A big boost for business networking

A local business forum is reporting record events bookings as it launches its most ambitious calendar of networking and business-to-business events for 2023, as it builds up to its 140^th anniversary in 2024.

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, the county’s largest business forum, has seen a huge response from its members and wider business community across the county as the Chamber released the dates of their 2023 networking events, with both the popular Safari networking and the Brunch n’ Business sessions quickly selling out.

The Chamber anticipates putting on over 80 events and business gatherings in 2023, from traditional networking sessions to thought leadership meetings, meet the buyer events to business leaders’ dinners, behind the scenes business tours to thematic group think tank meetings, along with meetings with the Bank of England and Members of Parliament.

The programme of activity, averaging over one a week, will take place in some of the best venues across Suffolk, offering the opportunity to meet and network with a wide range of local businesses from all sectors and sizes whilst shaping local and national policy and debating some of the key issues affecting businesses in the county.

At the event launch John Dugmore, Chief Executive of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “We were delighted to see so many businesses signing up to our first events of the year. It’s a reflection of the resilience of our local business community as they adapt to the local business environment and make the most of the opportunities available to them.

“In the coming weeks we will be announcing the dates of our annual Rooftop Garden Party and revealing this year’s guest speaker for our Prestige dinner for what we hope to be another sell out event.”

Suffolk Chamber in West Suffolk board Chair, Steve Elsom, said: “Being a business owner myself and having attended and chaired many of the 2022 events I can affirm to the importance of choosing the right events to attend in order to support your business growth. The Chamber has such a wide spectrum of events catering to a variety of business needs and audiences so I have no doubt there is an event for everyone and it will be well worth your time.”

Events Manager, Ami Birrell-Delves, added: “Businesses who want to know more about our events can go to the events page on our Suffolk Chamber website where we will soon be releasing even more event dates. New for 2023, we are also exploring leadership and management workshops, likely to be run in a similar format to our pre-existing international trade training sessions.

“2023 really does look to be the year for business networking and business leadership gatherings, and we are really looking forward to our first sell out event.”

The Chamber has also seen a spike in interest for sponsoring events evidencing a strong desire for businesses to raise their profile and invest in the local business community. Businesses can find out more about sponsorship opportunities by contacting Events Manager, Ami Birrell-Delves: ami@suffolkchamber.co.uk to discuss which opportunities best suit their needs.

More information about Suffolk Chamber’s events can be found here: www.suffolkchamber.co.uk/events-networking/suffolk-chamber-events/