The Eurozone crisis: It's all about trust

From World Economies Infographics

What is the real issue behind the current crisis in the Eurozone? Trust. Which is why the situation is so unpredictable and rapidly changing.

On average, an EU country has a debt burden that is 80% of its annual GDP (see chart), with all the larger economies being the major culprits.

What distinguishes say Germany from Italy? It is the trust of a country's lenders in the country's ability to pay back the debt if challenged.

As small businesses we know that the trust you have gained from your clients is a hard-won achievement. We also know that that trust can be easily lost.

Unfortunately, there is a multiplicity of different trusts at play in the current European crisis.

For example, because Italy needs such a large bailout, questions begin to arise whether the other Eurozone countries can afford to cover it. France is now working desperately to ensure that it maintains its triple A credit rating.

Then there is the trust by a nation's people in their government's decisions. Current economic measures cause dramatic changes in existing social contracts and real job insecurity. If a tipping point is reached, trust in a government is lost and it becomes untenable - see the escalating protests at home and abroad.

Trust is an emotional issue. Logical arguments take a second place.

Which path the crisis will take - resolution by sudden inspired leadership, total collapse due to national popular revolts or a mess in-between - is unpredictable.

The one certainty is: These trust issues will have a major impact on us all. Prepare for the worst and hope that we will be pleasantly surprised.

The Return of the Saxons

It has been over 1000 years since the granddaughter of King Alfred, Princess Edith, Married Otto I Holy Roman Emperor. Her remains were recently found in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt. Today there was a return visit from Magdeburg to London, by the board supporting external trade for the Local Chamber of Commerce.

I had been invited to give a more light-hearted presentation to the group. This was followed by Lesley Hill, Geraldine Williams of MAMMALcreate www.mammalcreat.co.uk, an innovative marketing led design company.

Whilst we were in London England, the meeting was held in the very Scottish Caledonian Club, with gentleman in kilts, affording a great opportunity to introduce the guests to the complexities of the British Nations.

My presentation covered in brief (also see slideshow above)

• British history and culture
• The British economy Perceptions of Germany
• Some Case studies
• A practical session on Business Introductions
• Staying in touch after first contact
• The market assistance we could provide

Lesley and Geraldine followed with an unusual question and answer session. The aim was for the attendees to define the quality of their communication within the UK market, so that their launches would be targeted to achieve their desired objectives.

The case studies shown picked up the emotional elements that truly reflected the businesses; from a sixth form college, a design company through to a baby and children's safety swimwear provider. This was to the mutual satisfaction of both the company's teams and their customers. The latter associated with the brands and bought into them.

The Saxons successfully mastered the challenges that we put to them!

For us, as the UK participants, this was an interesting and productive afternoon and it also gave us insights into the Magdeburg businesses attending.

For more information about business opportunities by collaborating with companies from the region of Saxony Anhalt, contact:

Suzanne Doerrwand at doerrwand@magdeburg.ihk.de
or call her on +49 391 5693 138.

Lesley Hill of MAMMALcreate can be reached lesley@mammalcreate.co.uk.

Entering a new market requires persistence

Entering a new dental market requires persistence, something that Ulrich Heker of TEETH”R”US has demonstrated – and it is slowly paying dividends, as we found at this year's BDTA exhibition at the NEC.

As a qualified and experienced Dental Technician in with a business based in Germany, his expertise is in attachments and telescopic crowns – intermediate techniques between plain prosthetics and dental implants that are an ideal way for a private practice to expand their portfolio. Yet these methods are still practically unknown in the UK.

I helped Ulrich begin to tackle this gap in local knowledge by publishing educational articles in UK magazines such as The GDP, Dental Tribune and The Technologist over the past year. Articles that have found resonance further afield with requests to translate and reprint as far away as China.

Manning the stand Y06 at the BDTA Exhibition at the NEC this year, we were now visited by a number of dentists with their case notes and casts to catch up on the opportunity to discuss past, present and future work with his lab. Taking a long term view was bearing fruit.

Ulrich had invited me to join the stand to give language support over the three days of the exhibition. I joined a team of five that included Ulrich Heker, fellow dental technician Thomas Loehre, Klaus Viesteg, a dentist based in Northern Ireland and Andrea Heker, who ensured that the stand was provided with all the notes, leaflets and that any appropriate dental models were immediately to hand as we dealt with the flood of visitors.

Thursday started relatively quietly, which allowed the team to mesh, so that by Saturday we were able to work seamlessly; dealing with simple enquiries and then passing on to the relevant expert for the questions arising. It was also lovely to see Marie-Theres Luetje, Handwerkskammer Duesseldorf, when she dropped by, as she had supported Ulrich's planning and preparation for this and previous exhibitions.

Ulrich had taken a lot of time to provide interest at the stand – good visual examples on a banner, a glass case with key models and Thomas demonstrating precision milling - these all attracted dentists and other professionals.

The joker in the pack was an inspired little sculpture, caricaturing a benevolent dentist cleaning the dentures of a knitting old woman seated on a dentist's chair and her cat on her lap. Andrea had found the gem that caught the eye of the passers-by, raised a smile and opened conversations.

Ulrich's repeated visits to Birmingham meant that I, as a Brit, happily gave him the lead to show us the sights. We saw the picturesque canals, found good eateries and marvelled at the Broad Street clubbing scene in the evenings as we relaxed after our busy days.

Have a look at the following links: 

Wonder what dental telescopes and attachments are?
http://www.german-smile.info/combinedcare/combinedcare_02.htm

Interested in the technical publications – downloadable as PDFs?
http://www.german-smile.info/Publishing/publishing.htm

Some quirky pictures showing the effort that others made at the BDTA.
https://picasaweb.google.com/107595387761034666575/PicturesAtAnBDTAExhibition

Not a Who Done It, A Why Done It

I had the pleasure of talking to Roger Purssord, author of "The Blue Box", at the Huntingdon Indoor Bowls Club.  I recently finished reading his book, hardly being able to put it down!

It is a gritty crime thriller about a very nasty piece of work, Justin, who has ruined the lives of many families, including the main character, an unwilling participant, who's young son was a victim of Justin's predatory activities.

The story, I won't give it away, has many twists and turns and a satisfyingly realistic knowledge of the police investigative process - and it keeps you guessing right till the end.

Roger was telling me that the story appeared to have a life of its own as he wrote it, with characters and plots emerging as his subconsciousness revealed a darker creative side!

As a publisher, I get to see a number of books and I honestly regret that Roger had already published it elsewhere as it would have been a worthy, quality addition to my own company's portfolio.

If you want to find out more - or buy a copy of Roger Purssord's book, "The Blue Box", contact him on rogerp.cambridge@live.co.uk

To Have Vision and Foresight - What you need in the current depression!

From Wordle-images

Another conversation today is with Carl Suffield of Praescio. What the hell does that mean? was my question! "To Have Vision and Foresight!" Was Carl's answer. As someone who has worked in investment and retail banking, Carl definitely needs to know how to apply these in the current economic climate. The real benefit is applying these skills for his clients.

A typical situation is his work for Donovan & Dunne Ltd, a cleaning company. They are looking for improvements in the review of their cash flow and provide simple financial forecasting. The benefits Carl can bring to the company will be the expansion of the most important aspect of any business, their vital current customer base, as well as attracting future clients. They will also be looking to enhance their service level and quality even further.

In these cash strapped times, having a clear immediate overview of your company's finances ensures you keep out of the red. The other advantage is that you can then see which areas to develop further.

It sounds so simple, but sometimes it helps to have someone like Carl Suffield of Praescio to see the broader picture. His clients comment was "It helps me see the elephant instead of the grey!"

Contact Carl Suffield via his LinkedIn Profile http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/carl-suffield/13/422/5a8.

Helping small technology companies export to Germany with Cambridge TEC

From Wordle-images

With the world bemoaning the fact that we are not in a recession any-more but a depression, many would hunker down and sit tight until better time comes - or go under! The other alternative, and a philosophy that I find far more agreeable, is to see this as any challenging situation - a chance for new opportunities.
It is in this spirit that there is a meeting of the two doctors in the pleasant environs of Milton Country Park's Cafe Diem (with free WiFi).

Doctor Who? Well Dr Andrea Lorenz, who has just started her company Cambridge TEC (short for Technology Export Communication). As a linguist (she speaks English, German perfectly, conversationally in Italian, Danish and French) Andrea is originally from Germany and has adopted the UK as her home for the past 12 years, Andrea aims to assist UK technology SMEs in making a market entry into the German speaking world (which includes Austria and Switzerland too).

This is a nice counterpoint to my current activities, which is assisting predominantly German businesses find contacts in the UK, so we had a common base.

Why Germany? Germany is in the centre of Europe, it is the centre for trade fairs and it is the most active and successful economy in the EU, riding out the storm by actively promoting it's links with markets abroad.

Andrea has worked in technology and product innovation, for example with Healthcare, Food Safety, Smart Materials, with companies such as Innovia Technology Ltd., Cambridge IC and Sensotec.

With her own company, Cambridge TEC, she is offering targeted and bespoke service from introductions to on site trade fair support. What does this actually mean? Well a recent example was an excursion to Nuremberg, assisting Cambridge IC at the annual Sensor + Test Trade Fair, one of the biggest trade shows in the sector with around 600 exhibitors in 2011. Tasks included Press Releases, assisting in the stetting up of the stand and then being a proactive representative for the company, helping attract interested parties.

Andrea Lorenz's Cambridge TEC is "Translating aspiration into Achievement" for her clients. Our current conversation is finding many complementaries with Milton Contact.

Who is Dame Evelyn Glennie?

From Wordle-images

I counted myself lucky to still get a ticket to see Dame Evelyn Glennie, the world renowned musician, give a motivational speech at the joint Business Club / Inspired Group event last night. I was not disappointed as she riveted us in a marimba accompanied journey. All this in support of three charities, East Anglia Childrens Hospices, Scotsdales Charitable Foundation and Able Child Africa.

Full Photo Album by 361 Photography here 

Percussionist?
Of course, when she began with a dramatic piece on the marimba, it matched with my preconceptions of Dame Evelyn Glennie, Percussionist. But then she explained how and why she played the piece the way she did and we began to understand that she was something more …

Musician?
When Evelyn receives a composition as sheet music, she listens to her inner feelings and emotions, looks to the audience and venue and then gives her intensely personal interpretation. Sharing with us how the music could be played by rote and then comparing it with her interpretation was a dramatic illustration as the difference was so great once heard. We were also introduced to an important part of what Evelyn saw fundamental to her approach to life, being a …

Listener?
“Of course!” You might say, “She's a musician!” But Evelyn meant more than that. It was taking time to listen to her inner self, to listen to others and listen to the wider environment. Then she would digest and work through the information to come up with a plan of action. Musically, this could be finding out about a score, the venue and audience, and creating a vision of that performance, one that would be radically different between a venue such as cathedral and the Albert Hall. From a career perspective, it was noticing as a young woman the scarcity of percussion scores and the perception at the time of what was expected of a percussionist. Her solution was radical and yet simple, showing another facet to Evelyn Glennie …

Entrepreneur?
Evelyn wrote several hundred letters to composers (in the days before e-mail and push button mailing lists!), asking for percussion compositions. This was well before she was a recognised artist. Yet some did respond and as time went on, international compositions also arrived, expanding her experience and repertoire. She created her own opportunities. Of course this took time! So inbetween, Evelyn added another string to her bow as a …

Motivational Speaker?
It began with visiting schools and helping ignite the musical sparks in the young. As her career as a musician grew, Evelyn also expanded her motivational skills to encompass all walks of life, all ages. She is now equally renowned internationally for her motivational talks as her musical ability. As a member of the Hunts Speakers (part of Toastmasters International) I was impressed not only with her incredible lack of “ums” and “ers” but also with the fantastic vocal variety, passion and enthusiasm with which she talked.

But who/what IS Dame Evelyn Glennie?
Why the question marks for her different facets above? They are boxes. The undercurrent of both Evelyn's talk and the passionate presentation was; Whatever simple description for her or set of facets that you apply; They are merely pigeon-holes.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is herself, and she is constantly changing.

For me personally, the message at the end of the evening was: Be yourself; Seek out new challenges; Do your best.

Blindness - disability or different life style?

Useful Hereford thePoint4 location linked to the RNCB inspires thoughts on remote working, leads to interesting contact and thoughts on blindness - disability or a different life style.

Spending time in Hereford whilst a relative is having a new Gas heating installed, I have been popping into thePoint4 Bistro, just off Venn's Lane. The refreshments were welcome and access to the free Wifi even more so as it permitted me to keep up with e-mails and do quite a bit of remote working on a range of urgent projects. Tweeting about the venue brought me to the attention of the very active twitter streams of @thePoint4 and @RNC_official, leading to an impromptu friendly meeting with the marketing and communications manager, Katrina Wilcox.

Now, I had not really given blindness or partial sightedness a second thought as it is a common sight to see students wandering confidently with either white canes or dogs around the Venns Lane part of Hereford, where the Royal National College of the Blind is situated. Pure convenience had taken me to the associated venue thePoint4 - food, drinks and free Wifi being the driving factors. However, with a few minutes to relax at the end of the day, it did remind me of an educational business accompaniment I had undertaken earlier in the year.

I found out by accident that the director of one of the companies from Germany visiting London, a quality fruit wine manufacturer whom I was to accompany to various business meetings with potential UK partners, was practically blind. Going into overdrive I thought of all the issues about travelling around the metropolis and contacted a number of organisations to see if they could advise me on how best to help my guest in terms of moving around. I was prepared when meeting him at the airport - and found myself a victim of my own preconceptions.

My guest had brought a companion to assist but, quite frankly, most of the time did not seem to require them as we wandered through the busy streets of London from appointment to appointment. Everything had been thought out including the arrangement and storage of the samples to be shown to potential partners, such that they were taken out and arranged in a convenient sequence to go with the business conversation. By day 2 I'd forgotton his "disability".

At the end of the trip, as we were having a last celebratory Indian meal in a relaxed restaurant by the Thames and I asked, how on earth my guest had come to be a specialist wine producer, fermenting and bottling all the products himself. "Well", he said. "It was easier to set up my own business doing what I enjoyed than trying to find a job!"

Which brings me back to my meeting with Katrina at thePoint4. She has a fantastic project underway - a full colour book under the aegis of the RNCB with stories of 14 or so similarly inspirational people. I also know that she is open to finding funding and sponsorship for this book. The aim is to publish early in 2012.

To find out more and see if you can be involved to help complete this project, contact Katrina at the RNCB on 01432 265725.

European court ruling on honey containing products from GMOs makes sense

From Wordle-images

My first reaction to hearing today about the European court ruling on honey containing products from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) was one of exasperation! I had been listening to on the BBC's Food Program on honey. However, when I actually dug deeper and read both the final ruling of the 6th September 2011(available in English here) and the thankfully clearer summary in an earlier Press Release (available in English here), I found myself agreeing with the sentiments of the well reasoned judgement.

The key point of the ruling is:
You cannot put honey on the market if it contains “Products of GMOs” which have not been authorised for use in honey. 

The story and rationale is as follows:

• Several Bavarian beekeepers had found that their honey contained DNA and trace amounts of GM protein from Monsanto Maize variety, MON-810, growing on an experimental plot 500m away from the hives. 
• The maize variety was one of two authorised to be grown and used for animal feed in the EU under the “Deliberate Release” Directive 2001/18 and also in producing products from GMOs, namely maize flour, maize gluten, maize meal, maize starch, maize glucose and maize oil. Note that some EU countries have unilaterally banned its use. 
• The court considered how honey was produced and defined. The inclusion of trace amounts of pollen in extracted honey is part of the process – indeed, pollen grains can be used to test the origin and provenance of individual honeys. 
• By current definitions, Pollen from a genetically modified plant is a GMO if it can still fertilise another plant. Now, by the time pollen has ended up in honey, it is no longer capable of fertilising another plant and legally ceases to be a GMO. 
• However, the inactive pollen and the nectar from a GMO plant that have been turned into honey by busy bees are deemed by the court as “Products of GMOs”. 
• In the original application and granting of permission for use of Maize MON-810, honey was not included as one of the permissible uses for “Products of GMOs”. 
• Therefore the honey containing products from Maize MON-810 cannot be placed on the market at this moment in time. 

I cannot fault the logic.

Is this the end of the world for honey (we import a substantial amount from countries using GM crops) or for the use of GMOs? No. For Monsanto, the obvious next step would be to add a new application for deliberate release which includes the use of MON-810 products in honey, even if this is incidental. Any honey then produced which contains these products would be labelled as containing GMOs.

The use of GMOs for food is controversial in the EU, with views polarised on both the pro and anti sides. However, the current European court ruling on honey containing products from GMOs shows that legal safeguards and procedures are in place – and working.

Court ruling in English:
http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=rechercher&numaff=C-442/09 
Summary from an earlier press release: 
http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-02/cp110005en.pdf 


The author, Dr Chris Thomas, had over 20yrs experience working in the GM plant industry before setting up his own, totally unrelated company in 2004.

Making shopping in Luxor an enjoyable experience: David's Papyrus Shop in Luxor

For those who believe that shopping in Egypt on holiday is equal to persistent hawking, there are gems such as Davids's Papyrus Shop in Luxor, where you have a much friendlier reception. I found it through a set of unusual circumstances.

Taking part on a Nile cruise (a holiday of a lifetime), we were offered an impromptu trip into Luxor for some window shopping. I was apprehensive because of the past week's experience of the very aggressive selling and hawking tactics at the sites we visited. I therefore tagged along with Myra, Amanda and Jacqui, who had been to Luxor and Egypt many times and had also suggested visiting the gardens at the Old Winter Palace Hotel.

I needed some cash from the ATM next to the hotel, when suddenly a figure dashed out and embraced Myra, it was an Egyptian family friend who they had known as David since he was a child.

I was drawn along, not sure whether to intrude, but David made me welcome too and we sat down in the shop as he prepared a cup of sweet tea for us all.

David's real name is Amin Ahmed Abd El Guoad. Myra and Amanda had met the family in 1999 on their first cruise, through mutual friends who already knew of a friendly quayside shop for purchasing bottled drinking water.

The acquaintance grew into friendship over the coming two years during repeat visits. Myra and Amanda were invited to the family home and onto the boat, for the family were fishermen as well as having a souvenir come tourist shop. They would help with outings and arranging things for their English friends. At this time David/Amin was still just a young 17. When David/Amin surprised them with his welcome embrace, they had not seen each other for ten years.

In that decade, David/Amin and his cousin Ashraf had set up their own shop, realising an ambition to open a small quality enterprise in the courtyard adjoining the Old Winter Palace. This prestigious hotel has catered for famous guests such as Howard Carter, the famous archaeologist who discovered Tutenkamun's tomb nearly a century ago, and Hilary Clinton and Princess Diana in more recent times.

It was this new shop where the reunion tea took place; amongst signed painted papyri, tiers of mother of pearl inlay boxes, with their glittering geometric designs in the Arabic tradition, and wood carvings of animals, bowls and other essential tourist paraphernalia.

In this relaxed environment, catching up with news and new developments, there was a natural interest in what special items David/Amin was now selling.  I was not ready to buy anything but was not made to feel uncomfortable once this became clear. Myra took a shine to a delicate silver ankh that matched the sparkle in her eyes as we left an hour later to catch the bus back to our boat.

What a contrast to the pressure selling where you might be duped into one sale of a tacky knick knack and vow never to come back. Here, in David/Amin's shop I was left with the feeling that this was a safe place to return to – and suggest to others.

From a business perspective, the best client is one who wants to buy. Most tourists do want to buy gifts for friends and relatives as well as memorabilia. Yet time and time again I observed on our holiday how aggressive hawking outside shops put off the very clients they were seeking.

So, for a more enjoyable shopping experience for you and your customers, give them time to breathe.

And the next time you are in Luxor, I recommend a visit to David/Amin's “The Papyrus Shop”, in the courtyard by the Old Winter Palace Hotel.

New Business Exhibition at Wood Green

If you went down to Wood Green today
You were sure of a big surprise
If you went down to Wood Green today
You Watched out for detecting Pis

For every business in Huntingdon there was
Gathered together to exhibit because
Today was the day we had a new Exhibition!

To be fair there were about 25 exhibitors with a scattering of visitors by the time I arrived around 5pm, having been delayed by completing a very long and complicated report. There were familiar faces and new ones. The latter included the private investigators of Heather Nesbitt Ltd, available for small and large projects, who also featured a collection of appetising cup cakes produced by Purple Sloth.

Chatting to Ken Seymour of KTS Computers Ltd., who had installed the WiFi for the Exhibition, revealed a common theme; good contacts were being made with the visitors who had come to the exhibition.

My favourite new business name was “Intelligent Penguin”, whose designer Karen Wells and director Paul Allington specialised in web design.

Mark Cooney and partners had put together an independent business exhibition which also included entertainment by a series of acts during the event and also brought in speakers on a variety of topics. Naturally not everything runs smoothly when you have such an ambitious first start – but I would be interested in coming along and perhaps even exhibiting there in a years time.

The exhibition was supporting a number of charities who had also brought their stands. I chatted for a while with Kate Angus who was one of four dedicated representatives in the UK for Action Duchenne. Duchennes is a devastating form of muscular dystrophy, a hereditary disease that only affects boys – and kills them by their twenties. Find out more about them at www.actionduchenne.org. For more about the exhibitors, entertainers and speakers – visit http://www.sept-15.co.uk.

Making social media relevant to your business

From Wordle-images

I just returned from a successful event, organised by Richard Wishart, on "Social media-is it really relevant to my business?" (http://cambsbusiness.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/social-media-is-it-really-relevant-to-my-business/)
Thirty plus attendees had come from as far afield as Colchester for a practical insight into the use of social media for businesses. A brief summary of the presentations and useful links and keywords arising in the meeting are given below.

Richard Wishart, Delivery Management, concentrated on the intensive use of social media to forge contacts and participate effectively at events, giving practical examples and a detailed account of how he incorporated social media as a vital ingredient in his business development. Richard's additional strength was his background in technology and insatiable appetite to see what the new tools would be. Google+ is the new kid on the block and it was very useful to see the features and hear about their strengths and unique selling points contrasted with more established media.

Chris Thomas, Milton Contact, introduced social media as a natural extension of physical networking, giving an insight to the ease and time required to make entries in short posts such as twitter, participate in groups and discussions in Linkedin and to write informative blogs.

Two key elements were the 1. the interconnected use of different social media to complement each other and 2. the ability to collate media streams either in your personal online newspaper (using paper.li) or in Hootsuite (online) or Tweetdeck (device based).

Desiree Ashton, Virtual PA, reminded us of the incredible speed in which the social media had penetrated into social and business consciousness. Continually keeping ahead of the game was essential so that she could assist her clients to make that jump from the small goldfish bowl to the larger one in the world-wide web.

Established blogger and networker, Ann Hawkins, The Inspired Group, rounded off the afternoon by chairing the discussion and questions in a friendly and approachable way. Ann reminded us of the key element of using social media, the reintroduction of fun into a business environment. Where else could you gain an insight into the interests and personalities into the aspects that are most important in any business, the people who make it work.

The final question was on measuring the return in investment in social media. The beauty of using online social media is that they do permit the collection of real data, not just in terms of connections but also in linking preferences or success in redirecting to relevant sites. Ultimately, the ROI is a very individual aspect for each individual and company.

The ROI depends on the aims and objectives for using social media. Whilst for Chris it is a matter of increasing online presence, for Richard it is finding key contacts, connections and most importantly, creating opportunities between interested parties in his technology sectors. Desiree's key role is finding social media solutions that are appropriate for and tailored to her business contacts and Ann's in building an internet based, positive community that could also participate in her Inspired Group networking events.

Below are some of the main elements and keyword reminders of the topics covered in this excellent event, with the contact details of the people who made this event possible, either by presenting or ensuring it's effective organisation.

Check them out - and if you like what you see, connect!

Twitter

• Hootsuite: http://hootsuite.com
• Tweetdeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com/
• Ability to post tweets at set times
• google shortening: http://goo.gl/
• paper.li: http://paper.li/
• hashtags 
• #camsocial (for the actual event)
• #in (for ensuring tweets go to linkedin)

Klout: http://klout.com

Facebook (personal): http://www.facebook.com/

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/

• Profile
• Updates
• Groups
• Discussions
• Questions

Google+ using a tablet (in beta, currently by invitation only)

• Profile
• Circles
• Huddles
• Stream
• Photos
• Blogs

Presenters & helpers


Richard Wishart 

• twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Richard_Wishart
• Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardwishart

Desiree Ashton

• twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/galenetogo
• Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/desiree-ashton/1a/364/7a

Ann Hawkins

• twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/AnnHawkins
• Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/annhawkins

Ruth Ekblom 

• twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RuthEkblom
• Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ruth-ekblom/14/b58/305

Stuart Wishart


Chris Thomas 

• twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/miltoncontact
• Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/christhomas01

Sick Venom Elementz, Sick arts cuts: Two faces of the generation gap.

When I sat down next to a young woman of 16 on a crowded bus, we ignored each other initially. Not only were we strangers, we were separated by an age factor of at least three and the unspoken assumptions each generation has about the other. Until I started the conversation.

I found that I was sitting next to a member of a dance group that had came second in their group in the national XXL Street Dance Championships (http://www.streetdancexxl.com/championships/). The dance groups Elementz Ent. & Venom are the over 17 and under 17 collectives of dancers from all over the UK, based in Cambridge (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13111440835). The video above illustrates their style and previous performances included Move It, Kidz Take Kontrol, GWI Street Dance Weekend and the iDance UK Hip Hop Champs.

Street dance hit the consciousness of the broader public with the group Diversity winning Britain's got Talent in 2009. Physical, vibrant and often very expressive, street dance occurs in many forms throughout the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_dance), with those derived from breakdancing and popping being the most familiar within the uk.

The young lady, who incidentally already held a clutch of GCSE that would open doors to many professional careers, was obviously passionate about street dance and contemporary dance and this struck a chord with me. Whilst not a dancer myself, I find the exploration of physical language beyond the conventions of traditional ballet in contemporary dance gripping in a good performance.

The BBC recently ran “Dance! The Most Incredible Thing about Contemporary Dance” http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0126w6n which introduced me to both the Pet Shop Boys' collaboration in the contemporary ballet “The most incredible thing” which I thoroughly enjoyed. Other names were The Cholomondeleys and Featherstonehaughs (http://www.thecholmondeleys.org/) who have been providing innovative shows for over 23 years. Sadly they are disbanding this year after the 100% withdrawal of their Arts funding. YouTube has a collection of video samples for both of the above. (http://goo.gl/G5uyz and http://goo.gl/x2cgj)

The one thing that had surprised me was the frequent use of the word “sick” to describe the performances of Elementz Ent. & Venom online – until I learnt from my daughter that “Sick” was now the new “Cool”, meaning awesome or brilliant.

So in the end I find myself feeling sick in a positive sense about the vibrancy and success of Cambridge based Elementz Ent. & Venom and sick in the conventional negative sense, that cuts in arts funding have brought forward the demise of The Cholomondeleys and Featherstonehaughs.

Colonies of Stentor polymorphus associated with Ramshorn snails

This article and the accompanying video illustrate the consistent association of Stentor polymorphus colonies with Ramshorn snails in a Cambridge pond.

Avid pondwatcher, Michelle Fleming, had posted images on Facebook of her Ramshorn snails sporting green somethings in the hollows of the centre shell whorls. Her pond is situated in a residential garden, just off Newmarket Rd in Cambridge.

The images were tantalising enough for me to invite Michelle and partner Mike to visit with some specimens for a closer view under the stereo microscope.

Viewed between 6x and 20 times magnification, green trumpet shapes became visible, that retracted on being touched. At less than a millimetre in length, they were identified as a colony of Stentor polymorphus.

Stentor species are large single celled organisms with cilia at the end of their bell shaped aperture, which waft in food to be eaten. S. polymorphus absorbs chlorella algae, which live symbiotically within its body, giving the Stentor species its distinctive green colour.

The unusual feature of the specimens from Michelle's pond is that they appear to be consistenly associated with the Ramshorn snails (Planorbarius corneus). Furthermore. They preferentially form in the centre of the snail shells whorl, which forms a bowl shaped environment. Whether this is due to selective settlement by the Stentor or because of removal by abrasion during the snails motion is not known, thought the former appeared more likely.

The specimens studied were unaffected by the snails motion or occasionally being agitated in the water during sharp turns of the petri dish in which they were observed and it took physical contact with a leaf or brush to induce contraction.

Future readers could check their ponds to see if they observe a similar association and whether it is limited to snails with a concave centre to their whorls.

To Huntingdon and back by bike along the guided busway

Ever since the trip from home to Huntingdon last week, using public transport and the guided bus took a minimum of two hours one way, the nagging thought grew – I should be able to do that by bicycle! (see previous articel on the HBN blog "A businessman's experience and view of using the guided bus to travel to Huntingdon" at http://www.hbn.org.uk/node/2856

I had not cycled for nearly a year, however, a few short test trips suggested that maintaining an average of ten miles per hour on the bicycle was feasible, and that even if I averaged at 8 mph, I should be able to get to my meeting of the Huntingdonshire Business Network within 150 minutes. The safety fall back position was, that if I encountered problems – I could ditch the bike and take the guided bus!

The main concern was that whilst the forecast was for sunshine, there would be a headwind on the way to Huntingdon of about 10mph.

However, the trip started auspiciously at 08:55 and once past Histon, the open stretch was not too much of a problem and I stoped occasionally to take photographs. I reached Swavesey, which was exactly half way to Huntingdon distance wise, at just over one hours cycling.

From thereon, the ride became more difficult. The tarmacked cycle path gave way to a gravel track and also began to undulate. This was where I found that whilst I could cruise on the level, I did not have any energy reserves to power up the inclines. Instead I would slow to a crawl in the lowest gear. It therefore took me another thirty minutes to get to St Ives Park and Ride, arriving there at 10:35

I sped through St Ives itself (well apart from photo stops of course) and then encountered the next major hurdle, the hill out of St ives towards Houghton. A long gradual climb meant I was cycling at a rate where a tortoise could have overtaken me. Once it was on the downhill stretch and then back onto the level, the main hazard was the busy road traffic.

The ride into Huntingdon was straightforward but my energy levels were now very low, with no reserves. Fortunately, the feared hill to the Huntingdon Indoor Bowls Club where the meeting was to be held, was not as bad as I thought, in part as I had been joined by Ruth Ekblom, another HBN member who had cycled over from Godmanchester.

I arrived at 11:32, just in time for the meeting, after 2h 37mins.

Mervyn Foster and Ruth Ekblom reassured me that there was a route via Godmanchester and Houghton Mill to St Ives that would avoid the killer hill. Ruth kindly offered to accompany me and set off at a pace that I had no hope of maintaining, 10mph was really my limit at this point on the level. We departed at 14:12 and arrived at the outskirts of St Ives by 15:08, again with many photo stops.

From there, I managed to get to Swavesey guided bus station by 15:41. I then cycled to Over in about 10 minutes to attend another regular Friday meeting.

Departing Over at 17:34, I arrived at Swavesey bus station at 17:46 to take the thankfully tarmacked track home. It was now a matter of sheer will as I really had no energy reserves at all. I would cycle at an aerobic rate. If the lactic acid built up due to a slight incline or trying a faster speed, I soon had to stop and rest. The wind had turned to be more southerly and the gradual sweep around Longstanton meant I encountered a headwind that again slowed me down.

I stuck with it, mile by mile, occasionally overtaken by old women and children, never mind the more serious cyclists who would zoom by and disappear into the horizon at a fair lick. At last, I arrived home at 19:24.

Overall travel time to Huntingdon was 2h 37 minutes, whilst the return travel time (ignoring the Over stop) was 3h and 29 minutes.

Surprisingly, my legs were fine the next day, but my backside was saddlesore. It was with hindsight that I learnt from my cycling neighbour that the best cycling trousers have padded bottoms to avoid this situation arising!

On balance, I do think it is possible to cycle to Huntingdon in two hours or less – there were sufficient regular cyclists overtaking me in their streamlined gear to make the point. However, I personally would have to train a lot to build up the stamina for the 45 mile round trip!

Bedding in amongst the top 100 innovative German companies

Bernd Mahnke on Right receiving award

What a delightful blast from the past - Bernd Mahnke of CareConcept Mahnke dropped me an e-mail proudly passing on the news that he was recognised as one of the top 100 innovative German companies this year.

I had the privilege of accompanying Bernd around the UK back in 2008 as he was exploring the potential markets here - see article Lincoln Imps and Pressure Beds. CareConcept produces specialist beds for hospitals or long term care, where patients can be bedridden for considerable periods of time. Using a unique system, the beds gently adjust position along their whole length to ensure that pressure sores and points do not arise.

Well done Bernd for the Award!

From international boundaries to broomsticks

From Wordle-images

I talked today with Chris Little, who is a training consultant to the surveying and construction industries. We had wide ranging talks on topics that ranged from vehicle tracking devices to the resolution of international boundary disputes (where's the line on the ground!).

His company is Chris Little Training Services Limited and it provides courses from basic surveying skills to use of GPS and mapping software. But what does this actually mean?

"Most recently, I helped a company in Great Yarmouth use a theodolite and level to ensure the verticality of on- and offshore drilling derricks. For the company this meant significant time savings in both fitting the drilling equipment and the prevention of costly mistakes.

For many companies in the construction and fabrication industries, the biggest cost is often the mistakes made by their staff, as this comes out of bottom line figures.

I have also been involved in high precision industrial measurement, using surveying equipment that is capable of sub-millimetre accuracy. This is relevant for industries such as the repair of rail vehicles, the aligning of industrial gantries and pipe-work fabrication in the nuclear industry.

Some of the most unusual and interesting projects, though not major in themselves, included being involved with the filming of the last Harry Potter film, and position of a flying character (who can be a bit of an ogre) in a present stage play in London!"

With a hectic schedule and the possibility of international engagements, the easiest way to get hold of Chris is at chrislittletraining@hotmail.co.uk or +44 7932 383932

Marcus Orlovsky at The Inspired Group

Emotion, passion and feeling - essential ingredients in our lives, ambitions and businesses, that seem to be absent along the fact oriented, evidence based route that we are supposed to use. Marcus Orlovsky skipped from education, through advertising to successful businesses and back in his presentation to The Inspired Group, at the invitation of Ann Hawkins. One moment we would be comparing two adverts for seat belt use - the fact based "Clunk Click" campaign of the 70s and a contemporary, never screened emotive one which had a significant part of the audience sniffing discretely into their hankerchiefs. The next moment we were following Marcus's dizzying rise to megabuck business, sometimes sailing very close to the wind in terms of what I personally consider ethical business.

What came through consistently, was Markus's passion in three key messages.
First; We have a great responsibility to inspire, enthuse and enable children to strive for distant horizons.
Second; That leadership is inspirational and enabling.
Third, Dare to Dream.

What's more he was willing to go out proactively to promote these messages, with passion, and be an example in daring to dream, encouraging leadership and being committed to providing an inspiring environment for children. (Read more on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/miltoncontact/status/79638202373255168).

New Author Debz Lowry in final stages of completing first book

I am sitting in the Cafe Diem in Milton Country Park with a remarkable lady, Debz Lowry, sipping our cups of tea and looking out over the lake with the wind rushing through the trees.
Debz has a remarkable life story which she is in the final stages of writing up in her new book, "Dark Seeds 3am". Did I say one book? Debz's eventful, sometimes traumatic, but always uplifting life with a supernatural twist, cannot be bounded by just one book.
Brimming with energy, what was an initial short conversation has expanded into a fascinating couple of hours, exploring the possibilities ahead for Debz.

Ion Torrent sequencing technology helps identify German E.coli outbreak as new strain

From Wordle-images

As a former molecular biologist, I take my hat off to BGI-Shenzhen who managed to sequence the DNA of the virulent German E. coli strain within 3 days. The analysis of the the bacterium's DNA sequence suggests that this is a new type of E. coli strain O104 that contains pathogenic genes from two known nasty strains.

It binds to the stomach wall, produces toxins that cause severe diarrhoea, haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) - which results in the destruction of red blood cells - and can affect the central nervous system. In addition, the bacterium contains a whole series of resistances to common antibiotics (described as aminoglycoside, macrolides and beta-lactam antibiotics).

The rapid result was achieved using a new method of DNA sequencing, called Ion Torrent, by Life Sciences.

When I started sequencing, we used radioactivity to detect and score DNA sequences. By the year 2000 this had been replaced by faster, safer methods using different coloured dyes. Ion Torrent does away with any unusual additives, it measures small changes in pH (acidity).

The principle is clever and simple:

• As usual, you begin with your test DNA which has been split into single strands.
• Synthesis of the complementary strand is then primed in a special microwell plate.
• The sample is flushed with a solution containing an enzyme (DNA polymerase) and one of the four DNA building blocks (A, T, C or G).
• If the base can be added to the primed complementary strand, it releases a hydrogen ion. This can be measured and recorded as a small pH change.
• If the base is not added, there is no release of an ion.
• The well is then flushed with a second base and again the change is noted.
• The process is repeated, gradually giving the sequence.

Using existing technology, where lots of different DNA fragments can be sequenced in parallel, the process can proceed very rapidly.

The different sequences for the DNA fragments are then matched like a giant jigsaw string until you have the full sequence of an organism.

Having this molecular information for the German E. coli type will help doctors and agencies come up with better ways to search for the source of the outbreak and also plan for prevention and treatment.

Sources:
http://kbgtestblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/e-coli-strain-previously-unseen-and.html
http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/06/02/bgi-sequences-genome-of-the-deadly-e-coli-in-germany-and-reveals-new-super-toxic-strain/
http://www.bio-itworld.com/news/06/02/2011/German-teams-BGI-Life-Technologies-Identify-E-coli-strain.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_semiconductor_sequencing
http://lifetech-it.hosted.jivesoftware.com/videos/1016

Genetically Modified Plants, Where are we now in the drought ridden UK?

The BBC Cambridgeshire's Andie Harper Show touched on the developing drought on this morning's progam and the topic of GMO crops and foods came up. It elicited a remarkable run of mainly positive comments, before resistance kicked in.

Until 2004, I worked as a researcher in the plant area and was responsible for biological safety, so I naturally turned to relevant online sources to see what the GMO release situation was in the UK and wider Europe at this moment in time.

Field trial application

A quick check on ACRE (The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment) which regulates ALL UK field trials and releases of GMOs showed that in 2010, there were only:

Two applications for trials

1. Nematode resistance in potatoes – my old colleagues in Leeds continuing their great work
2. Potatoes modified for resistance to potato late blight – Sainsbury Lab

One EU Notification to renew authorisation to market:

1. Carnations with altered flower colour – Florigene

Two applications to market GM food and feed

1. Maize with Herbicide tolerance – Monsanto
2. Maize with insect resistance (specific Lepidoptera and Coleoptera species)

There were also a number of applications to cultivate or import and process varieties for feed, where further assessments were awaited or where these had already been considered in the past.

(Source: Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment: Annual Report Number 17: 2010 http://archive.defra.gov.uk/acre/pdf/acre-annrpt17.pdf)

What was most striking about the numbers of applications for GMO releases to the environment was how these had plummeted throughout the EU, especially in the former leaders, France, UK and Germany.

The trend was countered in Spain, where there has been a steady increase in trials over the past decade. (Source GMO Compass http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/agri_biotechnology/field_trials/).

Is plant GM work dead in the UK?

Of course not! Whilst trialling in the UK may be at a low, this does not prevent the continuation of ground breaking work in plant genetics in the UK and worldwide. Old challenges, such as making nitrogen fixing crops are being revisited and there is also current talk about third generation biofuel production using algal cultures that have been modified. Hopefully the latter will take away the threat of more farmland or natural habitats being converted for fuel generation.

The hidden benefits of GM technologies

What is often not realised is that the 99% of work required understanding a particular plant gene or set of genes before even making a transgenic crop plant is in itself extremely useful. So called Marker Assisted Breeding, using information from cloned and characterised genes, can ensure that new desirable traits can be moved into many crop plants by conventional breeding.

It will probably take a couple of decades yet in the UK for GM crops to become acceptable. This is ironic, in that many people have already experienced the benefits of GM technology in the production of their medicines and even the cheese they eat (by using purified rennet from transformed bacterial cultures rather than the stomachs of calves).

Back to the UK Drought

Will GM be important for adapting our crops to the drought in the UK? Well, it is more likely that farmers will adapt to growing drought tolerant crops here that have already proved themselves in other growing areas. Breeding programs work best when there is a variety of methods available, GM is just one option amongst many.

My personal solution? I’m still waiting for my pineapple top to root before I commit to buying my Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts!

How I created a First Story ebook for Children to work on Kindle

A first story ebook for children created as an exercise in learning about creating ebooks. The book is the picture story with a bit of text called "Monty Bear and the Chocolate Egg". The Amazon link is at the bottom of the page.

As part of the process of learning about the practicalities of creating an ebook for my Kindle, I practised on transferring the content of the digital book I had already created at http://issuu.com/miltoncontact/docs/monty-bear-and-the-chocolate-egg, which you can read online, but not download. (the Amazon Kindle link is at the bottom of the article).

The work process for creating the Kindle ebook was as follows:

• Convert and edit the images into greyscale, with a high contrast. This is important as the Kindle reader has a lower contrast range.
• The images were resized to be 520 pixels wide, the optimum for the Kindle reader
• I then used Sigil, a WYSIWYG ebook editor, to layout the book with the edited images and text. 
• To force each image and its short text to be on a new page, I had to make each page a new chapter.
• The ebook was then saved in epub format.
• The ebook was then imported into Calibre and the meta information (about author, title, publication date and preferred book cover) was added.
• Using Calibre, the ebook was exported into the .mobi format, which is accepted by Kindle.

I actually went through the cycle several times as minor coding features had to be corrected. For this simple 20 page book, the process took five or six hours before I was completely satisfied.

I could either import the book to my Kindle (best option) or use the free PC software to view Kindle ebooks available here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000423913

By generating this very simple book, I learnt a considerable amount on the practicalities of producing an ebook for Kindle - and other - ebook readers.

Please feel free to sample or purchase the ebook, "Monty Bear and the Chocolate Egg" at only £0.70p for your Kindle from here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Bear-Chocolate-Egg/dp/B00519TOIE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306161559&sr=8-1

I would really appreciate your comments after trialling this out on young children!

Caldecote History Group's early book planning a good start

Today I joined the Caldecote History Group for a meeting. We talked about the best way forward to produce a book on the history of Caldecote; I was there in my capacity as a publisher.

I'm usually approached to help with a book when the author has already produced a first draft. I was therefore delighted when the Caldecote History Group asked me to give some professional advice at an earlier stage.

The reason is that whilst the production of a book has it's own difficulties, the real challenge is - how do I sell the book. Thinking about this right from the start can be of great help later.

My hosts were Sheila, Robert, David and Christine, part of a wider group that has a good complement of different skills and and historical interests. They and others had already collected a wealth of information about the village of Caldecote, over a period from the Domesday Book to the present. We wanted to establish the best way forward for the Caldecote History Group.

The wide ranging discussions eventually crystalised to 5 key elements:

• Adopt web based tools for even better team work
• Tell the local and wider communities what we are doing
• Generate interest in the final book
• Design, edit and set the book
• Publication (print and/or digital) of the book

Every group will have its own specific solutions when producing a book. What is important is to generate interest early on as this gives you a clearer idea on who will be interested in a copy of the final book.

Get in touch if you are a Cambridgeshire group interested in finding the best way forward for your book.

In the meantime keep a look out for more news from the Caldecote History Group!

CHASE a popcode for augmented reality

From Wordle-images

Connell Gauld of Extra Reality Limited entertained an audience at this Monday's CHASE meeting on Mills & Reeve's Cambridge premises. The talk was on the linking of a printed code with a mobile phone app so that the camera on the phone could be overlayered with an augmented reality display.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” pronounced the farseeing Arthur C Clarke in 1961. It was an astute Connell Gauld who used the Hogwart's posters of Sirius Black in motion at the CHASE meeting, to demonstrate that the magic in a film is now indistinguishable from advanced technology. Take a static image with an embedded code and your mobile camera will display an augmented image that moves, reveals hidden detail or any other effect you desire. The particularly neat feature is that as you change the camera view by moving it around, the augmented image on the screen behaves in the same way.

That is, if you have a decent mobile phone (i.e. a more expensive model, like the i-phones and i-pad). My Nokia E63 was sadly not up to the task and currently, neither are Blackberrys.

To my simple mind, the principle was broken down into three elements:
1. A printed and snappily titled “Popcode”, that is code 128 based
2. A downloadable app that recognises the code via the mobile phone camera
3. Cloud based software that can be accessed by the app to perform the impressive visual “augmented reality” effects on the phone display

The popcode, whilst a great mnemonic and visually appealing, is not actually essential. The audience rapidly pointed out that QR codes or other barcodes could work equally well if the app can be made to recognise them.

It is the app and the software to create, then implement, the bespoke augmented reality animation that is key.

Connell Gauld and Extra Reality Limited currently have an edge in development time for this particular form of augmented reality and are currently seeking to employ this technological lead to their advantage.

This was an excellent and exciting presentation, especially as Connell Gauld seemed to relish the numerous interruptions and questions. CHASE are to be congratulated for organising the event.

German quality goat’s cheeses on a mission to the UK

Andreas Ebert of Feinkaeserei Zimmermann visits the UK to check out the market for his “Altenburger”, a fine cheese that is a PDO (Product of Designated Origin). A commentary on our joint experience in business and in pleasure.

In the UK, the French are famous for their cheeses, we ourselves produce a wide variety of excellent British artisan cheeses – but Germany? Perhaps the politest comment that Andreas would encounter, when talking about his companies soft, medium hard and blue cheeses, was “I didn’t know the Germans made cheese!” The least complimentary phrase we heard was “German cheeses are imitations of the French”.

But the most positive comments we regularly heard from real cheese distributers in the UK was “We do not have any German cheeses and would like to extend our portfolio”.

Andreas is the fourth generation from Feinkaeserei Zimmermann to enter the family run business that recently ( in 2010) celebrated the centenary of continuous production of the regionally famous “Altenburger Ziegenkaese”, from the state of Saxony in Germany.

The cheese dairy survived two world wars and nationalisation in the communist East Germany, with the family present ever since Albert Zimmermann first worked for the founder, in 1910, Mr Kupfer and then took it over in 1930. Wrestling control back after reunification, The family and Feinkaeserei Zimmermann expanded the cheese dairy into making other goat’s cheeses with the glut of milk coming in as part of the “Altenburger” production.

Andreas’s visits to UK partners were scattered over three days. Arriving the day before the first, we met at Luton Airport and travelled into London. Once we had checked in his luggage in the reasonable and nicely located Park Grand Hotel at Devonshire Terrace near Paddington, it was off for some sight seeing.

Andreas had been a frequent visitor to London in the past, but had never toured HMS Belfast. We set off via the Underground to St Pauls. Walking around the Cathedral, we crossed the millennium bridge and made a short visit to the Weiwei Sunflower seed exhibition in the Tate Modern. From there, with a choral interlude at Southwark cathedral we finally arrived at HMS Belfast for a couple of hours delving through her decks.

The next three days were busy visiting the potential UK contacts that my collaborators at Europartnerships had found him. The key lesson that we learnt early on was the fascination with the century old history of the “Altenburger Ziegenkaese”. This was especially helped by the centenary, traditional round wooden box design which had been retained. This was the key for opening people’s willingness to look at the other soft and semi hard cheeses. There was certainly interest generated, with the caveat that the quality and taste had to match.

Fortunately, we had cheese samples. They had been sent to my colleague Audra Green , who had then driven them to me. I took them to London where Andreas had them safely stored in the Hotel’s fridge until required.

Perhaps the best memory was of the friendly reception “Up North”, where our hosts cracked open some artisan fruit juices and we had an end-of-trip tasting session of selected English and Zimmermann cheeses, with complimentary comments all round.

Devonshire Terrace was not far from three excellent pubs, The Victoria, The Swan and The Mitre, where Andreas became an honorary Englishman, at least in his appreciation of good quality pub food.

It was an intense, positive and entertaining visit with business opportunities to be chased. Hopefully we can soon find the “Altenburger Ziegenkaese” and its relatives gaining acceptance distribution in the UK.

Andreas Ebert, of Feinkaeserei Zimmermann’s visit to the UK, was part of:
The VHP Lebensmittelwirtschaft 2010
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Project Management by Europartnerships Ltd
in cooperation with Milton Contact Ltd (UK)
And Come Across (DE)

High Spirits at the Natural History Museum

Next time you visit the Natural History Museum in London, turn left at the dinosaur's tail and wander through to the Darwin Centre and The Cocoon. Last Thursday, I took part on the Spirit Collection Tour there. Spirit does not refer to ghosts or whisky, but rather to the samples that are preserved in a mixture of ethanol and methanol, IMS. Though, to be fair, when early collectors ran out of pure alcohol, brandy or rum provided a simple solution until the specimens were returned home.

The visitors area of the Darwin Centre displays several hundred animals and plants in their tastefully lit jars. The rest of the building, from it's basement to the floors above, houses 22 million of the 70 million or more specimens of the worlds flora and fauna for the future. Yet this is not simply a giant pickle collection to be sniffed at (especially as the IMS is harmful if inhaled in quantity). The building also has laboratories and scientists. They continue to gain real results in our understanding of life on earth from this valuable resource.

The Spirit Collection Tour takes a small group of eight visitors behind the scenes. Our guide, Jessica, was a working scientist who specialised in mammals. Luckily for us, she was also trained in communicating with the lay audience.

We went down into the basement; first stop, the flesh eating beetles. Not a nightmare, but insects put to practical use. These are nature's waste removal system, getting rid of carrion. Safely kept in the laboratory, they strip flesh from samples, leaving the skeleton. This avoids the use of hazardous chemicals and an otherwise messy, smelly, dangerous job for the scientist. The beetles were cleaning a killer whale tooth. You can see them working for yourself on the flesh-eating beetle cam. Let's hope someone cleans the lens and sorts out the focus in the meantime.

Then we came to the chilled rooms housing rows upon rows of cabinets with samples under lock and key. So valuable to science that they were evacuated to caves outside of London during WWII. Further on we entered to the room containing the large specimens. I had remembered Archie, the giant squid from a previous visit. As long as a London bus, the tentacles were covered in suckers. This time I saw that each sucker had a wicked circle of teeth, to maximise grip when tackling prey or battling with their predator, the sperm whale.

Amongst the many specimens stored there were a few in a special cabinet. These were samples originally collected by Darwin on the Voyage of the Beagle. Amonstthem was the shell of his pet tortoise from the Galapagos Isles, lost for over a century until found again in the 1980s.

But why are these collections so important?

First, Whenever a new species was or is discovered, a physical record of a typical type specimen is made. This type specimen can be compared with later finds of the same or similar organisms as an important guide for accurate identification. Some of these samples are so important, that they will travel across the world on loan, to help naturalists with their work there.

Second, of the tens of millions of animals and plants stored, many were preserved, catalogued and simply put into storage for later. Work still needs to be done to understand them further.

Third, preservation in IMS has kept the DNA intact so that modern DNA technologies can be used to gain even more knowledge.

Is this really relevant to you or me? Yes! There are some really practical applications, as well as increasing our general understanding of life on earth. For example, later when I walked through the through the Cocoon, which houses the insect collections, I stopped at the window to the working lab. A scientist was studying New Forest blow flies, talking to us as she worked and also answering questions. We could actually see the work being done under the microscope. I learnt that blow flies can apparently be important in murder cases; in terms of giving the police and courts an estimate of how long a body has lain since death. Local blow fly species might also help by giving geographical information; was the body moved after the murder, for example.

So when you next walk up the steps and into the glorious Victorian main hall of the Natural History Museum, do not just come to look at the exhibits. Take one the many opportunities to talk to and interact with real scientists who work there on our behalf. The museum is not just a collection of static displays, it is also a major centre for increasing our knowledge – and willing to tell you about it in terms that you and I can understand.

How much time I spend on social media and how I organise them

From Wordle-images

I've been using social media in relation to business and pleasure for a couple of years now. Today, I found myself writing a letter to an artist friend about how my use of social media had evolved and thought - this is relevant to a wider audience! So here it is:

"Dear ...

...
You were talking about trying to find the time for your blog. I thought you might be interested from a business perspective about the time and effort I spend on different social media. The way I organise them and my time spent is as follows:

• Twitter: good for quick comments, takes 1 minute to make comment.
• Twitpic: allows you to link a photo to a quick tweet.
• Facebook: About 5 mins for a longer wall post. Best to have a separate FB page for business
• Blog: Couple of paragraphs - including links and photos. Up to an hour - a lot of that thinking, composition and correction time.
• Picasa Web Albums. Any decent or relevant pictures are uploaded to a web album. This also allows me to incorporate single images or slideshows into the blog.
• YouTube: A couple of hours - several takes of video, editing, uploading. (You can do it quicker!). Again, YouTube videos can be incorporated into Blog articles
• Website: If fully structured, takes 1h plus for new entry. Faster alternative is to use blog as website and ensure you have good search and indexing function (blogger and wordpress provide these).

• Daily time spent on Social media - some time daily (up to an hour!). 
• Remember the key word is Social - you need to interact with others, not just talk about yourself all the time.

Optimising your entries for maximum effect:

• My twitter entries are linked to Facebook, so appear there too automatically.
• By adding an additional tag, I can also direct tweets to Linkedin if serious enough.
• Once I write a blog article or make a YouTube video, I tweet a link to it (which also appears on FB and LinkedIn if appropriate).
• I use the name miltoncontact as the common link throughout as there are too many Chris Thomas's out there!

The idea is to have a virtuous circle linking your different media.
All this ensures that you can be found on the web by a whole range of different routes.

My possible weakness is that I tend to have a wide range of topics and interests all represented in these different media. More focussed businesses have dedicated blogs and other social media accounts for each different specific business stream.

My excuse is that I'm a generalist with wide interests and am happy to be seen as such. :-)

This is actually a letter relevant to many others so I will also blog it! Which reminds me of a very useful piece of advice to generate content:

If anyone asks you a question or you have a conversation and you think the answer is of general interest, share it, it is an effective way to generate new content

Best wishes,

Chris"

Two German Companies visit London and the IFE

Two German food related companies came over to London for meetings with UK companies in and around the International Food and Drink Exhibition IFE.  “Der Pommeraner” is a family run business specialising in speciality and regional sausages and meats, whilst “Von Blythen” provided lifestyle products using flowers and flower products in food.

The benefits of arranging meetings around the IFE was that in addition to the planned contacts, the companies could gain an immediate snapshot of the food world within a UK perspective. There where a multitude of products on display, numerous suppliers exhibiting, and you could get a good idea of what was happening in food trends.

What's more, Central London was but a tube ride away from Excel. Two further articles will describe the individual experiences of the companies in more detail, see the links at the bottom of this post.

Dana and Sandy Reggentin-Hassenstein (Account Manager and CEO respectively for der Pommeraner) and Martina Kabitzsch (Owner Manager, von Blythen) arrived together at Gatwick where they were collected by Mark Dodsworth (Europartnerships) and driven to London. I joined them at the IFE at Excel.

The meeting point and haven of tranquillity was the German Pavillion who kindly allowed us to use their facilities when not travelling around, and looked after us very well.

Together, we had three days of meetings, highs and lows, miles of walking and innumerable trips about London.

There were perhaps two items of note in addition to business. The first was the hotel. We had looked for a more economical option and found it in Notting Hill. The exterior looked extremely promising, sitting within a lovely columned Georgian terrace, however, the rooms can only described as “quality commensurate with the cost”.

There were two key features to my room. First, the handle to the bathroom door was apt to come off in my hands. Second, the window did not face outwards, but across towards the window of the neighbouring room. Since that was occupied by a bevy of attractive young Spanish ladies on the first night, this could have given me a delightful free evening's entertainment.

However, I felt duty bound to let them know and warn them to draw their curtains. My tact and restraint was rewarded by by being awakened by their noisy preparations for departure at 4am the next morning.

As a group we had taken one look at the “breakfast room”, laughed ourselves silly and agreed to eat out at a nearby breakfast bar.

The evenings were a much more positive and entirely different kettle of fish. The first night we met up with a Belgian delegation in a Lebanese restaurant for an excellent meal and conversation.

The second night was in a little gem of a pub that Europartnerships had used before, the Victoria in Bayswater. The initial stumbling block was gaining a free table, but once achieved, we had a pleasant evening in a Victorian setting, with apparent links to Churchill, Dickens and Charlie Chaplin!

The third night, we were invited by Martin Straus (Wine Trainers) and Michael Sweetmann (Hospitality and Cocktail expert) to dine at the Institute of Directors club. Martin ensured that we walked off a considerable number of calories through Pall Mall getting there, presumably to justify the excellent meal in relaxing club surroundings that evening!

Each company achieved at least one success as part of the visit to London and the IFE. Read more about the individual companies and their experience here:

Der Pommeraner
Von Blythen


Part of the VHP Lebensmittelwirtschaft 2010
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Project Management by Europartnerships Ltd
in cooperation with Milton Contact Ltd (UK)
And Come Across (DE)

Der Pommeraner, German Sausages visit the UK

On the visit of the Pommeranian sausage company, Der Pommeraner, to London and the International Food and Drink Exhibition.

There is an undiscovered country on the Baltic coastline, in the North-East of Germany, it is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A green undulating and scenic landscape with coastal resorts and lovely beaches occasionally littered with the amber that the Vikings prized.

An appreciated tourist destination for the Germans ever since the former East German became accessible after the fall of the wall, it is also home to a set of culinary traditions and food related businesses. One of these is “der Pommeraner” (the Pommeranian).

Der Pommeraner is a family run business specialising in that quintessential of German foods, the sausage!
As with any stereotype, it hides a far richer food experience than one might originally expect. It’s like saying that we British have a cheese, and that’s Cheddar, totally ignoring the fact that we have Stilton, Wilstshire, Lancashire, Red Leicester, Wensleydale and many, many more, often from artisan producers at the highest level.

So it is with Der Pommeraner, who provide a range including not only the familiar Frankfurters, but also Bockwurst, Knockwurst, Wiener, Bratwurst and more which, including their flavoured variants, total an impressive 72 products - with of course, five Pommeranian varieties. These are quality, award winning products.

It was my pleasure to accompany Dana and Sandy Reggentin-Hassenstein, responsible for Der Pommeraner’s foray into the international market, as part of a program supported by the German government. Our base was the International Food and Drink Exhibition (IFE) 2011 at Excel, in London.

The objective was to learn about the UK market and find opportunities for Der Pommeraner products in Britain.

The IFE itself gave the opportunity to visit different meat stands and see what was on offer, talk to some of the exhibitors and arrange to meet people. London was also a place to visit external companies and see what the high end retailers were offering and a place to travel from.

One surprise for the visitors was the comparable quality of the average British banger (as sausages are colloquially known), with its lower meat content, coarser texture and oozing fat. An unexpected culinary shock when used to a more quality, finer German product (and also a reason for my preferring the “finest” ranges of  British pork sausages, where there was a guaranteed meat content above 70%).

So what were the potential ways into the UK market for Der Pommeraner? We identified two main issues, 1. Getting people to taste the product to win them over, and 2. Finding the best route to market.

It is no secret that 80 percent of meat products are now sold though the large supermarket chains, with their competitive pricing and centralised purchasing. Butchers and independent delicatessens make up another 15 percent and the remainder is taken up by farm shops and other outlets.

These all have different requirements in terms of approach and, more specifically, presentation to the UK consumer. In retail outlets in particular, there was a big difference in packaging and product presentation, depending on whether it was a supermarket or an independent small retailer.

Despite the grim grey weather, we also managed to visit a range of the high end shops in London, via a few sights on the way. The best display and range of German sausages being on show in – Harrods – where else!

A dash to Southwold also gave an insight to what the independent shop at the end of the retail chain required to make it easier to sell new products, and when.

The high quality pork sausages, in their many variants, do have a potential market in the UK, where 69% of households eat pre-packed, fresh sausages at home!

Dana and Sandy of Der Pommeraner left the UK with one immediate contact interested in further business and a number of leads and new insights to help them target the UK market even more successfully.

To find out more about Der Pommeraner, visit their English website at http://www.der-pommeraner.de/index_e.php. If you are looking for new, quality sausage and meat related products for your business, give Dana a call at Der Pommeraner, +49(0)39998 318-0.

Related articles:
Two German companies visit the IFE
The taste of flowers.


Part of the VHP Lebensmittelwirtschaft 2010
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Project Management by Europartnerships Ltd
in cooperation with Milton Contact Ltd (UK)
And Come Across (DE)