventure promoted Winston’s Wish, raised money for it, and demonstrated that anything is possible if you work hard and persist. Her trek will live on in the form of inspiration and motivation for others to donate to this vital cause.

The celebration of community, generosity, and the importance of giving back was fantastic.

How can you help?

At BrisTechTonic, we value giving back to the community and assisting worthwhile causes. We are honoured to have participated in this unique event and anticipate providing Winston’s Wish with further support in the future.

Launching a startup or innovation project can feel like stepping into the unknown. While there are countless success stories, the fact remains that 20% of UK startups don’t make it through the first year. However, by focusing on 3 key areas — Validation, Design and Funding — you can massively de-risk your project and be well-set for long-term success.

Hosted by Hugo Walker, Head of Marketing at Gravitywell, this interactive webinar will feature insight from:

Caroline van den Bergh, Co-founder at Lunos — Supporting businesses from early idea to scale up to get market confidence and demonstrable traction

Tom Foster, Head of Commercial at Gravitywell — Providing award-winning Digital Innovation that allows tech startups and scaleups to achieve their goals
Sara Palmer, Head of Partnerships at Granted Consultancy — Securing non-dilutive funding for innovative organisations making the world a better place

If you’re an entrepreneur, startup founder, or a later-stage company looking to innovate, this is the event for you. Come ready to listen, learn and get involved in a Q&A!

Sign up here

The Design Awards were launched by Roger Proctor MBE, Founder and Chairman of Proctor + Stevenson, as part of an ongoing campaign to tackle the way institutions approach design education. Roger wanted to give students the opportunity to stretch their creative talents beyond academia. He recognised the need for hands-on industry experience and commercial briefs. But he also noticed a frustrating lack of creative recognition outside of London, which is why he chose to celebrate talent specifically in the South West of England.

For final-year university students, the SWDDS Awards offer unparalleled opportunities – industry exposure, advice from an expert panel of judges, and valuable creative connections.

Jess has gone on to become Junior Creative at Dyson. We sat down with Jess to find out what she’s been up to since the South West Design + Digital Student Awards 2022.

So, how did you find out about the South West Design + Digital Student Awards?

As part of our course, one module included submitting our work to a design award. Our lecturer presented a selection of opportunities to choose from, and she had mentioned the South West Design + Digital Student Awards.

I had also heard about a previous graphic design student from the University of Gloucestershire who had won the SWDDS Awards and the opportunities that followed for her.

I entered my third-year brand identity and packaging project for an ethical coffee brand 24 Karat Coffee, which was on a mission to make coffee better. The brief was set by Bulletproof – a design agency in London.

I entered it into the Graphic Design category, and the fact there is no brief meant I was able to enter work I had already completed, which made it a lot easier for me to enter the Design Awards alongside my university deadlines.

After the awards, I graduated with a First Class Honours and had a one-month apprenticeship with Bristol agency Outlaw, where I worked alongside Emma Proven, winner of the 2019 South West Design + Digital Student Awards.

I then went on to work at Dyson as a Junior Creative. I had been in contact with Chris Roberts, Creative Director at Dyson and judge at the SWDDS Awards, who offered me the role. I have now been working at Dyson in Malmesbury for 4 months and I’m loving every minute.

That’s fantastic! Knowing what you know now, do you have any advice for people thinking about entering the South West Design + Digital Student Awards themselves?

My advice to someone entering the awards would be: just throw yourself into every opportunity you’re given. It can lead to amazing opportunities and achievements! If I hadn’t entered the awards, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It has opened many doors for me, including my internship with Outlaw and my full-time role at Dyson.

My experience at the awards was great. I had an interview where I had to present my project and my portfolio to a judging panel, which meant my work was seen by some utterly amazing judges. Even though it could have been a nerve-wracking experience, they made me feel so comfortable.

The ceremony was also great. I got the opportunity to meet other creative students who had entered their work, as well as industry professionals that Proctor + Stevenson had invited. They gave me good advice for my first steps into the creative industry.

If you’re a third-year university student in the South West of England, get your best projects in Graphic Design, Digital Design and Motion and AR (Augmented Reality) ready.

Whether it is a bold new app, a dynamic branding campaign, or an artistic animation, we want to see it.

Gardens Illustrated magazine is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, and to mark the occasion, the team are holding a special evening of conversation hosted by Gardens Illustrated editor Stephanie Mahon.

Steph will be joined by landscape gardener Dan Pearson OBE; Claire Ratinon, author, speaker and radio presenter; and garden designer Tom Massey, as they discuss the ways our gardens and gardening have changed over the past three decades, the most pressing issues we face now, and what the future of horticulture may hold.

Probably the most inspiring little film night in the world. Join us in Bristol for an evening of learning, stimulation, collaboration, entertainment and general filmmaking joy!

Tabb would like to invite you to join this month’s Filmmakers’ Shindig on Tuesday in Bristol!

Along with being a great place to meet like-minded creatives, We’ll be screening the brilliant short ‘Swiped’ by Luke Collins & hosting guest speaker, Tom Brereton Downs!

February’s guest speaker is Screenology‘s Tom Brereton Downs. Tom dares you to take more risks, make more mistakes, do less of what you’re “supposed” to do, and more of what works! All within his purpose-built talk, “Ten Dangerous Ideas for Filmmakers”.

Microsoft will join a select panel of senior marketing professionals in Bristol this March to discuss how businesses can best drive more online customers through digital marketing.

Hosted by South West performance agency Launch, the breakfast event will be held on March 22nd at the Showcase Cinema de Lux in Bristol from 8:30 – 11am.

The CMO’s Guide to Customer Acquisition will provide a vital opportunity for like-minded marketers and brands to listen and debate with other CMOs about their successes, challenges and their strategies around data, conversion optimisation and paid media.

Marion Gould, Client Partner Lead at Microsoft, will be speaking on ‘Marketing with purpose: how to create a strong brand in digital marketing.’ Also on the schedule is the managing director of Launch, Jaye Cowle, who will chair a panel debate with senior marketing leaders to open the event, discussing the evolution of performance marketing.

Jaye Cowle says: “This is set to be a really insightful event for marketers, brands, and business owners. Together with our brilliant guests, and media partner Microsoft, you can learn how brands like yours are getting the most from their performance marketing activity.”

In addition to Microsoft, there will be panel discussion with Barney Bell, Head of Marketing for David Salisbury; Piers Tincknell from Atomic Smash and Harriet Barter, Account Director at Launch, on ‘Why channel diversification is key to converting and finding new audiences.’

Data Strategist, Michael Patten, will discuss the countdown to GA4 in ‘Leverage your data to target new customers.’ In addition, Launch’s Conversion Director Joe Johnston will be joined by Account Manager Josh Marinaro to discuss the customer experience: ‘How incremental website changes can bring big results.’

Picture: Marion Gould, Client Partner Lead at Microsoft, will be speaking on Marketing with Purpose.

The Grand Appeal is gearing up for another fortnight of streaming fun in partnership with Jingle Jam, the world’s biggest charity gaming event.

From the 1st – 14th December, Bristol-based gaming company, Yogscast host Jingle Jam on Twitch – the popular gaming streaming platform – to raise funds for The Grand Appeal and other charitable causes. The event attracts more than 250,000 unique views annually for the live 14-day programme of Christmas festivities.

This is the sixth consecutive year The Grand Appeal and Jingle Jam have partnered up for the festive fundraising appeal, raising £1.4m to date, and this year there are multiple ways the public can support The Grand Appeal, the dedicated charity for Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Supporters of the charity can purchase the now iconic Jingle Jam Games Collection.

This year’s Jingle Jam Games Collection is the biggest yet: with almost 90 games worth over £1,000 and is available to anyone who donates over £35 (about $42).

People can also support The Grand Appeal by tuning into live streams and donating. There are many live streams happening during Jingle Jam 2022. But highlights include a live model making session, with Aardman veteran Jim Parkyn on Friday 9 December. Joining Jingle Jam streamers, Briony, Osie and Boba, Jim will present a live Christmas crafts stream where they’ll re-create some of Yogscast’s iconic characters.

This year, fundraisers can also run their own live streams, but it doesn’t have to be related to gaming.

Fundraisers can stream anything they like. It could be painting, a sing-along, cooking, baking or even a quiz. Anything you love, or have a talent for, can be turned into a stream, and for those needing a little help to get one started, can do so with the support of The Grand Appeal and Jingle Jam.

Fundraising for The Grand Appeal through Jingle Jam will fund the creation of a unique facility in the city. With the help of the incredible Jingle Jam community, The Grand Appeal plan to build Jingle Jam Building. This ground-breaking project will allow patients who require long-term rehabilitation and therapy, following an accident or major surgery, and who are not quite yet ready to go home, to stay free of charge and receive the further rehabilitation they need while being able to stay with their family. Jingle Jam Building will be the first of its kind in the UK.

“Choosing to support The Grand Appeal through Jingle Jam helps build a better future for sick children from across the South West”, says Sarah McBride, Head of Philanthropy, at The Grand Appeal.

“Many families from outside Bristol arrive at the children’s hospital with nowhere to stay in an unfamiliar city. Some stay for days, but many stay for weeks or even months while their child receives specialist care. This proposed facility will mean parents can be together with their child during the last steps of their recovery.”

“Whether you tune into a stream, start one of your own, or just pick up the Jingle Jam Games Collection, it all goes to support the young patients of Bristol Children’s Hospital and their families.”

Lewis Brindley, co-founder, The Yogscast and Jingle Jam Trustee said: “Once again, we are humbled by the generosity and passion of the global games industry. Jingle Jam is always the highlight of the year for us here, and with this collection of games we’re confident we’ll top last year’s enormous figure.

“This year’s charities span a range of diverse, important issues – we urge you to find out more about each and every one of them. We know times are tough right now for a lot of people, so if you are not in a position to donate this year, please don’t worry about it, come and watch the live streams online and join in the fun. But if you are in a position to donate and can find it in your heart to donate generously, you’ll be raising funds for some hugely important causes.”

Since 1995, The Grand Appeal has raised over £70m to ensure that the young patients and their families at the children’s hospital receive the very best care by funding life-saving medical equipment, specialist staff, accommodation for families, and a programme of art, music and play therapies.

To join the official Jingle Jam live streams from Thursday 1 December on Twitch visit www.twitch.tv/yogscast and to donate and or purchase the games bundle visit jinglejam.co.uk.

As Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner slashes thousands of intelligent, hard-working, committed and highly-rewarded employees from its payroll in order to save losses reported to be $4 million per day, now might be a sensible time to ask yourself what you would do if something similar happened at your organisation? In reality, most employees don’t have a Plan B.

From his book Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception” Daniel Goleman writes: “..people seem to anaesthetise themselves as though the danger was too vast to arouse concern.”

With a global recession looming, what is currently happening at Twitter, is perhaps an early warning sign that we can (or even ‘should’) expect far more mass redundancies in 2023 and beyond.

UPDATE: Just a few days after this article was first published on LinkedIn, BBC BREAKING NEWS: “Facebook-owner Meta to cut 13% of its workforce… In total 11,000 employees are to be laid off from its worldwide headcount of 87,000 people.

Yes. Dust off your CV. Give it a polish. But in a global downturn, what if decent jobs simply don’t exist for a while? And as we’ve all discovered from the pandemic, if you can work from home – so can every other highly-educated and equally experienced applicant. In whatever country they live in.

Setting up your own business, or running a ‘side-hustle’ alongside your existing job is an option worth considering. And so is ‘freelancing’. That’s the area in which I have most experience.

I’ve been a full-time freelancer since 1978 – my entire working life (except for a 4 year period when I was under contract to the BBC as an announcer – but even then, I had my own ‘side-hustle’ as a voice-over and corporate video presenter). I’ve been self-employed through two recessions. To describe those times as ‘challenging’ would be a gross under-statement.

In the mid-90s a freelance journalist wrote an article in the Sunday Times about a seminar I delivered to help freelancers generate more business.

As a direct result of that article, I received more than 3,000 letters (it was before email) from struggling freelancers asking for help. Since then, the ‘gig’ economy has exploded. And it’s highly likely to expand even further. After delivering countless freelancer seminars, way back in 1998, I commissioned some detailed research about freelancing – this was part of the introduction to the report:

At 90+ pages, you might not want to read every page – but even from light skimming, you’ll see that some aspects of freelancing could have been written last week, not 24 years ago.

Because it was the first research of its type, it was referenced in the House of Commons at that time. No government action was taken. However, I was invited to submit a proposal to provide up-to-date, practical training for freelancers to be offered by a government agency. I presented what I thought was a strong business case; freelancers can be well paid, so if you help them generate more business, they earn more and ultimately contribute more tax. This would therefore self-fund the government supported training. Sadly nothing came of it. I was later informed by someone within government procurement, that you have to be a company, not ‘just’ a freelancer to be accepted as a supplier to UK government. Oh, the irony!

As someone who has since trained thousands of freelancers face-to-face and online, they learn how to structure their businesses in such a way that they can have MORE job security than a mere employee – who, if you think about it in this way, have only one ‘client’. The most savvy, forward-thinking b2b freelancers consciously decide to work with a variety of clients in different industry sectors which operate at different stages in the economic cycle. Developing this type of ‘work-portfolio’ is not fool proof. But it beats crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

I’m holding a free evening seminar for Bristol freelancers at the Square Club on 15th November – for pre-registered attendees only. Register here.

Design a work future that gives you more options. Only you can do that. Don’t expect your employer or your government to bail you out. They will have bigger problems to deal with.

And if one morning you discover, as happened to those thousands of unfortunate workers at Twitter that you’ve been locked out of your laptop or your pass key doesn’t work anymore, please don’t say “This came out of nowhere. We had no idea.”

I’m a semi-retired veteran freelancer who produces and presents professional online TV shows and facilitates/emcees large-scale international congresses. I’m also the founder of the FreelancerSupport.Online community.