Networking at Kent Vision 2020

Yesterday, I attended the Kent 2020 Vision business conference and exhibition, one of the biggest B2B events in south-east England, with over 3000 attendees and  350 exhibitors.

The event included keynote presentations from James Caan of BBC’s Dragons’ Den fame, Sir Alan Sugar’s right-hand man on The Apprentice Nick Hewer, and Kent County Council leader Paul Carter (you can see event highlights in the video on this page), but the highlights for me were much more to do with future employees of the construction industry.

For example, I met David Shadwell, managing director of Skanska UK, at the contractor’s ”Bright young things” seminar. I discovered he was a fellow West Ham fan so we talked a little bit about football, but he was particularly interested to discuss what tCn – the the Construction Network – could do to promote construction careers for young people. The seminar was aimed at helping Kent businesses learn how they can provide opportunities to young people whilst simultaneously boosting their own business resources, and was presented by vocal and business coach and Fame Academy star David Grant.

David (on right in the photo with me) gave an inspiring speech and afterwards we talked about tCn, and he is keen to encourage young talent to use tCn as a central information platform, networking facility and gateway into careers within the built environment.

Continuing the education and training theme, Kent 2020 Vision was also a good opportunity to see some of our current tCn supporters (and also some potential partners) such as Kier, West Kent College, North West Kent College, Building Schools for the Future Academy, Thames Gateway Chamber of Commerce, the University of Kent and the University of Greenwich. With some of the contacts made, I’m hoping this event will be a step-change in tCn’s engagement with companies and colleges seeking to help people into careers in architecture, engineering and other construction disciplines.