Schools and Small Businesses

Self-help – who’s following who?

There were two meetings I went to this week – each followed a similar approach.

On Tuesday evening Teachmeet Stoke (#tmx on Twitter) was organised by 3 teachers and held at Stoke on Trent 6th Form College. It felt like 80+ people had turned out from 4pm to 8pm on what was a normal evening. They turned out to help each other and to learn ideas and tips. The atmosphere was stunning and everyone picked up tips, ideas and answers to questions.

I run a business, and we are active members of the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. I’ve recently joined the committee. When we were organising events at our last meeting I suggested that the experience, expertise and approach of our members lent itself to a ‘Teachmeet’ approach. Bless ‘em – they were up for it!

So – on Wednesday we had a go. Smaller audience than Stoke (15 people) and less presenters (3). The approach went down very well, and I feel that ‘mighty oaks from little acorns’ may indeed grow. A stunning result was that we had a visitor from the other side of Birmingham – for a meeting in Lutterworth.

This raises the questions – what else can business borrow from schools and what can schools borrow from business?

On My To-do List

Windows Live Writer 2011

At last I’ve put Windows 7 on to a PC in the office for me. (Think cobbler’s shoes).

This means I’ve now got the new version of Windows Live Writer – 2011. On first view, it looks fantastic.

The user interface is much cleaner and crisper

The improved Preview is very powerful –

To-do ..

Use Windows Live Writer to produce blog post comparing Teach Meet Stoke 2010 and the South Leicestershire Branch meeting of the Federation of Small Businesses the following night. (Watch this space)

Update my Live Writer user guide for 2011