VIEW FROM THE CHAMBER

What a jam-packed year of events we’ve had at the Chamber!

We’ve brought back the regular monthly members’ lunch, which has been hosted by different member venues over the year.

This regular one-hour lunch format on the last Thursday of the month has been well received and well attended by members, who value the opportunity to give short business presentations on their work and hear from the Chamber team about what’s coming up.

We also ran our first-ever tourism roadshow early this year that took representatives from key tourism sector businesses, including Free to book, Visit Scotland and Expedia, to venues in Ballachulish, Strontian, Arisaig and Fort William.

Tourism members snapped up the chance to come and talk face-to-face with the companies they had questions for. The roadshow format was so effective that we’re running another tourism roadshow in early 2020.

After feedback from members, we ran two drug and alcohol awareness’ events – an introductory session looking at the issues, followed by a targeted event for managers.

Plus, we’ve held two employment law seminars to ensure that member businesses can easily keep up to date with any changes in employment law.

We had regular contact with Scottish ministers over the year, with two special business forum meetings with the Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation and the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills.

Bringing government ministers here to talk to businesses ensures that they are aware of the priorities and challenges of our business community, and gives us the opportunity to talk directly to those in power.

Ideas Week 2019 was another bumper week of events in November – we provided a wide range of events aimed at inspiring the whole community.

We ran business workshops on leadership, creativity and motivation, plus the ultimate easy networking event – Around Lochaber in 80 Tables.

Question Time offered the chance for everyone to air their views, while Lord David Steel inspired us with his Charles Kennedy Lecture.

Our first-ever Women in Business lunch was a great success, with 70 women coming along to enjoy lunch and the chance to listen to Sarah Heward of the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum share her story of resilience, set-backs and success.

We topped it all off with a sumptuous gala dinner where we were wowed by the incredibly entertaining magician Kevin Quantum. What a fantastic year!

We’re delighted at the attendance and great feedback we’ve had from members about the events in 2019 and we look forward to bringing you even more great business events in 2020.

If you’d like to come along, give us a call about joining the chamber on 01397 705 765 or visit www.lochaberchamber.co.uk