As I hope many of you know Jacksons has, for the last year and a half, run a breakfast club in Newcastle on the first Thursday of every month at a venue known as The Secret Tower, a fantastic building once forming part of the city walls. Last month, we decided to add another breakfast club to our events calendar held at our office at Preston Farm, Stockton on Tees, appropriately known as TS18. So why do we, as a firm, commit so much effort to these events and what do we think are the benefit of them?
The glib answer is of course that we like bacon and any excuse for a morning butty is good for us but this would in a way be the real answer, whilst I can wholeheartedly recommend the breakfast at both events.
We launched The Secret Tower breakfast club to raise the profile of the firm in Newcastle and we believe it has been very successful in achieving its aim. Along the way though we have had the opportunity to meet regularly with clients, referrers and friends of the firm in an atmosphere conducive to networking and to learn more about their business. As the event has grown and developed many new businesses have attended and we have had the chance to make new contacts whilst still nurturing existing relationships and we have been able to promote, not only the legal prowess of our lawyers of which we are rightfully proud, but also the personality of the firm and to demonstrate the values we hold dear in the flesh. Our junior lawyers have gained the opportunity to hone their networking skills in a comfortable setting knowing that they are not going into a room of strangers and in an environment where they can observe some old hands in action. By meeting many of the same people, month after month, we have got to know them properly and as with all friendships our conversations have been able to move into new in depth discussions resulting, at the very least, in a greater understanding of each other but also in many cases in opportunities to co-operate on projects and in some cases to work together.
With all these benefits it seemed to be a no-brainer when we moved to a new office in Stockton with conference facilities and to take the model that had worked so well in Newcastle and let it flourish in our new home. There was an added incentive here as we have many relationships in the Tees Valley, nurtured over 140 years but relationships whether personal or in business need time to flourish and people need to see each other to build on these. Not working in a city centre there is a tendency to go from office to car, to meetings, to office, to car to home without meeting anyone along the way. We felt our part of Teesside needed a hub where people could get together and there was no reason why we did not fulfil our commitment when we moved into Falcon Court to put the place on the map!
So, if you are looking for somewhere to network, to build business relationships, to learn something new or just to have an excellent bacon sandwich on a Thursday morning then come along and try one of these events. You can find details of these events here and all we ask is that you book a place so we can make sure we cater for enough people. See you soon!
