Fri 19 / 07 / 24
Brighton Chamber AGM 2024
Marketing & Engagement Manager at Brighton Chamber, Hannah Jackson, writes after this year's Brighton Chamber AGM. Read on for the highlights from last year, and what's planned in 2023.
Every year we love bringing our members together for our Annual General Meeting (AGM). It’s an opportunity to look back at the past year, celebrate our community’s successes, and share what’s ahead for the next few months.
Here are a few highlights from this year’s AGM on 12 July.
By Hannah Jackson of Brighton Chamber
Achievements in 2023
Kicking off proceedings was Julie Roff, our Chamber President and Director of ABC Translations. Julie has been President of the Chamber since 2017, and opened by reflecting that this year has been another incredibly full and impactful year for the Chamber, the team, and our members.
The Chamber’s business community has continued to grow, and in 2023 we welcomed 168 new members from a range of different business sectors.
One way we bring members together is through our vibrant events programme. With over 100 events and 3,500 attendees throughout last year, there were lots of opportunities to meet and learn. From The Big Debate: How do we create a fairer city to support business growth?, to Pop-up Breakfast at the Spiegeltent, our programme of free Q&As, Netwalking (rain or shine!), and of course, Chamber Breakfast.
In 2023 we welcomed over 420 ‘Summiteers’ to Human: Brighton Summit, ending a brilliant day of workshops, keynotes, and sessions with a moving, motivating and inspiring keynote from Lord Simon Woolley.
Working on projects across the city
Last year we became part of a project for Brighton & Hove City Council, alongside 20 charities, to help people from Ukraine and other refugee groups to find jobs or become self-employed. The project is ongoing, and Chamber members have been involved from having stands at Jobs Fairs, to giving talks, and helping job seekers with their CVs.
The Brighton & Hove Living Wage Campaign, now in its 12th year, has nearly 950 sign-ups and working towards the next milestone of 1,000 employers.
Following the success of a pilot programme in 2023, we’ve continued working with schools and colleges to engage with employers and business owners. In November, we’re hosting Hello Future 2024 – bringing 800 students to the Brighton Centre to speak to more than 80 local employers about careers and future skills. It’s about inspiring, not hiring.
Growing the Chamber team
Our small but high performing team has grown. Ellie Burroughs joined us in September as Events and Marketing Assistant, and in November we grew to a six-person team, joined by our new Member Engagement Executive Luke Hedley-Dent. In February 2024, Jess Samson joined as Events & Programming Manager, and has quickly got her head around the Chamber’s love of bringing people together.
The Chamber’s finances in 2023
Sara Bassett, Finance Director and Deputy Chief Executive at Shoreham Port, and Vice President of the Chamber, talked us through the Chamber’s finances in 2023.
Membership and events continue to be core activities for the Chamber, and both areas are continuing to perform well, with the cash position of the Chamber remaining strong.
Looking to 2024, the event programme is seeing better up take than budgeted and costs continue to be well managed, with the team well positioned to respond to all challenges.
More in store for 2024!
Sarah Springford, Brighton Chamber CEO, talked us through the start of 2024 - with several new big projects to work on, new event ideas, and Brighton Summit 2024, there was plenty to crack on with.
This summer we’ve been joined by Morgan Ritchie and Inés Velilla Zuloaga, both interns on an eight-week programme through the University of Sussex, supporting on projects, marketing and content.
Some of our standout events this year so far include our new Pop-up Networking - lightly structured events designed to get you talking differently in a relaxed and fun way at fun venues across the city. The Big Debate in March was all about AI, and Behind the Scenes events have explored different parts of our city, from the MODA development, to the Old Market and Wakehurst.
There are currently a few themes and drivers for change across the city. The Chamber has been involved in some of these including a new Tech Cluster, circular economy route map, and a new Economic Strategy (to be shared later this summer).
And we can’t miss mentioning Brighton Summit 24/7. We’ll be at the Corn Exchange on 23 October, exploring through our 24/7 theme how we spend our time in work and life, to technology, play, robots, bendy brains, local history and lots more.
Membership in 2024
Amy Lishman, Head of Member Engagement and Deputy CEO took us on a look at membership in 2024. Over 110 members have joined the Chamber so far in 2024. 19% of these are returning businesses, or people who have been involved before.
Our primary focus is creating a valuable and meaningful experience for our members, and we’re continuing to work on several activities to help with that, including -
Getting more feedback from you about your business, what you want and value about your membership, and working on the values of what it means to be a member.
We’ve recently revamped and redesigned our member directory to help you see who’s in your Chamber community, and better raise the profile of your business. Next up, we’ll be redesigning the Activity Hub to help you shout about what you’re doing more effectively.
We’re continuing to develop our Net Zero Champions group – the Chamber members committed to getting their business to Net Zero, or are championing sustainability in the community.
People changes and voting
Handing back to Sarah for people changes and voting – there were no board member stepping down this year, and the following board members were voted in:
- Sam Knowles, re-elected as Vice President
- Sara Bassett, re-elected as Vice President
Celebrating our members’ successes in closing
Celebrating and championing each other are two things we feel are very much at the heart of Brighton Chamber. Closing our AGM, we asked members to share what they are proud of from the last 12 months.
Chamber members have been busy: getting books published, catching up with business friends, making new ones, growing the business, getting through challenges both personal and professional, and helping other people in their business. There is lots to celebrate from our community both looking back to 2023, and forwards to 2024 and beyond.
Hannah Jackson is Marketing & Engagement Manager at Brighton Chamber. To find out more about joining our diverse, inclusive and welcoming business community, head over to our why join page.
If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk