Join us for Christmas drinks at DigiFestive
By Sarah Cronk, November 2023
Following the success of Eastbourne DigiFest, we want to ensure the 'in-person' part of our community continues. So in the spirit of this time of year, we'd love to invite you to "DigiFestive" - our celebratory Christmas get-together...
Join your fellow Chalk Eastbourners and DigiFest goers for festive drinks, nibbles, music, and networking!
This event will be a great chance for a Christmas catch-up with other members of the digital, tech, and creative community, and an opportunity to meet up with the new (and old!) friends and acquaintances you met at Eastbourne DigiFest.
Also...be the first to hear some special DigiFest 2.0 announcements!
📍 FOUNDRY, 78, The Beacon, Eastbourne BN21 3NW
📅 Friday 1st December
🕔 5pm - 7pm
👕 Christmas jumpers welcome (but not compulsory!)
🎫 Tickets £5, to include mulled wine, OJ, mince pies, live festive music!
Catch up on Eastbourne DigiFest now!
Our free video catch-up playlist featuring all sessions from Eastbourne DigiFest is finally here!
If you missed a talk, want to rewatch, or discover something new then head over to Youtube, crack open the popcorn and enjoy...
Looking for something specific? Jump straight in where you left off...
From the Shackleton Hall:
Welcome (Stephen Holt, Eastbourne Borough Council)
Understanding the Creative, Digital & Technology Sector in East Sussex (Phil Jones, Wired Sussex)
Business Support Opportunities in East Sussex (Brett Pearson, Locate East Sussex)
Building a Startup in Eastbourne: From Zero to Hero (Tomasz Odrobinski)
Building an Ecosystem - How Eastbourne Can Take its Tech Sector to the Next Level (Panel with Charlie Mercer, Amali De Alwis, Ewan Moran, Tomasz Odrobinski)
A Fireside Chat with Amali De Alwis MBE on Building Tech into Early-Stage Businesses (Amali De Alwis MBE, Josh Babarinde OBE)
How to Actually Get Started with AI in Business (Tom Fielder, Switchplane)
Closing Your Digital Skills Gap: How Your Business Can Access & Support Future Talent (Panel with Dan Wallman, TechNative Digital; Kim Byford, Talent Accelerator; Donna Harfield, East Sussex College; Andrea Wall, University of Sussex; Caroline Bragg, East Sussex County Council)
Building Future Services - Digital Readiness from Cyber Security to AI (Philip Fumey, Microsoft)
The Fibre & Digital Revolution in Eastbourne (Jim Mathieson, CloudConnX)
Wrap Up and Closing Comments (Donna Fielder and Sarah Cronk, Switchplane)
From the Johnson Room:
How Innovation Can Break Down the Barriers to Business Growth (Industry 4.0 for South East Manufacturing (Paul Hetherington, Vistage; Paul Cuttell, Viking Pump Hygienic; Paul Hawes, Kurt J Lesker)
The Power of Community in Solving Collective Challenges (Grace Prior, Silicon Brighton/Diverse Sussex)
Is the Internet Really a Bigger Polluter than the Aviation Industry (Robbie Mould, RJM Digital)
Dev Workshop: Beginner's Rust with Web Assembly (Ethan Brierley, TrueLayer)
From the Orwell Room:
Developing Effective Strategies to Reach the Conscientious Consumer (Adam, PRG)
Web Mastery: Elevating Customer Online Experience for Business Success (Fiona Allman-Treen, FAT Promotions)
Demystifying DevOps and AWS (Lewis Hobden, Switchplane)
How to Power Up Your Presence on LinkedIn (Emma Pearce, Pearce Marketing)
From Racquet Studios:
Your Tech Career: Uncode the Job Titles and Meet the Professionals (Will Callaghan, TechResort; Theo Pilbeam, BenevolentAI; Ethan Brierley, TrueLayer; John Haynes, Entertainment Partners)
Springboard Digital Skills and Tech Enabled Learning (Christopher Ford, Infosys)The Meeting of Film Based Technologies from AR and VR to Game Development (Simon Skinner and Josh Lewis, Racquet Studios; Nic Webb, Artist and Maker; David Yates and George Roboz, Recursive)
Chalk Connect is back next month!
The first pilot session of Chalk Connect took place earlier this month, with members of the digital, creative, and technology sectors coming together to share their work and ideas. From sharing university project work to seeking ideas to help get a new app off the ground, discussions quickly got underway!
We've listened to your feedback and next time:
✔ We're keeping it free, thanks to FOUNDRY's support for the project
✔ We're bringing along the big TV, so you can more easily plug in and share your projects with other attendees
Missed the first session? Don't worry, it takes place regularly on the first Tuesday of every month from 5pm to 7pm - the next session is on Tuesday 5th December at FOUNDRY (BN21 3NW). Come along whenever you can make it; we're very relaxed.
Planning to attend the next session? Please reply to this email to let us know to expect you.
A Chat with: Jason Price, Motorsport Design Consultant
Our featured professional in the CDT sector this month is Jason Price, who caught up with us to explain a bit more about what his role as a motorsport design consultant looks like and the advice he’d give to those wanting to get started.
He explained, “3D design is often assumed to be gaming. But it has so much more potential than that. Unlike games design, I get to design something that is then made in the real world."
To find out more about Jason's career and how to get yourself onto the right tracks, check out our chat with him...
Share your vacancies on the Chalk Jobs Board
From discussions with job hunters and students at recent career fairs, we know that the Chalk Eastbourne Jobs Board is becoming one of the go-to resources for local, skilled talent and we are keen to ensure the page remains populated with the latest vacancies.
So, if you have a vacancy to share, why not send us the details? It doesn't cost you anything, but it might help you find that special gem that's out there, looking for you. Just reply to this email, or add hello@chalkeastbourne.com to your address book for use in the future.
One last thing (that we're hugely excited about)...
At Chalk Eastbourne, we were absolutely thrilled to win the Community Business of the Year award earlier this month at the Eastbourne Business Awards! It was great to be rewarded with this honour after so many months and years of hard work building our community, bringing people in the sector together, and doing our bit to encourage economic growth and inward investment into the town - culminating most recently with Eastbourne DigiFest.
But we couldn't do it alone, so we want to share a huge thank you to everyone in our Chalk community for coming together, getting involved, and being part of it all - this award is for you, too.
It was great to see many local digital and creative businesses stepping up on stage to receive their awards - such as Newman Business Solutions (Winner of Medium Business of the Year), Chloe Stamp of Pearce Marketing (Highly Commended in Outstanding Young Achiever (18-35)), Fountain Digital (Winner of Customer Service Excellence), Cloud Voice & Data (Highly Commended in Customer Service Excellence), Zunoma (Winner of the Digital Excellence Award), among others.
Well done to all those who won awards, or were shortlisted or nominated, and we hope you all celebrate your achievements.
Until next time,
Sarah and the Chalk Eastbourne team
