Book your place by contacting Charlotte Morgan at PBI on 01646 695300 or email cmorgan@pbi.org.uk

My vision

I want to breathe economic and community life back into our high streets

Let me spell out my vision of the future.

I don’t want to live in a Britain that doesn’t care about community.

And I believe that our high streets are a really important part of building communities and pulling people together in a way that a supermarket or shopping mall, however convenient, however entertaining and however slick, just never can.

I want to put the heart back into the centre of our high streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning. Places that will develop and sustain new and existing markets and businesses. The new high streets won’t just be about selling goods. The mix will include shops but could also include housing, offices, sport, schools or other social, commercial and cultural enterprises and meeting places. They should become places where we go to engage with other people in our communities, where shopping is just one small part of a rich mix of activities. This will be the new value.

High streets must be ready to experiment, try new things, take risks and become destinations again. They need to be spaces and places that people want to be in. High streets of the future must be a hub of the community that local people are proud of and want to protect.

The awards scheme is designed to recognise and honour the achievements of Welsh Businesses in all their variety. Categories cover all aspects of Business Activity and entries are sought from all business sectors right across Wales.

Our 9 categories are:

• Company of the Year <£10m – sponsored by KLM & Cardiff Airport
• New Startup Company of the Year – sponsored by Gocompare.com
• Go Green Environmental Awards – sponsorship available
• Creative Marketing Award – sponsored by Orchard
• The Excellence in eCommerce Award – sponsorship available
• Training & Development Staff Award – sponsored by University of Glamorgan Comercial Services
• Young Achiever – sponsored by Hopkins Law
• Company of the Year >£10m – sponsored by Cardiff Business School
• Entrepreneur of the Year – sponsored by Cardiff Business School

For category criteria and to request an entry form, please click here

The exclusive awards ceremony and dinner will take place on Friday 25th November 2011 at the Coal Exhchange Cardiff Bay, where the winners of the Awards will be announced.

The Awards provide an excellent and unique opportunity to increase your company’s profile, throughout Wales and the UK, as all finalists will be profiled in the weeks preceding the Awards Ceremony. We hope that you will take the opportunity of benefiting from this widespread exposure, and consider entering or nominating for this prestigious event.

Should you require any further information regarding the Awards or wish to purchase tickets to attend, please do not hesitate to email or telephone 029 2066 0820

The Institute of Welsh Affairs
Second Floor
4 Cathedral Road
Cardiff
CF11 9LJ

TEL: 029 2066 0820
FAX: 029 2023 3741
wales@iwa.org.uk

Millions of people search Google Maps every day. A free listing on Google Maps makes it easy for them to find you, PBN recommends this approach:

Use Google Places to create your free listing.When potential customers search Maps for local information, they’ll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos. It’s easy, free, and you don’t need a website of your own, although it is a lot more effective if you have one.

The availability of this service, which links locations, photographs and live links on the map to a search category outclasses other business directories such as ufindus or yell which offer ( as free ) only typescript like listings with no direct links and minute sets of information.

Search example

Search for example “ self catering Broad Haven, Wales” : this comes up as a map with flagged locations, and dotted locations, possibly several pages deep.

Clicking on the flags or dots shows data including a photograph, with live website links.

Clicking again on the highlighted entry brings up the full page description which you have entered in Google Places, with up to 5 photographs.

It is key that the classifications you define for your business will lead them to your entry, and a careful review of the top search queries on your Google Places account performance update will show if you have the best classifications defined.

Compare this with the also free ufindus listing, with no live links or email / website data at all. Compare also with the Yell result, usefully including distance from reference, but still with no live links. A basic free listing is available, enhanced listings on Yell.com appear to start at £90 pa, or £33 pa in Yellow Pages for a simple listing. Yell.com mobile application for iPhone may improve the search experience, but still provides no live links unless one subscribes for an enhanced listing.

How to register with Google Places

Type into your browser http://maps.google.com, click on the legend “ put your business on Google Maps” then register your business and follow the clear instructions. You will need an active email account to confirm registration.

Paul Woolman – PBN. www.pembrokeshire-business.net! June 2011

Example:

Google Places Example

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the latest technological
developments, especially if you’re a small company with neither time
nor money on your hands.

Rural IT Wales is a new service that provides FREE IT-based training to
employees, owners and managers of small businesses.

It’s here to help you enhance your IT skills, increase sales and make
better connections with local

More details are http://www.ruralitwales.co.uk/

The project is called Intelligent Data Capture Technologies. This includes technologies such as bar codes and their more complex variations, chip and pin technology, data entry from forms via digital paper and pen, and biometrics such as fingerprint technology. They also have expertise on radio frequency identification and optical/document management.  Applications are relevant to retail, warehousing and distribution, security and access control, automated production and health care according to their promotional material.

They can help any company or social enterprise and their input is free to SME’s other than a few limited industrial sectors

Their help includes a diagnostic interview to look at possible technologies available to help the organisation, a short study & presentation on current systems used and recommendations for new systems with some basic costings, and contacts for potential funding and suppliers.

Contact Hywel Williams, AIDC Centre for Wales, Faculty of Advanced Technology, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd.  CF37 1DL Tel; 01443 654542 or email hwillia5@glam.ac.uk more information can be found atwww.aidswales.org.uk

UK retail sales values were down 0.4% on a like-for-like basis from February 2010, when sales had risen 2.2%. On a total basis, sales were 1.1% higher, against a 4.5% increase in February 2010.

Food sales picked up after a weaker January but non-food sales slowed sharply. Consumers’
underlying uncertainty about jobs and incomes resurfaced, hitting clothing, footwear and
homewares. Big-ticket purchases suffered most and were often promotion-led.

Non-food non-store (internet, mail-order and phone) sales growth fell further in February. Sales
were 10.4% higher than a year ago, slower growth than the 12.3% in January and the smallest gain since August 2009.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said:
“Apart from a bit of help from half-term for some retailers, February’s sales were weak. Other
than the negative figures last April (caused by the year-to-year movement of Easter), this
February’s 1.1 per cent total sales growth is the poorest since May 2009 – even poorer when the
impact of the VAT rise on inflation is taken into account.

“After the big boost to January’s figures from one-off factors, including a strong final burst of
pre-VAT rise spending, February’s figures are a return to a more realistic picture of how things are
for customers and retailers.

“Food sales held up. Sales of non-food goods, particularly more expensive items such as furniture
and electricals, suffered.

“Even online, the growth in sales of non-food items slowed to an 18-month low. Customers are
cautious and cutting back in a big way on non-essential spending.

“Against this background of deteriorating sales, the BRC has written to the Chancellor urging him to
use his Budget to support retail’s essential contribution to jobs and growth by avoiding new burdens
and removing existing ones.”

Over the next five years BT is rolling out superfast fibre optic broadband across the UK. If you’re not on the announced roll out plan, “The Race to Infinity” gives you the opportunity to fast track your area to get BT Infinity next.

The five areas with the largest percentage of votes by December 31st 2010 will win the chance to bring superfast broadband to their area. BT will also donate £5,000 of computer equipment to a local community project.

Whether you’re big on social networking, gaming, streaming, uploading or downloading, prepare to have your life transformed with superfast speeds.

Please go to http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/home either by coping the address and pasting it in your browser or clicking on the link.

To vote simply go to ‘VOTE NOW’ and enter your details. Don’t forget to pass it on to your friends on Facebook and Twitter to get your area to the top of the scoreboard.

There you can vote for – not sign up, just vote to say that you might be interested – the upgrading of your local exchange to a faster fibre optic connection. There is a BT advert on television as well. The closing date for voting is 31^st December 2010.

The take up is very, very poor at present. If we in Pembrokeshire do not wish to be left out I urge everyone who accesses the internet over a land line, no matter who the provider is, to go to the website and vote. Business or private, it makes no difference. VOTE. Some of our internet connections are very slow. Now is the time we might be able to do something about it.