This event was co-ordinated by Ian Barrett from Essex County Council.

This event had no speakers and was a very informal gathering of Tech professionals from all across Essex. We set an optional activity for those in attendance.

Optional activity: To get businesses collaborating and discussing ‘out-there’ ideas, we gave them some hypothetical scenarios to see what they would come up with.

Scenarios:

1. Bob is trying to appeal to young people (13-18 years old) to get them into construction. He’s spoke at many schools and shown them examples of what he’s done but they mostly seem disinterested. Using all your business’ expertise, how would you get young people into construction?
2. Mary lives by a busy, well-lit road. There are many potholes on this road damaging cars, but nobody takes it upon themselves to report them. How would you solve this issue without Mary or her neighbours having to do so?
3. Dan is a business and economics professor; he wants his students to have a realistic experience of what it’s like to start and run a business over the course of 2 months. The students will be graded at the ed of this on the success of their business. How would you give Dan’s students this experience without actually setting up a business?
4. Isabel is 81 years old and struggles to understand how to use her phone and laptop. She has to frequently call her grand-daughter over to help, and spends hours struggling with customer services. Using your business’ expertise, what solution would you offer/create for Isabel?
5. Andrew is an independent writer and has a script written for a film which takes place across multiple countries, but he only has his personal savings/budget of £2,000. How would Andrew create this film within his budget or by expanding his budget?
6. Lauren is working on a project, but needs historic data, insights, and documents from people in her company. She has to book multiple meetings, wait for emails, and scour documents to put it together which stretch her delivery date. How would you solve this issue?
7. Owen works full time whilst running his business, so doesn’t have time to send comms frequently, establish relationships, and build his list of clients effectively. What solution or tool would you create to help Owen manage and engage with his clients with the little time he has?
8. Sally runs a mobile sandwich shop. She is known by a handful of regulars/friends across Essex but wants to increase her client base from location to location. What could Sally do to boost her profile across Essex and increase sales from location to location?
9. A local farm is having severe problems with birds and other pests eating and destroying their crops. The farm is only manned by 6 people who are busy across the fields. What can the farm do to ensure their crops are safe?
10. Zoe has recently left university and never had a job. She is looking for jobs within the healthcare industry and failed her first interview. What tech solution could help Zoe in being more prepared for her interviews?