The Twenties Club

Networking Reading's Business Community

C8 Consulting is the inspiration behind the hugely admired and successful Twenties Club. The Twenties Club continues to go from strength to strength and recently moved from the exclusive Forbury Hotel to its new sponsor the boutique hotel, Malmaison.

The strategic invitation only symposium for Board-level executives from Reading’s thriving business community is growing with new members and guests attending the quarterly meetings. The Twenties Club continues to be the most influential and high-profile breakfast networking event in Reading with representatives from Microsoft, Oracle, Coutts, Boyes Turner, Osborne Clark, Clarkeslegal, Hicksbaker, Reading University and newcomers such as RBS and LloydsTSB all putting Twenties Club events straight into their diary.

At every meeting a guest speaker presents to the group on topical high-level business issues before everyone enjoys a full English Breakfast. The events always provide attendees with thought provoking and entertaining information which they can later share with colleagues. Each meeting sees attendees catch up with colleagues old and new and allows them to share experiences and ideas, it’s a unique way to network and one which is proven and popular.

Previous guest speakers have included Wally Olins, CBE, founder of Wolff Olins, and one of the world’s leading practitioners of corporate identity and branding; Olympic Gold medal-winning rower Greg Searle; James Arnold Baker, founder of medical community website, doctors.net.UK; Peter Lederer, Chairman of Gleneagles Hotel, speaking on customer service. Professor Chris Bones, Dean of Henley Business School, one of the world’s leading business schools, now recently merged with the University of Reading, spoke about leadership. Esteemed author Richard Hall delivered his presentation on ‘marketing in dark times’ all about the merits of marketing and the importance of brand. For the last quarter’s talk, financial publishing house VRL’s Editorial Director Hugh Fasken led an engaging and insightful talk on ‘The Great Escape, One Year On From Lehmans’. His presentation was so popular a booklet on his findings focused on the credit crunch is now being published.

The next speaker is Charles Barnett, Chief Executive of Ascot Racecourse. Charles has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years, beginning at Haydock and having successfully built a name for himself, he then moved to nearby Aintree where he was at the heart of the Grand National. Whilst at Aintree he had to deal with several media frenzies, namely the false start of the 1993 race and the IRA bomb scare in 1997, before moving south three years ago. Charles will talk about the pressures he has been faced with whilst working in such a high profile industry and the innovative ways in which racing, and in particular Ascot racecourse have overcome these challenges and is trying to attract a new breed of racegoer.  His talk is timetabled just weeks ahead of the renowned Royal meeting and as the man in charge of the event, Charles is charged with ensuring that all customer groups has a good time.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Twenties Club, benefits, or becoming a member, please contact Paula Elliott on 0118 9001132 or email paula@c8consulting.co.uk.

Click here to register your interest in the meeting

Future Twenties Club meetings will be taking place on the following dates:

Twenties Club Meetings 

• Friday 22nd January 2010
• Friday 23rd April 2010
• Friday 23rd July 2010
• Friday 22nd October 2010

Read all about it...