I’VE been to enough events to know what makes a bad one.
I’m sure you have too.
So when discussion turned to an event that the region’s corporate finance community would enjoy attending, we knew what it shouldn’t have.
The Big Ticket night out for Yorkshire’s dealmakers will have no awards, no bow ties, no bland three course meal and no egos.
Ok, there is one of those that I can’t guarantee.
The event, on February 2 next year at the Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen in Leeds will serve up street food, live music, relaxed conversation and plenty of personality.
Oh, and a well stocked bar.
And, most importantly, it will raise money for a fantastic charity.
Yorkshire’s corporate finance community is renowned for its talent and personality.
From management buyouts to multi-billion pound global deals, the region’s advisers and funders add huge value and make the difference for their clients.
They are also passionate about the region in which they live and work and want to put something back.
The Big Ticket will bring together the people that help business tick and raise lots of money for Maggie’s Yorkshire.
Maggie’s will be a cancer care centre in the grounds of St James’ Hospital in Leeds designed to feel like a welcoming refuge or a home from home for cancer patients.
A private fund-raising campaign has already raised £3m towards the £4m cost of building Maggie’s Yorkshire and The Big Ticket will support the campaign to raise the final £1m to make it a reality.
The Centre has been designed by Heatherwick Studios, responsible for the Olympic Cauldron in 2012 and the new Garden Bridge over the River Thames.
Maggie’s Yorkshire will work with existing cancer support services and charities within the region to ensure that the best possible support is available throughout Yorkshire.
It is a great cause and I hope you can support it.
For more information or to book tickets which cost £70 +VAT each, email: events@copasummit.com
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IT was off to Huddersfield last week to that footballing mecca, the John Smith’s Stadium, for the Huddersfield Examiner Business Awards.
I was a guest of Jason Taylor, man-about-town and fixer at Kirklees College, although I think he prefers the title of commercial manager.
Jason and I are former Yorkshire Post colleagues – he used to have to try to promote my scribblings when he was part of the newspaper sales team at the title.
Given it was a black tie event, Jason was wearing a bright blue suit and bow tie that was a jaunty shade of Donald Trump orange.
Fellow guest Sinead Sopala of Ramsdens Solicitors whispered to me that Jason looked like Easyjet cabin crew.
That prompted a few hand signals mimicking the on-board instructions indicating where the emergency exits were.
Entrepreneur Andy Needham, sitting on a neighbouring table, shouted: “Chicken or beef? What would you like for your in-flight meal?”
Although Andy was more subdued than normal, having just completed the sale of his Stockleys Sweets business the same day, which he said had proved “emotional”.
Guest speaker on the evening was former top football referee Graham Poll, a man who doesn’t seem to lack self-confidence.
Before he took the stage he played a film of clips from his refereeing days.
To Coldplay’s song When I Ruled the World, the film was a compilation of him booking and sending off lots of famous players including David Beckham and Eric Cantona.
Perhaps a trifle self-indulgent. But when Poll took to the stage you could see it still rankles that most people in the room remembered him for issuing three yellow cards to the same player.
At the 2006 World Cup, Poll gave Croatian Josip Simunic three yellows in the Croatia v Australia group match.
The former referee who is now a media pundit says the mistake cost him a chance to referee the final of the tournament, but when you make a cock-up like that, it isn’t surprising.
And clearly his assistants in the match were no help, which he made pretty clear.
On to the awards, hosted by BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration who was in high demand for selfies from guests.
The shortlists were packed with quality businesses large and small and fair play to the Huddersfield Examiner, it produced a full report and photos of all the winners in the next day’s paper.
I think most local daily and evening papers would struggle to deliver that these days.
I stayed at the Premier Inn at Aspley Basin, near where I lived as a student at Huddersfield Polytechnic (it turned into a university just in time for my graduation so I can fairly claim to have a university degree).
The following morning I wandered up the road to Moldgreen, where I lived with three other students in a terrace house during the final year of my history and politics degree.
The house was still there, looking a bit smarter that during my time, but I was unable to complete the trip down memory lane as the Sit A While cafe was closed.
Peering through the net curtains into the tiny cafe I could see the same three tables and tiny kitchen.
But the cafe was shut on a Friday morning.
Huddersfield Town’s fixture list for the current season was pinned on the wall, so the place can’t have closed permanently, but an empty wheelchair was beside the window, giving the cafe a surreal look, more like a Tracey Emin art installation rather than a greasy spoon.
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IT’S been a great week for democracy and free speech.
Newspapers castigating our independent judiciary as “enemies of the people”.
Vile racist and sexual abuse sent via social media to a woman who brought the judicial challenge to the Brexit vote.
And Donald Trump winning the US presidential election.
I wrote that last sentence last weekend thinking it would never happen. It was meant to illustrate that while things were bad, they weren’t as bad as they could be.
Well now it’s reality.
And if you believe in democracy and free speech that’s what you get.
And as much as many Brits have taken to social media to lament Americans’ choice for their next president, it is happening.
Brexit here and Trump’s election over there point to an increasing polarisation in our politics.
And whether you agree or disagree with each, that’s what you get with democracy.
What’s the alternative. Russia? North Korea?
I suppose Kim Jong-un now has a rival for craziest world leader hairdo.
We will watch with plenty of interest and some trepidation what happens across the Atlantic.
But like with Brexit, we have to make the best of it, there is no point moping or hand-wringing.
So I intend to play my part in this spirit of reconciliation and looking positively to the future.
Have a great weekend.
I hope it is a beautiful thing. Truly beautiful.
I mean that most sincerely folks.