Getting our teeth into Glasgow

Despite a 4am start from Cambridge, Duesseldorf or Malvern, Mark, Marie,Ulrich and I found ourselves relatively bright on the Banks of the Clyde in the early afternoon. We entered the Scottish Exhibition Centre, the day before the British Dental Association Annual Exhibition to find organised chaos reigning as we came into the hall to find and set up the NRW – Dental Technician Mission Stand. Afterwards, I inevitably got distracted with the camera photographing the Squinty bridge and the Exhibition Centre in glorious sunshine.

The remaining delegates arrived later in the afternoon as we had our introduction to Scotland, with James from the Hotel Marriott reception reading out some of Burn's “Ode to a Toothache” to drive home the point of Scotland as an independent nation. Delegates also learnt how to find USPs or examples of their work unique to them by using their answers to client's specific questions and problems. Dinner in a Glasgow Tapas bar broke the ice that evening.

The next day, the German dental technicians put their new found skills to good use at the exhibition. With free internet access, I enjoyed returning the favour of the friendly and helpful reception at various stands with collecting their Tweets for my twitter blogs.

The afternoon included a visit to the exceptional Visage lifestyle Clinic where Dr Attiq Rahman, Director, introduced us to a top of the market, Harley Street clinic, combining Dentistry with Cosmetic treatments. We were all fascinated by the apparently Glass bowl like treatment room, with the treatment chair visible from reception. With smile, Attiq flicked a switch and the intelligent glass became opaque. Waiting patients could therefore gauge when the treatment room was in use or not.

We dined that night at the Piccolo Mondo where I enjoyed my Salmon and discovered an unexpected fellow Chocoholic when the after dinner mints arrived! Fortunately our preferences differed sufficiently; I enjoyed the square mints, my unnamed choclateur (or should that be chocolateuse?) preferred the round orange ones which all our colleagues generously donated to us!

Friday Morning brought us to the equally impressive Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry. Arshad Ali BDS, FDSRCS (Eng & Edin), FDSRCPS (Glasg), DRD, MRD RCS (Edin) Welcomed us to his Top of the Market clinic, into which they had recently moved before dashing off to the BDA exhibition in his Bentley. Rodger & Kevin McLaughlin, father and son in house dental technicians and German speakers gave us a considerable amount of their time. Again, we were impressed by how a dental business vision could be taken to a high level.

Then it was back to the exhibition to support our Scotland based speaker Dr Tobias Rinke at the Seminar on German double crown telescope techniques to a packed room. He was introduced by Consul General Moessinger, who had lent his support to our mission and chatted amiably with us at the reception with invited guests immediately afterwards. The Consul General also gave me an impromptu tweet which, with a twinkle iin his eye, he wished Alex Salmond could see!

A good introductory talk on the BDA by Clare Crishop and colleague, a meeting with Henry of Raconteur, who provide the insert pages for The Times, and many others that we met at the exhibition made this a memorable but exhausting day. But now it was time to Party! Bernd had obtained invites for all of us to the BDA Party at the Corinthian. I was flagging by 11 and returned to a welcome bed – the hardcore party goers stayed on till well after 1pm!

Whilst the party goers recovered the next morning, I made an early dash into Glasgow for a second photo tour of the Merchant City and attractive city centre. After supporting Tobias' second seminar, we went on to Dental Technology Services. I can only describe it as the Shock and Awe visit as we were shown the future of dental technical services and support by Alex Littlejohn and his sons. The forward looking family team have built up an impressive business that has acquired sufficient clout to be approached by those companies seeking places to test cutting edge equipment.

The end of the NRW Mission left us better informed and willing to look towards uniting for further action in order to support the efforts of German dental technicians interested in the UK market.

You can read our tweets collated at
http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2009/06/tweets-from-nrw-mission-trip-to-british.html

Relevant German articles
on interesting business introduction and setting your company apart from others at:

• Wie erzeugt meineFirma einen besseren Eindruck (bei der ersten Begruessing)
• Wie kann ich mich als eine Firma unter Vielen hervorheben?

Participating companies were:
Dentaform GmbH, Schroeter Dentallabor GmbH, Schueler Dental-Technik, Ivorydent, Zahntechnik Horchmer & Joyeaux Meisterlabor, Zahntechnik Peters GmbH, Ulrich Schultheis Zahntechnik, Zahntechnik Roland Volkhardt, Form+Funktion
Dentaltechnik GmbH, Dental-Labor Froesch GmbH, Teeth 'R' Us, Cooperation for Dental Comfort.

DE Organisers – Bety Chu of NRW International, Marie-Theres Luetje of Handwerkskammer Duesseldorf and Bernd Krey of the Handwerkskammer Koeln

UK organisation & support – Mark Dodsworth Europartnerships Ltd, Chris Thomas Milton Contact Ltd, Audra Green & Helen Murfin of Virtual Advantage

Tweets from the NRW Mission trip to the British Dental Association Annual conference

From Wordle-images

Below is a collection of the tweets I made as a result of meeting people at the British Dental Association's Annual Exhibition in Glasgow and comments from the fantastic Dental Technicians in the fact finding delegation from North Rhine-Westphalia I was supporting.

The number of hits on links within the Tweets ranged from 9 to 32, with most averaging at about 19 - 20 hits. The statistics revealed that the responses peaked within 24 hours and that half of the visitors were from the US, followed by the UK. I use www.bit.ly to shorten links and they provide the simple statistics as part of the service.

Tweeting from glasgow flyer bus on way from airport to station - assisting German delegation for rest of week in Glasgow

At German NRW stand with Ulrich of Teeth R Us and Reinhard of Helbig Dental GmbH, awaiting the masses at stand D35

Ulrich is the affable owner of a dental laboratory wih a sense of humour and a real interest in working with dentists http://bit.ly/tm23c

Ulrich thoroughly recommends the dentists version of Bohemian Rhapsody at http://bit.ly/Q14Fi !!

Roger Fangemann has already learnt the the UK dental market is not so different from the German one! Theyre like local partners

Reinhards speaking to two young dentists about to set up a practice who liked the cost effectivity of telescope prosth. http://bit.ly/4qWWYJ

Dental crowns do not need to be implanted deeper than 6mm, so why do dentist use longer pins? http://bit.ly/VwyT6

is small beautiful with dental stands at the BDA or does it actually limit what visitors can learn comments Gerd http://bit.ly/SkZrZ

Jaw alignment with Herbst appliances is a real attractant at the BDA when chatting at different stands, see http://bit.ly/vHR7S

DPAS provide dental plans for patients who want affordable dental treatment with their dentists http://bit.ly/12pZQA

BOS represents every orthodontist and their technicians and nurses in UK, lobbying and eduction http://bit.ly/JXwCM

BDPMA help busy stressed dental practice managers run their dental businesses more successfully and profitably http://bit.ly/GfpNi

Excellence in total personal improvement by combining dentistry and cosmetic surgery in one practice http://bit.ly/lUbNG

It is important to know your personality type so that you can communicate effectively with others http://bit.ly/9iRh8

Gathering of great dental minds following a long Scottish dental tradition, says Henry of Raconteurmedia http://bit.ly/HNNuu

A dentist in every doctors practice? That's our business! Toothcare - http://bit.ly/DC19S

The young dentists are so enthusiastic when visiting Genix, says Sian http://bit.ly/Jvu1G

I'ts heartening to see so many seminars focussing on the patients experience at the BDA conference http://bit.ly/3lafpX

looking forward to review of NHS dental Health services undertaken by Jimmy Steel http://bit.ly/YWaS

The Scots are a courageous people who always try to make the best of it! German General Consul Moessinger http://bit.ly/2mhfM

The 50th anniversary of a German diplomatic presence in Edinburgh (General Consul Moessinger) http://bit.ly/2mhfM

"I loved meeting and interacting with the dental professionals at the BDA" says Acasha http://bit.ly/19qWgw

Dentistry with another dimension - Join the Airforce! http://bit.ly/LQf12 http://digg.com/u14uoh

“I enjoyed the visit to the Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry in Glasgow” Okyay Oeztugran, http://bit.ly/aPOQU

“I've seen many interesting business ideas during th BDA conference for my clinic in Germany” Okyay Oeztugran, http://bit.ly/aPOQU

“It was a perfectly organised trip! Good insight into the British dental market. Friendly and open people” Roger Fangemann

“A top organised trip to scotland with a very interesting Exhibition visit” Gerd Joyeux http://bit.ly/SkZrZ

“Finally a big dental market that needs to be developed for telescope technology” Gerd Joyeux http://bit.ly/SkZrZ

“A very interesting trip to Scotland that was well organised and informative” http://bit.ly/vHR7S

“I was able to get a good insight into the Scottish dental market” Roland Volkhardt http://bit.ly/vHR7S

“Useful visit at the Scottish dental exhibition in Glasgow” Christian Froesch http://bit.ly/2KiS5

“You don't have to be a tooth fairy to shrink your dental bill!” Hildegart Hass-Stoetzel http://bit.ly/158IK4

Green Technologies meeting in Stratford Upon Avon

The rolling green countryside and the picturesque town of Stratford upon Avon were an appropriate place to meet Mark Dodsworth of Europartnerships for a visit to Mike Woollacott and his team at Greenwatt.

Greenwatt specialise in sustainable solutions and have particular expertise in the construction and renewable energy side of sustainable development, a growing area of interest for UK industry. Their involvement includes projects from Zero waste, via low carbon transport to sustainable engineering. Probably the best place to get an idea of their scope is to look at their projects page.

Our interest was in a potential synergy with the German market as part of the market assistance Mark and I provide for overseas companies. The enjoyable aspect of being small companies is that we can work together quite successfully for individual collaborative projects to provide a service greater than the sum of our parts. (Also see the Potsdam Green Ventures Album and the separate phototour of Potsdam itself.

It was a glorious day and sinceI had lived near Stratford upon Avon when working a post doc at the Institute of horticultural research, I took the camera into the town to take a few photos, as you can see from the slide show.

Exhibition at the Lothbury Centre, Weston Colville

One of the delights of being with the Cambridge Open Studios as a participating artist is that you also help out at some of the pre launch events. This is how I found myself in the Lothbury centre in Weston Colville at the invitation of Clarissa Cochran, not only to exhibit but also to steward the exhibition on the very first Saturday.

This could have been a quiet day in the beautiful countryside between Cambridge and Newmarket were it not for the welcoming and inclusive people of Weston Colville! For on this Saturday, they also held their Fun and family event. Jane Pryor, herself an abstract artist, was besieged by families with junior school children in the hall we shared. Paint brushes, bright colours and enthusiasm abounded as the visitors made leaf prints for a future Church event. A parallel session composed stories about what life was like in a flower.

Alan Ogden, helping organise the events, returned at lunchtime and friendly yet forceful manner ensured that I was not confined to the hall but got out into the sun and enjoyed some of the food on offer. I had the best chocolate brownies I've eaten for a long time!

But what has this to do with Open Studios?!? The village event had a beneficial effect on the exhibition. The parents took a spare moment to view the exhibition; when the BBQ finished, there was a steady trickle of curious visitors. There were at least 22 adults and at least the same number of children who came to look at the pictures, ask questions, peer down my microscope at the delightfully gruesome headlouse and take away the Open Studios leaflets.

The overall moral of the story is that if you want to make your exhibition even more successful in the future, consider joining forces with or timing it to match a nearby event.

The Lothbury exhibition continues till the end of June. Cambridge Open Studios Weekends start the first weekend in July. I'm exhibiting the first two weekends, so do come along to artists 134 (Chris Thomas) and 133 (Alison Hullyer) in Milton!

Wildlife on Ely to Waterbeach walk

Michelle took up my twitter invite to join a walk from Ely to Waterbeach on a glorious sunny Saturday. Dry weather causing increasing cracks in the banks and cattle churning the path in places meant that we were often looking to our feet and noticing some of the smaller wildlife.

Starting with Muscovy ducks in the city of Ely, we passed herons, diving greater crested grebe, Greylag and Canada geese. Dragonflies (common darters) and damselflies flew tantalisingly in and out of cameral range. Butterflies were out too, from eyed peacocks and handed red admirals to lemon coloured Brimstones. Banded snails and others were abundant on parts of the walk. The yellow lichen Xanthoria parietina grew well on tree trunks and exposed gates.

In contrast to last weekend, there were more walkers out too, from ramblers young and old to the Romanian farm workers off to Ely.

It was great to have company on the walk, especially as Michelle's interest in Philosophy meant we touched on Machiavelli, Locke, Hobbs and Rousseau in relation to freedom and responsibility.

New concept for me to consider "freedom is defined in terms of the limitations others impose upon you".

A little something to make you scratch your head!

Ten years ago our family had been victim to some persistent visitors. My wife arrived at work with the children in tow, with suspiciously wet hair.
"I have some good news and some bad news!" she greeted me.
"The bad news is that the children had caught headlice and have just been treated!"
"And the good news?" I asked.
"I kept a few for your microscope!"

I was truly grateful and made some permanent microscope slides.

Because the insects are a few millimeters long, they were difficult to photograph in focus throughout at the time using a film camera.

At last, in 2008, armed with a digital camera and modern software, I was able to revisit the slides for an new project, in preparation for Open Studios 2009.

My ambition was to photograph the head lice under polarised light, where the muscles glow in fantastic colours. Using Helicon software, I could also photograph at different focal depths and combine the images to obtain a final picture in focus throughout.

21 pictures were taken at different polarisation angles and foci to give the centre-piece picture of my Open Studios exhibition.

You can either shudder at or admire the images above taken of 2009 live (active and therefore blurred!) insects and the ones as specimens for eternity that I prepared over a decade ago with the final exhibition piece.

In 1976, Michael Andrews commented in his book "The Life that lives on Man" that at that time, there were 1.5 million "lousy" people estimated in the UK and that a survey in one industrial area in 1970 found 26% of secondary school children infected. He predicted, that despite eradication campaigns, the head louse would be with us in the future! He was right. My children's generation had them and they are thriving in the 21st Century!

You can see the print of the magically coloured Head Louse at my place as part of Open Studios this year over the first two weekends in July.

A walk along the Fen River Way

When Terry Downing asked for volunteers to join him on the 46 mile Pathfinder March in June, I fell for it! Since then, I've been trying to build up my stamina. Last Sunday I had an enjoyable walk from Milton to Ely (see slideshow), a treck of over 15 miles, which took 5 hours with all the diversions & photographs
This Saturday, 23rd May 2009, I'll be walking the other way, from Ely to Milton and welcome the company of anyone wishing to come along! The itinerary and rescue points below:

• 11 am Start: Ely - River by Maltings
  
• Past road entrance to Ely Railway Station
• Across bridge to Eastern river bank path (Fen River Way walk)
• 1st possible collection point at 5 miles (crossing of Stretham-Wicken Road)
• 2nd possible collection point at 6.6 miles (Upware - Five Miles From Anywhere Pub)
• 3rd possible collection point at 11.6 miles (Clayhithe/Waterbeach)
• 4pm-5pm Finish Milton (15 miles)

Give me a call on 01223 440024 if you would like to join me on the walk.

A Grand Day out at InternetWorld 2009, Earls Court

Mark Dodsworth of Europartnerships and I decided to get up and meet some real people behind the headings in the InternetWorld catalogue of Exhibitors. The intention was to see how relevant and how interesting any might be for our Autumn IT delegation from Germany. To aid my memory and as a benefit to those we accosted, I took the occasional photo and asked for their tweet texts.

The first thing to note was that most companies sounded far more interesting and were very enthusiastic when spoken to as opposed to their exhibition guide entries. A few stood out particularly.

In a competitive word of web designers and service providers, Jilly Welch of Fortune Cookies stood out in the way she communicated with visitors to her stand. Warm, engaging and informative, her knowledgeable approach was more that of a conversation between business friends instead of the heavy and often technical sales pitch so often encountered. I am sure others will remember her all the more for it and approach her more readily in the future.

Walking by the Chillifish stand, with its framed pictures and no other explanatory text, I was intrigued enough to talk to Louise. A company specifically targeting the marketing of high value brands! Brilliant concept which fitted in with the brand image approach of the stand. Chillifish also provided the best free gift for me personally, the book "It's not how good you are, It's how good you want to be." By Paul Arden who used to work for Saatchi & Saatchi.

Everyone was talking about accessibility but Nomensa really meant it with solutions for the visually and otherwise impaired. One of their products was a dating game for the RNIB (organization supporting blind and partially sighted people) as well as making flash more accessible (damn – it’s that word again!).

The InBox Warriors also presented a totally different look to the suits and conservative attire, with their relaxed T-Shirts, cult film “The Warriors(?)” running in the background and a stand with giant soft cushions to sit on. Their avowed aim was to ensure E-Mail campaigns by their clients actually hit the in-boxes of the prospective customers. With a Job title on the business card of “Client Slave”, Tony brought a smile to my face.

I could go on about all the others I met – perhaps the Tweets below will give you a flavour.

The exhibition was well organized, however there was one sour note – the food. The Baked Potato at Internet world yesterday was another example of exploitation - nearly £6 for a baked potato - skin was forming on baked beans, the chilli con carni had an unappetising black dried out crust on top, fortunately the cottage cheese & chives was OK. And service? the indifferent serving staff made it more like receiving slops than a meal (and I can normally entice a positive smile from most serving counters). Also the little shop serving chocolates had Mars bars at £0.70, where you could get them for £0.55 at a kiosk within 100yds outside near the station

Overall though, Internet World was a positive experience and we make plenty of contacts who were either interested in talking to us later in the year re our delegation or would be able to pass us onto relevant people.


Tweets (most recent first)

@miltoncontact Best InternetWorld freebie from Chillifish - Book "It's not how good you are, It's how good you want to be." http://bit.ly/jMJ2n #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Innovative integrated security for cross-platform applications" Sharp http://bit.ly/16vRLR on Gridsure http://bit.ly/IR91Z #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Protection, intelligence, growth, consumer protection - the power of association" the DMA http://bit.ly/NU4Jp #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Providing advice , knowledge and support to Austrian companies" Austrian Chamber http://bit.ly/x1FAy #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Digital pen and flipcharts for annotating presentations - only £99!" Papershow, Hamelin Paper brands - http://bit.ly/nyl94 #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Widescreen eye-tracking to optimise your site; with detailed analysis" Acuity http://bit.ly/OUGC0 #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Getting your message into your clients in-box!" Inbox Warriors http://bit.ly/18Em3E #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Hi end brand internet marketing" Chillifish - http://bit.ly/17arZR #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Don't miss important parcel deliveries whilst out on business" ByBox http://bit.ly/JirK8 #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Reward customers, increase their loyalty and generate extra revenue" Adaptive affinity http://bit.ly/k7afs #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Dating game for RNIB and other unique accessibility services - humanising technology" - Nomensa http://bit.ly/4DGAo2 #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Web design & Development specialising in accessibility and useability" Fortune Cookie http://bit.ly/4l5iH #iw_expo

@miltoncontact "Leading international professional body for marketing" - the Chartered institute of Marketing http://bit.ly/NaUOu #iw_expo

@miltoncontact Due to poor internet connection at Internet World 2009, entering my tweets after return home #iw_expo

From Virtual Reality to Pyramids in Halle

Traveling south of Berlin into the plains that reminded me of flat East Anglia, Sylvia Schmidt of Come Across and I headed to Halle to meet a further five companies curious about opportunities for their businesses in the UK. It promised to be an even warmer day than our visit to Potsdam yesterday and our run of appointments precluded any thoughts of sightseeing or even lunch!

Michael Dresher of the IHK in Halle made us welcome and lent his support in the meetings that followed.

Michael Käding of ANOVA had come down all the way from Rostock on the Baltic coast. Instead of my research memories of ANalysis Of VAriance, the company ANOVA deals with the far more exciting software for visualising home furnishings. Ideal for large sellers of curtain materials, flooring and other interior furnishings, the neat feature of the software is that patterns on fabrics selected by a shopper are molded to the shape of the folds on a particular curtain or drape – giving a much more realistic impression on how their purchase might fit into their home.

Now I know that the standing joke in the UK is that Christmas starts immediately after Easter, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Manfred Salzman was a bit premature in coming to talk about a unique German decoration, the Christmas Pyramid. This is a multi tiered, decorated wooden construction with rotating platforms of Xmas figures, driven by a candle powered fan. Except that Manfred though big, real big – nearly 10m tall in fact! His Christmas Pyramids are centrepieces of German Xmas Markets and contain 25 square metres of pavilion shopping space for businesses that recoup their purchase price. Brilliant for city centre attractions in the December run up to the festive season.

Whilst Saloons epitomise Westerns (films), the company Celloon links itself more to the social aspect of Saloons – meeting people and entertainment. Last week at a Brimingham IT fair, I saw mobile phone interactivity with posters or othr printed media using RFID or bhluetooth technology. Mirko Kisser had come up with an ingenious variant that embedded a visual pattern in the advertising medium and background pictures. A simple piece of self installing software would enable anyone with a mobile phone having a camera to scan an ad or poster with such a design and immediately be redirected to the relevant site on the web. Mirko showed another application by having a design incorporated onto his business card – another mobile could view the card and download his contact details almost instantaneously.

Still waters run deep, as I found when talking to the quiet spoken director of DSSD, Dirk Schulz and his ebullient Sales Director Andree Kruczynski. Dirk has developed a 3D virtual construction software that allows manufacturers to build their prototypes and test them. The neat feature is that real hardware and existing software can interact with the prototype to test functionality and identify issues arising during design. The system had already been used successfully in the automotive industry in Germany and was now available for other manufacturer worldwide. There was a possibility of having a play with the VR Helmet and gloves of the deluxe version on a return visit which I could look forward to.

It was also good to see a familiar face again, Dr Holger Noffz, who had developed an excellent relationship with Sylvia, as evidenced by their animated conversation. Holger's company ACL manufactures high specification PCs and equipment that is suitable for use in operating rooms and other medical environments. The key feature of his products, from a client's purchasing perspective, was that whilst specifically designed to function safely and relevantly in a medical environment – these were not medical devices. This means that they can be purchased on the normal local budgets, rather than under the demanding conditions set for purchasing medical equipment such as X-ray machines etc.

Our enthusiasm on the day let us overrun, which meant that we had to sprint to the railway station to catch our train back to Berlin. Sylvia and I crashed late that evening, exhausted by the busy days yet still exhilarated by the meetings with the people we met.

My Tweets on Twitter for the day were:

#halle-ihk 5 varied and intersting companies met in Halle Germany , searching for UK contacts & partners

#halle-ihk the software for interior design: visualising 3D Window dressing, floor patterns and layouts from digi photo http://bit.ly/HXhy

#halle-ihk X-mas pyramids for Xmas markets - 10m high and with 25m floor space to sell Xmas goods from! contact me for more info

#halle-ihk "Click, Collect & Share" -Mobile phone interactivity to events via 2D codes on printed ads caught on camera http://bit.ly/Is4n

#halle-ihk interFACE reality for designing virtual prototypes able to interact with real hard & software http://bit.ly/ZprHH

#halle-ihk modular operation room PCs - Hi spec for medical environment without hassle of being medical equipment! http://bit.ly/3TFbbz

IT companies met in Potsdam

The sun was just breaking through as I arrived with Sylvia Schmidt of Come Across in Potsdam station. A city still in change, we picked our way across the road works and construction sites. One strangely silent – we heard of our luck not to arrive the next day when an unexploded bomb found there was going to be defused.

The ever cheerful Torsten Stehr greeted us at the IHK building where we were holding our meetings, to then hurry back with his planning of this years Green Ventures (photos 2008 – Green Ventures, photos Potsdam 2008).
Our guests over the coming hours were German IT businesses looking for a UK entry and we were curious to hear their interests and activities, fervently hoping that they were more exciting than the website content which is so often misleading.

A laid back and curious Patrick Schwalger of V-CAT dropped in first, having only recently heard of the excellent subsidies by the German Government for business trips abroad for SME’s, which cover a substantial proportion of the costs (nearly two thirds!). V-CAT provide the next generation of platforms for collaborative projects. Cloud based products are aimed primarily at the education sector – those of us with children are already aware of the first generation products in this line being used for student & teacher e-mails, time tabling and daily register. With businesses and employees geographically dispersed, the contract based solutions are secure enough to have been trusted by the Berlin Senate and user friendly enough for a teacher to have described them as “intuitive”; Patrick emphasised “You don't adapt to our software, our software adapts to you”.

Uwe Brodtmann of Inchrom breezed in for an enthusiastic presentation. 80% of innovation in cars is now electronic. The rising number of components have to talk to each other, accurately and without fail within milliseconds (just think what could happen if your ABS fails at a critical moment!). Timing is everything – yet each electronic component has its own clock speed – and these can also drift. Inchron's simulation software allows the user to model scheduling of events and even simulate different scenarios, based on the electronic components talking to each other; Hence “Think real-time for embedded software”.

With more employees, the complexity of management increased exponentially, so processes and Standard Operating Procedures required. The difficulty is often visualizing them and then ensuring that they are followed. A quiet, unassuming Stefan Zorn of Imatics demonstrated his software solution with aplomb. Accessible set up to ensure that new users or followers of SOPs are assisted and guided through a completion process that makes compliance painless. When I asked, tongue in cheek, whether he had a process set up for his sales strategy, his humour shone through as he promptly pulled one forward so that we could use it for our further discussions.

I must admit having looked forward to the MicroMovie delegation of CEO Jasdan Bernward Joerges and his colleague Katrin Ebersohn. MicroMovies provide short films for major advertisers with a twist. Mobile phone users can take a picture of themselves and upload it to a particular advertisers movie and be integrated into the action. I couldn’t resist having a go for their demo based on a ZDF soap!

Whilst I’m fairly adept at technology, I really appreciate solutions that make life simpler! What I had not realized was that this could also safe large firms a lot of money. Christian Dietze of Revacom introduced be to a hidden benefit – software packeting. Think of easy to install Acrobat reader or other software with it’s own installation wizard – it’s the wiz that is the packeting. If a large company wants to install new software company wide, having it encapsulated in a software packeting can save several man days in work time and as we know, time is money!

I ended the day enthused and after a well earned Mexican meal just off the Karl Marx Allee, hurried back to send out some tweets on the subject:

miltoncontact #potsdam "You don't adapt to our platform, our platform adapts to you!" http://bit.ly/9xu2O -12:27 AM Apr 7th, 2009.

miltoncontact #potsdam "Think realtime for embedded software when considering our simuation solution" http://bit.ly/49RD7L -12:32 AM Apr 7th, 2009

miltoncontact #potsdam Simple visualisation and implementation of process procedures for non-IT managers http://bit.ly/2NwrJ8 -12:39 AM Apr 7th, 2009

miltoncontact #potsdam micromovies with customer's faces are innovative new viral marketing tool used by german TV soap http://bit.ly/j0fdC -12:42 AM Apr 7th, 2009

miltoncontact #potsdam Superior international outsourcing partner creates software packaging for companies worldwide. http://bit.ly/kt1j -12:22 AM Apr 7th, 2009

Restaurant 22, not just a number

Some restaurants might regard a restriction of available seating in a restaurant to just 26 a severe limitation. Armando Tommaso, owner/manager of Restaurant 22 has made it into a true benefit. I dashed out of the rain on a March morning and into an intimate small Victorian house at the bottom of Mitchams corner in Cambridge to find out more about Armando and his successful restaurant.

Armando took over Restaurant 22 in 2007 with the objective of providing good quality modern European food based on recipes from France, Italy, Spain and the UK, with a set price, three course menu. Because of the limit on the number of tables and the need for prior booking, Armando was also able to provide a more personal service to clients from Cambridge and the surrounding areas, distinct from the tourist based services in the City itself.

Professionals and academics are a part of his regular and returning clientelle who are kept in touch with the offers and menus available throughout the year through the e-mails sent to friends of the Restaurant. Indeed, regular bookings were being phoned in during our conversation, attesting that even in a recession, a good business model can help you survive!

Our conversation turned towards possible expansion into providing a lunchtime option. Within easy reach of the Science and business parks and other professionals, particularly in the north of Cambridge, the venue is particularly suited for advanced booking by small parties of 6 or more wishing to break up a day of meetings with a good meal in conducive surroundings. One innovative idea was to link with a taxi service to pick people up and drop them back at work again after the meal, neatly avoiding those parking issues in our city.

My particular pleasure of the visit was to end it with a photograph of the gorgeous Art Nouveau window decorating the main dining room, which encapsulated the positive impression created by both Armando and his Restaurant 22.

Presenting Future Business People

The concentrating year 8 timekeepers, ready to signal time; the Year 11 joking extrovert who becomes the friendly toastmaster introducing and welcoming speakers to the front; The courageous speakers who overcome their fear to walk to the front and give a short presentation. These 11 students from Linton Village College had come together as a group to positively achieve more structured presentations by the end of a 90 minute session that had begun with a sea of somewhat apprehensive individuals!

The year 8 students had taken part in the Junior Chamber challenge to set up a business for £10 and make a profit. They were going to give a presentation at an assembly in the next month and needed to gain some presentation skills and experience. The year 11 were three individuals who also wanted to learn a bit more about public speaking.

Maria Briggs of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce had passed Katie Hart, Rhetonic, who was involved with the Junior Chambers, to me to help out with their presentation skills training as a public speaker, affiliated with Dale Carnegie and member of Toastmasters International. John Taylor was the teacher coordinating the activities at LVC and gave support during my visit.

It was a real pleasure to see how during our session, all the students were open to ideas and examples that they saw in other peoples presentations. They were willing to look at their first speech and positively strive to improve it by incorporating structure and five simple principles of Prepare, Keep it simple, Make it Exciting, Practice and End with a Bang!

So what were the businesses and how had they fared? Well, I'm not one to give the game away, we will have to wait until they give their public presentation to the school!

Good luck to the teams with their presentations and thanks for the pleasure of training with them.

Golf lawns and football pitches turning yellow

Thirty five Golf courses and 3 football pitches in the UK are developing large yellow patches that may signal the beginnings of a spread of a new pest within the UK. The patches are created by microscopic worms called nematodes (Meloidogyne minor see CSL 2007 Risk Assessment)which attack the roots of the grass species used for lawns & pitches, weakening the plants and causing the sickly patches.

From Blogger Pictures

Life cycle of Meloidogyne species which cause damage to plants by draining their resources

So far there are no known effective control measures and there is a small but real risk that the pest will be spread by golfers on their footwear to more of the existing 2600 golf courses in the UK with little chance of prevention. Currently, it appears that M. minor is indigenous to the UK, although similar cases have been seen in the Netherlands.

I was first made aware of this information when I visited Dr Amanda Cottage at NIAB where we reminisced about our past interest in the field of nematolode resistance when I was still a scientist.
Amanda is now a Plant Pathologist at NIAB, with responsibility for developing assays for new and existing diseases in mainly broadleaved plants. NIAB has a long tradition of trialling and testing for a variety of clients, from farmers to the Potato board.

With the increasing importance of rapid pest identification for UK agriculture and the need for faster responses, there is a necessity for the development of assays using the newest molecular techniques.

Angela's experience at the cutting edge of plant molecular research will be a key factor to developing this area for NIAB.

Profile - Stan Taylor

From Portrtaits and Lighting at HBN AGM08

This is a celebration of a great networker who was the face of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce for many businesses in and around the south of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and into the Fens.

Before joining the Chamber four and a half years ago, Stan had been with a successful interior design company and in business development for a B2B magazine.

He joined the Chamber just as John Bridge OBE was taking a vigorous approach to revitalise the Cambridgeshire Chambers and combat the national trend in declining membership within a very restricted budget. Whilst John was dealing with the strategic issues, Stan came in to provide a complementary strong interface on the ground with old, new and prospective members for his area.

One of John’s inspired innovations was the generation of the “Local Chambers”, Peterborough, Huntingdon and Cambridge, where local business people would volunteer their services (free) to support the Chamber and its activities locally. When I became the first Chair of the new Cambridge Chamber (and later when others took on the role), Stan was a key contact point on the Cambridge Committee and rapidly became an increasingly familiar and welcome face at events.

With a smile and a twinkle in his eye, Stan was soon the first warm welcoming point of networking meetings, who ensured that new faces were integrated into a more open style of networking, as opposed to the closed cliques that one might have formerly associated with the Chambers. His easy manner also won over many potential new members as he travelled around the South of Cambridgeshire.

Stan’s competence and networking skills meant that he assumed increasing responsibility, becoming the prime mover in setting up the Ely and Fenland Chambers. He began representing the Chamber on external bodies when John’s couldn’t attend, such as the Huntingdon Town Partnership, HDC Local Procurement, the Economic Development Forum and Business Against Crime. Stan was also proud of his assistance in setting up the St Ives Town Initiative networking.

John and the Chamber’s team had nurtured new special interest groups within the Chamber, such as the International and IT sectors. There were now also the free informal evening drop-in sessions which complemented the local Chambers and required Stan’s presence.

Many of us members were astounded by Stan’s apparently limitless energy, that would have him at a Chamber breakfast at seven in the morning to still mingling with attendees at an informal networking meeting in Huntingdon in the evening!

However, the increased workload and regular long working days that were a consequence of the Chamber’s success were taking their toll. Stan hit a bleak midwinter low when illness, the current economic climate and looming required retirement at 65 from the Chambers in April 09 all came together.

Fortunately, the return to health and the opportunity to continue utilising his networking skills for a new employer have had Stan bouncing back to his positive self. He is now with Huntingdonshire Regional College as their Engagement Coordinator (regular hours and time off in lieu!).

Stan is recognised as an excellent networker beyond the boundaries of any position he holds and respected for it by business people from all fields, Therefore –

If you know Stan, please add your comment or reminiscence below!

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Patchwork Quilts, a declining artform?

In response to a local radioshow asking for responses on dealing with old duvets, I submitted the following:

"Duvets - If you are creative with a needle and thread or know someone who is, convert a thin duvet the into a patchwork to make a fantastic quilted gift!
Note: get the old duvet cleaned to kill dust mites and reduce dust mite allergens before quilting.
useful sites: http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/ http://www.sewaquilt.com/"

The presenters response implied that making patchwork quilts was not a likely activity in this day and age.

This made me think, is this true? Am I an old fogey? My family enjoy the occasional craft (see my mothers patchwork cushions above)and I'm sure there is a quilting community.

What is your opinion? Quilting/Patchwork quilts: Dead art or alive and kicking. please comment below!

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Cambridgeshire history - boxed collection

There was a hint of the last Indiana Jones film as we entered the Count archaeology store on Saturday; admittedly, it did not have the scale and grandeur of the US National treasure store. The crates with lost ark and sundry gold treasures were replaced by cardboard boxes of notes, bones, pottery and skeletons and occasional metal artifact from archaeological digs all over the county. However, these were treasures in themselves, patiently collected from innumerable digs and retained for our posterity.

From Blogger Pictures

Arriving near to the end of the open day gave an unrivaled opportunity to plumb the expertise of Quinton Carroll (Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team Manager). Standing near a Roman lead coffin with skeleton, able to admire the sheen of 2000yr old Samian ware, with its pristine, legible potter's mark, three historical stories stood out.

For example, Cambourne surprised the archaelogists. Due to the hard clay soil there, it had been regarded as poor land unlikely to be lived on. Now we know it was being actively farmed in Roman times. Local people developed ingenious solutions to deal with difficult soil conditions - for example by excavating beds and using different soils - a Roman manual even gave specific instructions for best asparagus growing.

Then consider two key events for our region, the Viking invasion and the Norman Conquest. The Vikings took Ely, and Cambridge in 876 and submitted to the Saxon King Edward in 917 without a battle. Yet no physical archaelogical evidence of the Viking occupation exists. Similarly, the Norman Conquest left no physical evidence to distinguish it from the Saxon period. Most people carried on living as before, adapting to the change of leadership. A total contrast to Boudica's sacking of Colchester, London and St Albans which left a layer of ash recogniseable two millenia later.

Third, defensive points were successively used over the centuries. The river at Earith was a strategic defence in both the Civil War and as part of the planned defences should England be invaded in WWII. The river crossing at Cambridge was controlled at the current Castle Mound by the Romans, the Civil War and became the site of a bunker during the cold war.

I asked Quinton, which finds or artefacts stuck particularly in his mind. He remembered a bone comb found at a Roman dig. Cheap and easily replaced. Still, it had been repaired and used until worn to uselessness, giving a poignent link across the ages. In contrast, he also remembered the skeleton of a Roman woman slave worked to death whose body had just been discarded with the rubbish in a ditch.

But how are archaeologists affected by our current "living in interesting times" economically? It appears that since constructions companies are obliged to finance any archaeological work and this is done by private companies, the downturn has resulted in a 10% - 15% drop in archaaeology work. An unexpected side effect!

A final question at the conclusion of our visit; With all the current Health and safety in the workplace and at home, what will we leave behind for future archaeologists to find? Quiton wryly remembered that already, one site had been dated by a crisp packet - and of course there will be a plethora of finds all concentrated in large collections - our landfill sites!

For further information on Cambridgeshire's archaeological heritage, you can contact Quinton and his team at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/archaeology.

Five Steps to Surviving a PC Crash

Read this even if you have not yet encountered a problem with your PC!

I came home last Tuesday, turned the PC on and was confronted with a boot failure that, after further investigation, turned out to be an irretrievable boot disk corruption. I was frustrated of course, but also thankful that I was not going to be one of those companies that cannot recover their data.

Statistics say that 93% of companies that experience data loss for more than ten days file for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. It was a component failure over 4 years ago that led me to implement some simple steps to permit a faster recovery.

Step 1. Separate data and boot drives

Two drives are better than one in a PC as a failure in one is only half as bad! I implemented a boot disc on which all the programme software was installed and run from, and installed a second hard drive on which to store all my data.

Step 2. Back up frequently to external drives

External USB drives are now relatively cheap for a lot of memory (250Gb to 1Tb or more). I bought two, one to back up each internal drive. Allow for a capacity many times greater than your existing used space for a bit of future proofing.

Backup frequently, weekly if not daily (I use twice a week, minimising potential data loss to a few days).

There are many software options for backing up available, some coming with the external drives themselves or with your operating software. It is very important that the back-up software can create a so called "image" of your boot drive, so that you can recover a functional new boot drive if needed. I use Norton Ghost 14.

Step 3. Have an offsite backup

If fire, flood or theft hit you, then any on-site external backups are likely to be lost with the PC itself! So ensure that you also create separate off-site backups.

If you do not use too many gigabytes of data, you could use some of the internet based systems (some free) or commercial companies providing this service.

Companies with lots of data (for example I have hundreds of Gb of images) will still need to do this with tapes or removable/portable hard drives - the important thing is to update them regularly and store them offsite!

Step 4. Have an additional PC/laptop/notebook so you can still work

I'm still waiting for my repaired and upgraded PC and have found my little eeepc notebook a godsend! I can still e-mail, write documents and letters, even edit photos. This safety machine does not have to be expensive or the highest spec - just able to provide you with a minimum functionality.

Step 5. Cultivate good IT contacts

Theoretically, I'm sufficiently competent to do my own hard drive replacements. However, hit any small snag and it eats up your time!

I received valuable reassurance and advice from good friend Terry Downing of Wisdom Communications over the phone almost immediately after my crash. I was able to delegate the task of bringing my PC back up to speed to the professional hands of David Kilpatrick of iTEXS, this has left me free to continue with my work.

By following these five steps you too can ensure that you will not be one of those individuals or companies that will fai due to irrecoverable data loss. Implement them now.

Biotech writing in europe with Barbara Nasto

Networking at ERBI leads you to meet a variety of interesting people. It was because of a fortuitous meeting, that I ended up at the Trinity Centre for a pleasant morning exchanging notes with Barbara Nasto, a Science and Medical Writer.

Barbara cut her teeth on editing and writing for the prestigious Elsevier and Nature publishing houses and is now based in Cambridge to be close to the Biotech hubs in Cambridge. Barbara has extensive experience ranging from oncology to biotech finance for medicines in development, right through to the impact of biotech on the lucrative beauty market (not that Barabara seemed to need it, as I sat opposite her on a pleasant February day).

Barbara can be found on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/681/840 and you caqn read a precis of her fascinating article on Biotech across Europe here http://blogs.nature.com/nautilus/2008/03/chasing_biotech_across_europe.html

Capping it all in dental technology

Today found me in the delightful city of Birmingham with the lovely Katrin Lestschinski, the owner Manager of Zahntechnik Lestschinski and facing the dazzling smile of Colin Pocock, an active city dentist.

Katrin was demonstrating the peak of dental technical skills available in her practice, from bridges and crowns to telescopes and dentures.

The most impressive for me was the use of electroplating to build precise and strong pure gold caps that could be used as the foundations of any oral dental implant, from a removable crown to a complete bridge.

The interesting fact of the day that ceramics were a fortuitious discovery by von Tschirnhaus, von Ohain and Boettger in Meissen, alchemists who were looking to transmute other elements to gold! Meissen became famous for its porcelain and of course ceramics are now integral to dentistry. Boettger unfortunately died of poisoning from exposure to the range of poisonous chemicals his work exposed him to before seeing the fruits of his labours.

Lincoln Imps and Pressure Beds

Last week found me travelling around the North of England with Bernd Mahnke of Care Concept Mahnke, showing an innovative pressure mattress system to UK companies supplying the NHS intensive care wards and nursing homes. Despite the highly price competitive market, we had interest and friendly advice on adapting to the UK market (see report "Avoiding sore points in bed" at http://www.miltoncontact.co.uk/care-concept-mahnke).

Crucially, we found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare and visited the Cathedral city of Lincoln, providing a unique opportunity to also gain some insight to british culture & traditions on a business trip, rather than just looking at the open road from appointment to appointment!

I hadn't realised that Lincoln Castle is the repository of one of three remaining copies of the Magna Carta, which we were able to enjoy with detailed friendly information from the helpful staff on hand. Not only was this document the germ of democracy, it also started off a fair(er) justice system where even royalty could be held to account, with the initiation of the Assizes that migrated around the counties dispensing justice. We were fortunate that the continuation of this 800 year old tradition, the Crown Court, was in action at the time of our visit, with the duty constable and a Barrister taking his coffee break giving us a real life glimpse of a living law in action.

A more sober reality was the visit to the last Victorian separation chapel where prisoners used to be taken hooded for communion and the only opportunity to use their voices was by singing. The inner fort, whose walls had been reduced in height by half by Cromwell, caused us to reflect over the somber small gravestones of the hanged.

The law used to be dispensed and taxes collected at the castle by the Sherrif of Lincoln. We were fortunate to encounter him in his Victorian Dress suit and sword in the nearby cathedral, at the end of a commemorative service for North England schools, and exchange a few words.

The Cathedral itself was a Norman delight and a chance encounter with other visitors had us hunting for the Lincoln imp, an emblem of the city and its football club since an enterprising jeweller made it into Christmas gifts at the end of the 19th Century. The story goes, that the devil sent out his imps to cause mayhem and one entered the cathedral. Having caused chaos it settled, cross-legged on a pillar to grin over its handiwork. However, the Cathedral Angels turned him to stone, and there he remains to this day!

English food has a poor reputation abroad and it was therefore also a great pleasure (and culinary delight) to find two pubs on our trip with excellent food in contrasting locations - The White Houses Inn in Retford where we enjoyed partridge and pheasant, and the Wickham Arms in Cleckheaton, where we had a roast with Yorkshire Pudding.

Such an apparent diversion on a business trip is actually very useful as it helps a visitor gain a better understanding of the British culture and mentality, often through the chance encounters as well as the business ones.

Bernd was able to return to Luton for his flight home with a raft of memories and positive business contacts from a hectic but eventful trip!