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If you are the organiser of a conference, then there will be enormous pressure on you to execute the event well. If people are attending, they might be coming a long way to hear what other have to say, so the expectations will be high. Here are some pointers:

• Choose a convenient venue. There are lots of spaces offering themselves up as conference venues. Take advantage of one of them that is in a convenient location for people who are travelling.
• Make sure there is parking – if possible, free parking. Never underestimate the important of this one. People who are coming a long way to be at your conference will want to know they can park easily upon arrival.
• Be aware of equipment needs. Speak to all those presenting to make sure you will have the right equipment for them. This could include projectors, screens, posters, or anything else they require.

Your Christmas party is likely to have been and gone, and whether it was the success you were hoping for or not, it will have been a good learning curve for you in terms of planning a party. This will set you up well for planning your staff and office parties in the New Year, so that they will be a success for everyone involved. You will have got some great party planning experience under your belt!

In the New Year, why not make it your resolution to have staff parties or socials on a regular basis? This will help you to do something together and come together as a team, which is always a good bonding opportunity. As staff get to know each other in a non-work environment, they will also begin to feel more comfortable working together, so it will have positive implications for your overall business and staff mindset.

Company culture is about more than just how much your staff get paid and whether you offer them incentives. It is about setting up a positive working environment, where people feel valued and listened to and as a result, enjoy going to work. It’s something that you as a managing director should set up in order to create a working atmosphere that brings out the best in your employees.

You must enforce a positive company culture from the very beginning; it doesn’t happen immediately. When people come in for an interview or start working for you, they must get a good impression of what your company is like and how they are going to be treated.

Incentives and fair pay help contribute, but they aren’t the be all and end all. Hold regular meetings and forums where staff can have their voices heard and set up a management structure designed to support them.

Networking events are important for any business, especially local businesses who operate mainly out of their local areas. You will meet a whole new community of people that you had no idea existed, especially if you are a new business. It’s a valuable experience that you shouldn’t turn down.

Some businesses go to networking events thinking there will be instant results and they will come away with contracts. This rarely happens – though it can! Usually networking will be more of a slow burn, where you will meet with other businesses and like minded people, then they will go on to refer you to other people in your network. You may go on to work with other people you meet at networking, over time as you begin to realise what your business needs and those needs begin to change.

Sign up to local networking events and see who you meet. The beauty of networking is that you never know.

Happiness in work is something people strive for. If the people working for you aren’t happy, chances are you know about it. You might struggle with high staff turnover, feel there is a negative attitude in the office and struggle to meet deadlines.

Even if your staff are happy and love what they do, there will be things you can do differently to improve their working life even more. Open communication is essential; give your staff a platform for telling you how they feel, without the fear of you being angry or upset. Honesty is key if you are committed to running a better business.

Make sure your staff feel rewarded and appreciated at work. This could take many different forms, from incentives to training courses. It’s good for people to have something to work towards, so a monthly or quarterly party or trip could be a fun way to encourage productivity.

Running a business is good when your business is doing well. If your business isn’t doing as well as you would like, then you might need to have another strategy to help your business adapt and change. The trouble is, you will need to have the finances to fund this change, which might not be the case if your business is struggling a little.

There are various options for financing a change in business direction. You may be able to find an investor, but you will need to make sure they know about your plans for the business and are happy to focus on this direction. If you aren’t able to find an investor, then you might be able to take out a bank loan to cover the costs, though you must be aware of the cost of paying it back – business loans are not always very good value for money.

As a business owner, it is your responsibility to ensure your business remains profitable and achieves its goals. In order to do this, you need to have the goals set in the first place. One of the important things never to lose sight of is the bigger picture. You should have overall aims for your business because once you know what these are, you will be able to work on ways to achieve them.

Looking at the bigger picture is all about prioritising. You need to think about the tasks and activities that will help you work towards your business goals. These are the tasks you need to prioritise because you will be happier when your business is moving in the right direction. Everything else can take a back seat. You may even want to think about hiring someone to take care of smaller tasks for you so you can concentrate on strategy.

As the head of a company or someone in senior leadership, it’s important that you are a good boss. People will look up to you and will expect you to lead by example, meaning you have to be a good boss and make sure you conduct yourself in the right way in the office.

The first step towards being a good boss is wanting to be a good boss. Once you start thinking about things you can do better, you will start to realise what you are capable of doing differently. Think about the area where you want to inspire your staff, and focus on those.

One of the key things is communication. Be mindful of keeping your staff well informed, so they feel included and important. Talk to them individually to find out how they are. Give them a platform to be open about their thoughts and to make them feel part of the team.

Business mentoring is a scheme that different businesses sign up to, in order to share their knowledge and skills. It might be something that is arranged as part of a local business group, such as a chamber of commerce, or a networking organisation that has lots of different business types within it.

When you sign up for a mentoring scheme, you get to benefit from someone else’s experience and knowledge. You can ask for a mentor in an area where you struggle, perhaps finance or business negotiation. You will pay that business, or you can enter into a mutually beneficial agreement – different arrangements work for different people depending on the skills required.

If you are going to have a business mentor, make sure it is in an area that will benefit you. Think carefully about where your business requires improvement and the skills you would need to run it even better.

Do you need a business coach? In short – yes. Every business can benefit from the services of a business coach. From small to medium-sized businesses to large corporations, everyone has something they can learn.

It may be a daunting prospect hiring a coach and it may also set you back quite a lot of money. Don’t see it this way, though. See it as an investment. Your business adviser will be able to add value in so many ways.

It is often a very useful exercise to invite someone in who knows nothing about your business. This is the only way to get truly impartial advice, which can sometimes be the best kind of advice. When you work somewhere day in day out, it is easy to fall into a routine and miss areas where you could improve. Just make sure you don’t get defensive and really listen what your coach has to say.