Last night, I went to a talk by Code Computerlove’s MD, Tony Foggett – part of a series called the Focal Point lectures. It was a very useful talk where Tony told us all about how Code came about and its complete history.
The event was run by Manchester’s Creative Industries Development Services (CIDs) and for the ticket price of £10, I got 3 glasses of wine, a bit of networking (more on that later), and inside information on how one of the countries biggest web agencies came into existence and continue to achieve success.
Code’s code
I once had an interview at Code, and although I didn’t get the job, I was massively impressed by the professionalism that they seemed to operate with, which seemed completely different to any other agency I’d visited. Therefore, when an opportunity arose to hear from a founding member just why they were so successful – I jumped at the chance.
Insights gained
The one major piece of advice I’ve taken away from the Tony Foggett’s lecture is the usage of good PR. Those who have heard of Code will have no doubt become sick of hearing about Code – they are mentioned everywhere and have won every award under the sun in this industry. That may irk some other agencies but, from a potential client’s point of view – they won’t be getting swamped with Code references, rather they may have actually heard of Code once but never of your agency. So guess who they’re going to call when they want a tender.. clue: not you.
Networking
The first hour of the event was ‘networking’, the thought of which may fill some people with dread – but it was actually quite fun. Networking is like going to a party and not knowing anyone – the only difference is you have a couple of ways to start the small talk at a networking event – which include asking what the other people do and finding out a little about their business. Everyone is there to find out info about how to run their business better so there’s no shame in talking about work – you may gain new clients or useful information so it is worth doing.
When I first got there, everyone already seemed to be sat or stood in little defined groups and I didn’t feel confident enough to break into a big group. Luckily more stragglers came in soon after and I found myself talking to a guy who ran a music PR agency and a guy who is starting a poetry competition website.
Summary
As I mentioned previously, this lecture is part of a series and I will certainly be going to the next one in the series.
Check the Creative Times (CIDS) websites for details of future lectures in this series.
I was there!!!
I came like 15 minutes late though, i got the times mixed up trying to avoid the networking part. I went to the last one, I did a blog entry about it yesterday, check it out!
Prior to going, I too would have tried to avoid the networking part (have I known about it) but it was fine. Plus – networking seems to be a necessary part of getting your name out there.
Was anyone else reading this at last night’s talk? I’d love to hear what more people thought about Tony Foggett’s talk.