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"A superb evening - inspirational, informative and invigorating" Copyrite director Mike Baynham (centre) awards the heat prize - a new GelSprinter model GX3050n - to heat winner Shaun Armstrong (left).
 The panel scrutinized the web offerings of four excellent candidates and then mentored them under the watchful eyes of a near-capacity audience. At the end of the evening they selected a winner to go forward to the e-Den final, in September 08, where thousands of pounds worth of prizes will be at stake, including membership a BowShot Web Entrepreneurs' Group.
Nicholas Steven, managing director of BowShot Ltd, noted that some of the hottest competition was between the panel members themselves. "This year's e-Den panel has a superabundance of social media experience", he said. "Martin Montague, CEO of Symbios Group, has just completed the purchase of two major social networking brands - Faces.com and Profileheaven. Spencer Gallagher, whose company Bluhalo has now become the second fastest growing digital agency in the UK, has successfully harnessed social media to increase traffic to his web site by 100% in the last 3 months...and that's before the input of the other panel members - Sarah Baker from Refreshed Media and social media guru Janine Battersby".
 Watch the video BowShot's Nicholas Steven explains, "e-Den is a dragon's den style event for those who want to improve their knowledge of the internet in general and the performance of their own web site in particular. Our four candidates enjoyed their e-Den experience and came away feeling inspired and energised. Now they can tackle the issues that they posed to our panel, armed with bucket loads of advice". Candidates And there was plenty of excitement among the contestants too. Shaun Armstrong, MD of Creditplus asked the panel how he could further monetize his web site. Will Noble of Southampton Junior Chamber wanted to know how he could gain more members on-line. Anne Knight of Splash Spas was looking for mentoring on how to build a team with great e-commerce skills and Matt Trott of Recruitment Juice wanted to find ways to develop and operate on-line partnerships? All of which gave the panel plenty to talk about. 
Master Classes Although the location of the master classes was not ideal (noted for heat 2), they were still a tremendous success. Our four presenters were: The Result Competition was stiff, so the panel faced a tough choice. In the end they chose Creditplus as "the candidate with the most potential for development as a web operation". Congratulations to Creditplus MD, Shaun Armstrong and his team. Heat sponsor Special thanks are due to our heat sponsors
Candidate feedback "Entering the event provided an ideal way for me to receive high quality feedback on how to develop our web business further. 16 ideas, 9 of which we can work on straight away and monitor the effect they have. Put simply expert advice in 20 minutes that would have taken days , weeks or even months to find out.
I felt before the event that this could only have a positive effect on me and our business. The feedback given on the evening was open, honest and done in a manner that did not leave you feeling battered or bruised. The mentoring identified key ways to enhance our link strategy, to drive more traffic, and enhancements to improving our awareness and service to consumers". Shaun Armstrong www.creditplus.co.uk  Audience feedback There was, as usual, great mentoring from the audience too. The majority of delegates at this eDen heat rated the content as "Fantastic". Here are some typical feedback messages "It was enjoyable and informative with lots of useful information and well worth attending." Jenny Ashdown www.cygnus-instruments.com "Could not hear the master class due to location. Excellent panel comments. Very enjoyable evening, very worthwhile for business. Will come again. Ben Jacomb www.bartercard.com "Some great useable tips obtained. Congratulations on a well organised and run event." Warren Munson www.inspire.uk.net |
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