My #GEW Diary

Never mind it nearly being Christmas again, Global Entrepreneurship Week is here again as from Monday.

There are lots of  events going on all over the country to celebrate and promote entrepreneurship.

Here are the events I’m going to:

Tuesday 15h November – Fresh Business Thinking LIVE!
This is billed as a conference and exhibition ” for entrepreneurs and decision makers looking to grow and improve their businesses.” We’ll be exhibiting there.

Wednesday 16th November – Ahead in The Clouds
This is a (very) early breakfast meeting to discuss “The Cloud” and whether it’s “a boon or bust for for UK Businesses”
James Caan will be speaking – and although it isn’t on the site yet, our Chairman Lord Young will also be speaking with his Government enterprise advisor hat on (you heard it here first!)

Thursday 17th November – Silicon Valley Comes to the UK
I attended this last year and frankly I was intimidated by the level of drive and ambition I saw from other UK tech-startup CEOs. Big hitters from the Valley (Reid Hoffman, Joi Ito, Megan Smith, etc)  fly over and have a number of “CEO workshops” with UK startups. Very useful and insightful stuff. Huge respect to Sherry Coutu as she seems to be the linchpin pulling this all together.

Thursday 17th November – Techcrunch Europas
This is the annual awards for the tech scene run by TechCrunch Europe. I’ve never attended before but I’m told it’s a very good night. Quite a few start-ups that I know are up for awards so I’ll have my fingers crossed for most of the night.

Friday 18th November – The Pitch Final
After months of regional pitches, BusinessZone‘s “The Pitch” competition  reaches its climax.
Last year Doug Richard and I managed to upset Sage, the main sponsor, which resulted in me being barred from the GEW wrap-up party. So I’m on best behavior this year.

Thurs 17th –  Fri 18th – Business Startup Exhibtion
This exhibition has been running for years. It certainly draws a large crowd (probably because its free) but if I’m honest, it’s not the best quality crowd if you’re looking for people serious about business  (probably because it’s free).
We’re not exhibiting, but I will be popping in to be nosy at some point.

Are you going to any of the above events? Are there other events we should know about?
More importantly, where can I get my hands on one of those GEW lapel pins?