The Hive has secured the services of a Bentley Jennison a leading accountancy company from within the city, for a series of accountancy surgeries. The first sessions were a sell-out and the feedback has been very positive;

Very useful - I would definitely recommend these - Mandy

Yes, it was great...John’s awesome he makes things very clear and simple - Simeon

Definitely worth it as it offers a second opinion and allows you to ask questions which you are unsure of but don’t want to keep going over with existing accounts – Adam

We are offering 40-minute one-one appointments – bookable in advance.

Next Session planned for:

November 2008

Hive Meeting Room

We consider this service to be a valuable opportunity for your business.

If you would like an appointment, please contact:

Karen Doxey on 0115 848 4354 or e-mail: karen.doxey@ntu.ac.uk

Brands

What's your favourite brand? What makes that brand attractive to you?

After careful consideration, I think my favourite brand is Apple, mostly because I love my iPod. They have made some interesting moves over the last few years, coming back from the 'wilderness' years with a very strong image and product line. Although I didn't think the PC vs Mac ad with Mitchell and Web fitted that image

and in a way it opened the door to PC users getting their own back...

I hanker after a Mac, although I have noticed that being a Mac user makes you a bore about PCs and how rubbish they are! I can't have one yet anyway, because my lovely sewing machine and it's design software doesn't speak geek yet.

Anyway, back to branding, the Design Council published this article before Christmas, you may find it interesting reading. http://www.etelligent.co.uk/etelligent/mp-getEmail.asp?CID=30999&SEID=1358&CC=designcouncil&CEMAIL=shall46417@aol.com&T=0&FRM=1

What's your new years resolution?

Yes, this is the one and only post for December. I do feel a little embarrassed to be saying that, after all I said in the last few months about keeping in touch with your customers, and perseverance, and good manners, and customer service, and staying on top of it all and ... well, you get the picture.

My aim for 2008 (is that a new year resolution?) is to get consistent comments on my blog, and more feedback from our online and offline networking. I know that's going to take more work on my part, I will try and keep up with it.

Quite a few SPEEDsters have up and left Nottingham for the Christmas holiday, so we'll be seeing them all again in the New Year, refreshed and full of energy! Phil and I have been planning some sessions for the next term after what we hope was the success of the financials session.

I am looking forward to next year, I can't believe I'll be celebrating one year at the Hive (as well as my birthday) at the beginning of February. Life in the University has been great, I was a little culture shocked when I first came, but the edges have rubbed off me and I am a little more forgiving now. Things still appear to move at a snail's pace, but they do move. I think they might go a little faster in 2008. I am determined to make the 2nd year of the SPEED project a success , to hopefully extend it past the pilot phase. Should be fun!

Anyhow, the University is closed for Christmas week, therefore Hive will close on 21st December until 2nd January. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and look forward to working with you in 2008!

Oh, and join us in Second Life in 2008

New to this blogging business?

Good, so am I!

I have been accused of spamming the NTU SPEED students, so have entered the murky world of blogging to keep you up to date. I get passed so much information might be useful to you, I shall be using my blog to pass it on.

Sadly, this post will be about accounting software, mostly because yours truly hosted a fabulous session on the same last week. The lovely Amanda from Flying Cows http://www.flying-cows.com/ has passed a couple of links to me that you may find useful.I haven't used them myself but Amanda uses and recommends the first two. Thanks Mandy

for invoicing and more
http://www.sidejobtrack.com/

for project planning http://www.dotproject.net/ although it seems to be offline today

this link was in an email from webpronews about client relation management http://www.vendorguru.com/The_5_Must_Have_Features_CRM_Solution.jsp?&CCID=20071742203283756&QTR=ZZf200705141302260Za20071742Zg171Zw0Zm0Zc203283756Zs5436ZZ&CLK=682070521085209511&&exp=y

For SPEED students at NTU, check out the SPEED module on the VLP SPEED0001, there's a couple of recent presentations on there.

For those of you who have forgotten what we look like, that's Phil on the left...

More soon

Jayne