Social media strategy

Went to a great online conference on Monday this week - it's one of several online events we attend during the year, simply to ensure that we're up to date with what's new and what's happening online. The most interesting elements really were how vital 'social' is becoming for online strategy and also how mobile is becoming more and more important. Speaking as someone who has just about got to grips with my i-phone two years after buying it, I can see that for the younger generation mobile is the 'big thing', but I'm sure there will still be a few Luddites around for whom a mobile is about making and receiving telephone calls! I'll watch this space ...

LOROS Garden Appeal

The LOROS Garden Appeal launched last week - this is a great project which will see a beautiful LOROS garden installed at the RHS Hampton Court Show in July and then moved to its permanent home at LOROS (Leicestershire & Rutland hospice) in Leicester. It is widely acknowledged that time spent within or looking at a beautiful garden can help a patient come to terms with an incurable illness and can provide a restful retreat for visitors and staff. Three garden designers & landscapers have come together to provide their services free in order to raise the profile of LOROS and provide a lasting feature at the hospice. There are lots of sponsorship and donation opportunities but for any keen gardeners the team is also looking for volunteers to help plant the garden once it's back in Leicester.

I'd like to thank Rupal Rajani of BBC Radio Leicester who helped us get the appeal off to a great start with the feature on her programme last week! Find out more on www.lorosgarden.org.uk

Woodgate Chambers, Loughborough

I went to a lovely event this afternoon, the grand opening of the Glebe House Project's Woodgate Chambers which is the conversion of the old Magistrates Court in Loughborough. Woodgate Chambers is a wonderful historic building and now houses a cafe, fairtrade shop, e-bay shop and facilities for clients of Glebe House which provides services for children and adults with learning disabilities. The event was organised by Glebe House's excellent Project Co-ordinator Alyson Hunter and the official ribbon cutting was carried out by Nicky Morgan MP.

The most exciting part of the project is that clients of Glebe House have the opportunity to undertake work in the cafe, the shop and the e-bay shop and it opens doors for them that otherwise wouldn't have been there. So, if you're looking for somewhere to pop in for coffee in Loughborough, look no further than Woodgate Chambers in the town centre and have a browse around the fairtrade shop too.

Furniture and Furnishings galore!

It's furniture and furnishings galore next week, with both the Interiors Show here in the UK and Las Vegas Market in Sin City opening on Monday. I look forward to catching up with all my furniture buddies, but in Birmingham not Las Vegas this time, I'll be back in LV in August!

World Market Center Las Vegas promises some fantastic new products from around the world, with deluxe design in Building B on the second floor leading the way with 'Design & Living.' There are some great seminars and events and as usual amazing hospitality - enjoy!

Singing lifts the spirits!

As a Welsh woman I've always been fond of a song or two, often accompanied by watching a rugby match! Had a great time on Saturday afternoon on a 'Come and Sing' day with the Leicester Bach Choir. Remarkably, despite very limited rehearsal time, we managed to put on a pretty good performance of Puccini's Messa di Gloria. Enormous thanks to the conductor Richard Laing who somehow managed to pull many singers who were sight reading like me together with those who've performed it before, to great effect. The tenor soloist Roberto Garcia Lopez was fantastic and my friend and I left feeling that our spirits were lifted!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my clients! Hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011. Looking back at 2010, it wasn't all doom and gloom, although for many clients there was a fair share of that - but for all of them, there was an opportunity to revisit what they're doing, look closely at their core business and choose their preferred areas for growth. That's where we come in and 2011 is all about concentrating on growth and development and building brands, so cheers to that!

Brrr it's cold here!

It's been a chilly week - understatement of the year! My client Cape Westerly has taken amazing menswear out to the greater public - thank you to Nicola Wheeler for excellent event organisation as always! Strangely enough this thermal winter hat's been selling out fast all week! I've personally given a Gearbox Gifts alarm clock to a car-mad 12 year old whose father wants one too and another client, The Belmont Hotel in Leicester has taken the initiative and has added mulled wine and mince pies to the menu for those who'd like to pause from their shopping and recover from the cold!

Meanwhile, I've been writing press releases for Las Vegas Market (slightly warmer environment!) in advance of Winter Market in January 2011. In other words, the snow's not stopped things here at Nicky Stephen Marketing, although I am under pressure to go sledging with children and dog!