Business conference plans to inspire growth

Documents with Precision co-founders Nick McDonald and Phil Waylen hope to inspire small business owners.

The Tauranga Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Tauranga group and local company Documents With Precision have come together to produce a new one-day business conference.

The Precision Business Summit - Inspiring Small Businesses to Grow, is scheduled for Saturday, August 28, at ASB Arena.

The organisers have lined up an impressive list of speakers for the event.

Confirmed sponsors include Icehouse, Engine Room, the Institute of Directors, Totali and Manning Warner Browne.

"From the creation of Small Business Tauranga, it's been our ambition to put on a symposium dedicated to small business owners and operators," said the chamber group's chairman Steven Farrant.

"We are mindful and aware from personal experience that small business owners and operators can get sucked into their work. We wanted to provide an escape for a day, the opportunity to consider the wider issues and be inspired by success."

Mr Farrant said the idea had been floated and supported at Small Business Tauranga's first meeting and had been picked up by Nick McDonald, co-founder of Documents With Precision.

Documents With Precision focuses on customising Word and Powerpoint documents and presentations that incorporate corporate branding and colours and are professionally designed and formatted. Mr McDonald started the business a couple of years ago with Phil Waylen.

Mr McDonald is also the owner of Trading With Precision, a UK-based company which provides outsourced financial markets education for UK and US corporates.

He said the event's focus would be unique for Tauranga.

"It's an opportunity for very successful Kiwis to tell us about their success, what they've learned from it and how that can help smaller business to learn from them."

The keynotes will present throughout the day, punctuated by brief 5 to 15-minute talks by local speakers.

"We will be hearing not only inspiring stories, but practical advice on how they built their businesses," said Mr McDonald, who is aiming to attract 200-to-300 people to the event.

Mr Farrant said he believed the summit would be motivational for the Small Business Tauranga network and wider business community, as well as great value.

"The summit in August will be the first and I'm sure the start of something significant for our network and the small business community. I'm confident the event will grow and develop with time."

Tickets are available via Eventfinda and the official website launches next week.

Precision Business Summit: Inspiring Small Businesses to Grow

Keynote speakers:
• Scott Unsworth, founder of Orca
• Ian Ferguson, Olympic gold medallist and businessman
• Carmen Vicelich, founder of Data Insight
• Mike Gray, director of Go Media
• Sacha Hardy, founder of Hammamas
• Mike Ashby, founder of Breakthrough Company and author of Breakpoints