Following our in-person conference which kicked off the series on 27th March, we are running a number of of online ‘lunch and learn’ and ‘breakfast bite’ workshop sessions with thought leaders from across the North East. These cover a wide range of People topics including; mental health, wellness at work, menopause, return to work, equality & diversity, neuro diversity, occupational psychology and much, much more!

View the list of events below and book via the relevant Eventbrite page.

These FREE sessions, in partnership with Northumbria University, are open to NEPIC Members and Supply Chain North East participants, with no limit on the number of sessions that can be booked.

Breakfast Bite – Mindful Leadership Workshop | 31 March, 09.30 – 10.30

Led by Bill Corocoran & Wilma: Wilma will be speaking more about this in her lunch and learn session, where she will be joined by her colleague Bill Corcoran to give an update on what is going on in the current financial market, including an analysis of the March budget which has promised a review of childcare cost. Wilma will then cover the important topic of financial independence and how financial planning can be a form of self-care and preservation and what companies can do to help support their employees.

Book here

Lunch & Learn – The great resignation and the great regret | 31 March, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Dan Younger. Dan is the Founder/Director of CY Partners, a professional scientific, clinical and technical recruitment company. Dan has over 20 years experience in the recruiting and staffing sector and is an expert on talent attraction, engagement and retention strategies.

Workshop details:
As the cost-of-living crisis continues and the demand for high calibre candidates in the science industry remains high, organisations face huge challenges as they battle to recruit and retain top talent. To compete, hiring teams are being forced to evaluate the effectiveness of their recruitment and retention process. We’ll delve deeper into this topic and explore the critical areas for businesses who wish to win the race for talent in 2023 and beyond!

Book here

Lunch & Learn – Accessibility and EDI in Web Design | 4 April, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Graham Marsh. Graham, Creative Director at Digital Edge, has been creating websites on the Wix platform for clients across the globe for over 10 years. Graham has built one of the leading Wix design agencies in Europe through the business core values of; outstanding value, creativity, and collaboration.

Workshop details:
During this session we will be discovering the importance of website accessibility and how to limit barriers to the access of a website. Website design focus is often on intuitive browsing, easy to navigate, looking great and bigger logo! Often, accessibility can be overlooked. Graham will be providing a fresh angle on web design which can be vital for those with physical disabilities, situational disabilities, and socio-economic restrictions on bandwidth and speed to engage with websites.

Book here

Breakfast Bite – People Process Profit | 14 April, 09.30 – 10.30

Led by Kevin Maddison. Kevin has over 35 years’ experience working nationally and internationally in property development, investment houses, financial services, primary care GP practices, engineering, and software solutions as well as with multiple SMEs and start-up businesses.

This workshop will cover:

• Differences between leaders, managers, and team members
• Growing the business by giving away tasks, especially those you like
• Developing personal awareness affecting team behaviours
• Understand the impact of individual productive environments
• Developing situational leadership skills
• Implementing change whilst managing expectations

Book here

Lunch & Learn – Feeding the Mind: Why your second brain matters | 18 April, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Julie Pichler. Julie is a Registered Nutritional Therapist, specialising in the gut-brain connection. Her ethos is to see physical and mental health as one, and using functional medicine to get to the root cause of imbalance in the body, we can restore health to both body and mind. 

Workshop details:
Why does food matter to how we think, feel and our ability to focus? Can we really eat ourselves to improved energy, mood and memory? Come along and learn why the vagus nerve, microbiome and the nervous system within our guts are as essential to how we feel physically and mentally as the brain cells inside our heads. That food can help reverse depression and cognitive decline, and which foods you can enjoy and incorporate into a healthier lifestyle.

Book here

Lunch & Learn – Financial Planning is Self-Care – Know Yourself and Know | 19 April, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Bill Corocoran & Wilma: Wilma will be speaking more about this in her lunch and learn session, where she will be joined by her colleague Bill Corcoran to give an update on what is going on in the current financial market, including an analysis of the March budget which has promised a review of childcare cost. Wilma will then cover the important topic of financial independence and how financial planning can be a form of self-care and preservation and what companies can do to help support their employees.

Book here

Lunch & Learn – Wellness in the Workplace | 20 April, 11.30 – 12.30

Led by Bethany Ainsley: For more than fifteen years Bethany Ainsley and her team have committed to providing services that have helped thousands of people improve their health and wellbeing and have won several awards as a result. Bethany is the CEO of OptiMe, a software solution that supports businesses with employee mental health and wellbeing.

Workshop Description:

This workshop is designed to help organisations understand the importance of workplace wellbeing for the success of their business. It will focus on how to create a culture of wellbeing within the workplace and how to engage employees to ensure that wellbeing programmes are effective. Participants will learn how to create a comprehensive wellbeing program that meets the needs of their employees, and how to measure the impact of their program to ensure its success.

Rachael McGregor our Training Coordinator will be co-delivering on this workshop.

Book here

Breakfast Bite: Balancing Career & Parenthood – How to Maximise Returns | 21 April, 09.30 – 10.30

Led by Laura Barker: Laura is a Mum of two living in Newcastle, she has over 16 years of practical business experience, including owning and growing her own businesses and holding management positions in employment. This has been across a diverse range of sectors including recruitment, fundraising, occupational health, contract management, pre-school education and politics. She combines this experience with coaching qualifications including ICF accredited diplomas in Personal Performance Development and Corporate and Executive Coaching, accreditation in DISC personality profiling and certification in Understanding Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace, in addition to leadership and management qualifications.

Workshop Description:

Within this session, Laura will be exploring how to support and empower working parent talent in order to overcome the practical and psychological barriers to reaching their full potential at work, particularly at the crucial point of returning to the workplace.

Book here

Lunch & Learn: UX Design – The People Approach | 21 April, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by James Hanson (Founder – Layers Studio): With over 15 years of experience in design, James has worked on software and app projects for startups like OneXP and global brands like Nissan. From brand-focused design in his early years to app and software design over the last 8 years, he enjoys taking a people-centred approach to both disciplines.

Workshop Description:

When it comes to unlocking people power, UX (user experience) design is all about getting the most out of a design, by observing people who match your user group(s). We understand the importance of tapping into the minds of your Users and how an empathetic approach to UX design will deliver a better solution for businesses, services and products. In this hour we will explore the benefits of a people-centred UX design process, the benefit of testing and some insights into how working in diverse teams can enhance your UX design process.

Book here

Lunch & Learn: Recruiting Neurodiverse Teams | 26 April, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Rosie Brighty: Divergent Consulting helps workplaces thrive by understanding neurodiversity within their workforce – because we all deserve to bring our best selves to work. Our founder Rosie is a former engineer, a proud dyslexic, dyspraxic ADHDer, and has lived experience of discrimination in the workplace (due to both her gender and neurotype). This, along with her background in teaching, allows her to work with companies to help them understand, and harness the potential offered by neurodiverse team

Workshop Description:

Are you making the most of the talent pool available to you?

This workshop is a snapshot into what neurodiversity means, why you should be recruiting neurodiverse teams, and how to make your recruitment process as accessible as possible

Book here

Breakfast Bite: Using Rugby Coaching Tactics to Improve Team Performance | 28 April 09.30 – 10.30

Led by Benjamin Drury, The Culture Guy, Corporate leadership culture expert: Ben is a workplace culture expert, changing the way c-suite execs think to help them supercharge their employee offering. The result? Happier, healthier, more engaged teams who attract like-minded talent in the future. Ben’s unique approach is to apply his skills as a rugby coach to his consulting role, using tactics that work on the pitch to create a true squad mentality among corporate teams.

Workshop Description:

From try to conversion: How to use rugby coaching tactics to improve your team performance

This talk will explore the ways in which the principles of communication used in the high-pressure and fast-paced environment of rugby can be applied to create a well-oiled, high-performing organisation.

Book here

Lunch & Learn: Resilience Workshop | 3 May, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Martin Wintermeyer: Heartbeats and Milliseconds offers Performance Coaching and Team Development; through interactive individual and group activities – with the aim to strive for excellence. Martin is passionate about helping individuals and teams to become the best version of themselves – to get as close to reaching their full potential as possible.

Workshop Description:

Resilience is often spoken about. However, how often do we take action to enhance our Resilience and recover from events that have tested it.

This short, but very interactive, workshop will explore what we as individuals and organisations can do to be more resilient; ensuring we are in as good a shape as possible to deal with events that life may throw our way, and recover once through that event.

Book here

Workshop: Climate Connections – Sustainable Wellbeing in the Workplace | 4 May, 12.00 – 13.00

Led by Clare Blunt and Claire Thew: With a wealth of knowledge from a career of working in the mental health sector, Clare Blunt now supports businesses to embed a culture of wellbeing and support for their people. Claire Thew spent many years working in the environmental sector, and by utilising her knowledge and experience she is committed to raising awareness of the climate crisis and driving businesses forward on their journey to net zero.

Workshop Description:

If you’d like a better understanding of the synergy which exists between sustainability and mental health and the opportunity to explore why and how your business should take a joined-up approach to these issues , then this is the workshop for you. You will be given information regarding the current situation, and the opportunity to consider what your business is already doing in these key areas and time to identify barriers and benefits to addressing the issues together.

Book here

Breakfast Bite: Climate Connections – Sustainable Wellbeing in the Workplace | 5 May, 09.30 – 10.30

Led by Nicola Mercer: Nicola is a transformational health coach helping business owners and those working in corporate to feel confident and know their self-worth using her success framework of mindset, movement, nutrition, sleep and stress.

Workshop Description:

We’ll dive into why it’s vital that women build their self-worth to unlock the success they desire and how to get started. Let’s help empower other females to live a life whether they believe in themselves and feel confident to take steps to feel successful and happy.

The objective of this workshop is to empower women to understand why you need to be in control of your life rather than being in firefighter mode, always reacting. Understand that when you take better care of yourself you will build strong wellbeing that increases your self-worth, self-belief and confidence resulting in you stepping into the success you desire.

Book here

Lunch & Learn: Leaders Look Up – Why Technology can be Great for Profit | 10 May, 12.00 – 13.00

Technology has revolutionised every industry and every job, and with the latest advancements in AI, quantum computing, and virtual reality, it’s about to happen all over again.

* By 2025 there will be more connected digital devices than people on the planet.

* AI will significantly impact over 80% of our jobs within the next 18-24 months.

* The Metaverse is coming!

This level of technology, connectivity and opportunity is incredible!

And yet people everywhere are exhausted.

Digital fatigue has taken hold. Excessive screen time over the last few years has hijacked our attention, depleted our energy and focus levels, and our relationships and human connections are suffering. Technology is stopping us from looking up.

Book here

About Supply Chain North East

Supply Chain North East brings together four key partners to work with over 1,100 businesses through to 2023, supporting them to identify opportunities in new and existing markets. An integral part of the North East Strategic Economic Plan, that has a vision to create 100,000 more and better jobs between 2014 and 2024. Supply Chain North East is delivered across the region by RTC North, Generator, North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) and North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). 

Supply Chain North East is a multimillion programme aimed at revolutionising the way SMEs diversify their offering and embrace new markets. The programme has received more than £3m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund, which is part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. 

For more information, click here>>

Competition Law Statement

Trade association meetings have, in the past, been used as a forum for the establishment of cartels and they are therefore the subject of scrutiny by the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

For the purposes of remaining compliant with competition law, members should not discuss commercially sensitive strategic information (including but not limited to, details of proposed or actual pricing, information about target or key customers or expansion plans) in or around NEPIC meetings, including at unofficial get-togethers or over coffee/lunch.