Events
The Business & IP Centre at Exeter and Barnstaple Libraries host a range of events and workshops to suit start-ups, entrepreneurs or businesses looking to learn new skills or research their industry.
Every fourth Tuesday and Thursday between 14:00 and 15:00, the Business & IP Centre at Barnstaple offers free one-to-one sessions with a trained business champion. One-to-ones are useful for enquiring about how you can access business information and support, or to find out more about Intellectual Property. Find out more information.
The Business & IP Centre in Exeter offer an ‘Introduction to the Business & IP Centre’ appointment. This appointment is designed to go through all the resources available to you at the Centre, and provide information of other relevant professional organisations that may be able to assist you on your business journey.
These appointments can be made at any time to suit you. Please email bipc@librariesunlimited.org.uk with your preferred time and date. We will endeavour to accommodate your preferred date and time. However, if it is not possible, we will offer a suitable alternative.
All of our events are bookable via the BIPC Devon EventBrite page. Click on the title of any event for further details and booking information.
Starting a Social Enterprise: Do What You Love for a Living – with Torbay Spark (online) Tuesday 27th April, 13.00 – 14.00
Chris and Andrew from Torbay Spark invite local social entrepreneurs to share advice on how to start and run a social enterprise. Book your free place here.
Keeping up with the News (online) Wednesday 28th April, 13.30 – 14.00
An introduction to NewsBank, available from home with your Devon or Torbay Libraries membership. Book your free place here.
Moving from Benefits to Business Ownership: The New Enterprise Allowance (online) – Thursday 29th April, 14.00 – 15.00
Alex Coull from the DWP explains how the New Enterprise Allowance can provide funding and mentorship to help you start/grow your business. Book your free place here.
Devon ‘Positive People’ Programme: Wellbeing for Women in Business (online) – Wednesday 5th May, 13.00 – 14.00
Gina and Jacqueline, from Pluss’ Positive People Devon, share how Positive People offers a lifeline to people who aren’t in work and build confidence, skills and communities. Book your free place here.
Finding Funding: An Introduction to GRANTfinder (online) – Wednesday 5th May, 17.00 – 17.30
An introduction to GRANTfinder, an online database of available sources on funding, available from home with your Devon or Torbay Libraries membership. For more details and booking, visit here.
Yoga: Relax and Focus Sessions with Helen Barnett (online) – Thursday 6th, 10th, 17th, 24th May and 3rd June (various times)
Helen leads you in an hour-long yoga session to help you relax and move during your work day, returning to work with an increased focus. For more details and booking, visit here.
Starting a Social Enterprise: Do What You Love for a Living – Torbay Spark (online) – Thursday 6th May, 13.00 – 14.00
Chris and Andrew from Torbay Spark invite local social entrepreneurs to share advice on how to start and run a social enterprise. For more details and booking, visit here.
Women in Business Panel: Start-up Stories (online) – Tuesday 11th May, 13.00 – 14.00
Meet and learn from some inspiring women who have made the leap into the business world in this relaxed and friendly panel event. For more details and booking, visit here.
Beating Imposter Syndrome (online) – Wednesday 12th May, 13.00 – 14.00
Business Coach Julia Ngapo discusses how impostor syndrome can affect our work and shares some practical tips to feel empowered at work. For more details and booking, visit here.
Finding Joy in Your Work: Mega-Mindset, Coping Strategies and Bouncing Back (online) – Thursday 13th May, 13.00 – 14.00
When it goes wrong, what do you do? Gabi shares coping strategies and skills for bouncing back to feel like you’re winning in business. For more details and booking, visit here.
Researching your Business Idea (online) – Friday 14th May, 12.00 – 13.00
Tips, tools and resources available through Devon Libraries and Torbay Libraries, to help you research your business idea. For more details and booking, visit here.
Building Resilient Business Model: Using the Business Model Canvas (online), Tuesday 18th May, 10.00 – 11.00
In this webinar, the NatWest Business Builder team will explore the Business Model Canvas – a one-page ‘road map’ of your business. For more details and booking, visit here.
Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP) (online) – Thursday 20th May, 10.00 – 11.30
An introduction to copyright, trademarks, designs and patents, and how you can benefit from and protect the IP rights in your business. For more details and booking, visit.
Managing Wellbeing as a Founder/CEO (online) – Thursday 20th May, 13.00 – 14.00
If you’re not taking care of yourself, how can you take care of your customers and employees? Lauren provides some insight and advice. For more details and booking, visit here.
How to Thrive as a Woman in Business (online) – Tuesday 25th May, 13.00 – 14.00
Kalkidan Legesse (MBA), founder of Sancho’s in Exeter, shares her advice on how to follow your dreams and thrive as a woman in business. For more details and booking, visit here.
How to Use Social Media Marketing in Your Business (online) – Wednesday 26th May , 13.00 – 14.00
Time to tell everyone about your business! But where do you start when it comes to social media marketing? Fran shares some top tips. For more details and booking, visit here.
Women in Business May Programme Coffee Morning (online) – Thursday 27th May, 11.00 – 12.00
The first of our monthly Women in Business Coffee Mornings. A chance for everyone to meet like-minded entrepreneurs and share your thoughts. For more details and booking, visit here.
The following free online webinars are part of the national Business & IP Centres’ Reset. Restart programme, supporting SMEs across the country, and open to all business owners.
For full details and to book any or all of these sessions, click on the webinar title, or visit the British Library’s Reset. Restart page
Reset. Restart: your market opportunities (online) – Thursday 29th April 2021, 11.00 – 13.00
After the uncertainty of the last year, how is business, and the world in general, evolving? Pete Schonbeck will take you through some engaging and surprising statistics and insights that will help your business refresh, re-engage with consumers, and prepare for the new and evolving marketplace.
Reset. Restart: your digital marketing – Part 1 (online) – Thursday 29th April 2021, 15.00 – 17.00
The promise of digital marketing is that you’ll attract lots of new customers who will buy from you. The reality is that digital marketing is a minefield for many small business owners. During this webinar, you’ll learn tried and tested marketing strategies that work day in day out
Reset. Restart: your digital productivity (online) – Friday 30th April 2021, 10.00 – 12.00
Technology is ever-changing and while it can improve your productivity inordinately, you need the know-how of how to make it work for you and your business. This webinar aims to improve your productivity as a business owner using a range of free and low-cost tools and tech.
Reset. Restart: your social and environmental impact (online) – Friday 30th April 2021, 10.00 – 12.00
Whether promoting sustainability through responsible values or learning how to reduce our waste as both consumers and business owners, this workshop covers essential knowledge and methods for ensuring that your impact on the environment and communities is positive and productive, and that you are leveraging this as a business owner.
Reset. Restart: your business model (online) – Tuesday 4th May 2021, 12.00 – 14.00
An understanding of business models will assist you in improving your business delivery, increasing your differentiation and therefore competitiveness. This workshop will introduce you to a visual tool, the Business Model Canvas (BMC), which is designed to help create practical, flexible, and deliverable business models, as well as encouraging creativity and team engagement.
Reset. Restart: your funding options(online) – Tuesday 4th May, 15.00 – 17.00
Obtaining funding to launch and grow your business has always been one of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs. And now, it’s a even more complex challenge than ever, with changes to the world economy and the way we do business. But new opportunities are emerging – discover routes to capital that you may not have heard of before, and decide on the best approaches for your business.
Reset. Restart: your products and services (online) – Wednesday 5th May 2021, 10:00 – 12.00
This webinar focuses on the importance of asking the critical question of what your customer actually wants or, maybe more importantly, what they need. We will discuss how we frame this question and how to go about solving it. We will look at different examples of creative thinking methods and how they can be used to deliver solutions.
The PRECIOUS Awards was founded in 2007 to celebrate and applaud the professional and entrepreneurial achievements of women of colour in the UK. PRECIOUS Nights is a monthly event that gives you the opportunity to hear previous winners share the highs, lows and lessons of their business journey, give actionable tips and advice.
Reset. Restart: your customer offer (online) – Tuesday 11th May 2021, 10.00 – 12.00
During this session, brand experts, Michael Murdoch and Robbie Dale will use their Story Cube formula to dissect the key questions you need to consider when building the foundations of your brand. The session will be interactive and will equip you with useful exercises to consider when thinking about selling and pitching with ease.