After a busy and successful year, conference season Russell Bedford ended two recent events of the year: marketing meeting and meeting of managers and young partners. Both events took place at the stunning Cavalieri Art Hotel in St. Julian's in Malta in days 28–30 November 2019
Marketing meeting
Marketing Meeting sessions began on Thursday, 28 November, from welcoming the CEO Russell Bedford, Stephen Hamlet, and the presentation of current delegates. Stephen Hamlet presented an update of the network on successes and development Russell Bedford over the past year, as well as initiatives to be implemented in 2020.
After the coffee break, a session was held entitled "How to improve your company's marketing – cooperation with peers". The session included an introduction to the latest “Centre of Excellence” Russell Bedford, dedicated to online marketing professionals. The Centre is a concept designed to allow members with a common specialisation (in this case marketing) to cooperate with each other and share knowledge and experience.
This afternoon, an interactive workshop session ended, during which delegates worked in groups to develop a marketing plan to share the benefits of membership of the international network with customers and potential clients of our member companies.
Participants of the marketing meeting met with participants of a meeting of managers and young partners during informal drinks and dinner in a restaurant overlooking the sea.
Day second began with a morning session led by corporate coach Angus Farr of Training Counts. Angus discussed the topic of “helping accountants to sell themselves” by identifying good and bad accounting behaviour in the field of “sale”. The question of why (some) accountants have difficulty selling and valuable examples of how marketing professionals can fill such a gap were shared.
Meeting of managers and young partners
Our host, Sandro Grech, managing partner in the Maltese company Russell Bedford, SG Malta, opened the meeting with a discussion of business in Malta. The network was then updated globally Russell Bedford by Stephen Hamlet.
Professional coach and business coach, Michael Quigley, with Kataholos, he joined to share his insights about world-class leadership.
The afternoon sessions focused on networking skills for international accountants. The sessions, which were again conducted by Angus Farr, focused on tips and tricks that help to make full use of business contacts events.
Once again, a practical element has appeared in this session, which gives participants a chance to use their new working skills on the network.
As with all of Russell Bedford's events, networking and relationship building do not end after the end of the professional program, and delegates took the opportunity to continue talking to their colleagues during dinner and drinks at a traditional Maltese restaurant located above the picturesque bay of Spinola in St Julian's. Guests tasted the local cuisine, enjoying the musical entertainment of traditional solo guitarist.
Subject of the session on the second day, led by Angus Farr, concerned the development of relationships between employees and customers. Delegates learned how to focus on short-term engagement and how to use their skills in practice through a number of related coaching sessions.
- We're finishing another year of events Russell Bedford – summarizes Stephen Hamlet. – Each event brings something special and I love watching new people arrive with uncertain expectations and then come out with a whole set of new ideas. After the meetings, I spoke to several delegates and everyone talked about how much they appreciated meeting with other companies around the world. It is encouraging that we are not alone in our challenges and concerns about the consistent development of the network.