Do you have what it takes to make it through to the other side? By the time the upturn arrives will you emerge stronger and fitter for business or will you have gone to the wall? To help you understand and make the difficult decisions that are going to come your way in the next year you need to attend this DBA Business Briefing.

The DBA Business Briefing will feature presentations on:

What happens if the work starts to dry up?
- Trading your way out and cutting your way out of a downturn
- Where you look to trade out
- Do what you do - but do it better to block competition
- The pit-falls you have to avoid
Adrian Rasdall, Revenue Matters
To download Adrian's presentation click here

Cutting the fat from your consultancy
An interactive discussion forum where you can put your questions directly to two of the most respected names in the business.
- How to prune your business to ensure that you are in a better position once the upturn begins.
- What are the basic rules that you need to follow?
- The numbers you need to watch, how you calculate them and at what point you need to act.
Gary Baxter, Black & Pink and Mandy Merron, Partner, WKS
To download Gary & Mandy's presentation click here

5 ways to make your clients love you
When budgets become tight, who are clients going to chose for the key projects? Tom Foulkes of Land Securities (Design Week's Client of the Year) gives his insight into what makes certain design teams a joy to work with, while others move down to the bottom of his wish list. This is an ideal opportunity for you to see things from the client perspective.
Tom Foulkes, Head of Development Marketing - Retail, Land Securities (Design Week's Client of the Year)

To download Tom's presentation click here


Speaker Biographies

- Adrian Rasdall, Revenue Matters
Adrian is an experienced design professional who has built and run his own successful companies - such as Masterstoke Design in the 1980's, IDL and Funhouse in the 1990's and The Brandworks in 2000. In 2001 Adrian formed Revenue Matters to become a turnaround and business improvement specialist. His understandings of not just process and finance issues within design companies, but also of the nitty-gritty of human interaction, ensures the relevance and success of the solutions he brings to companies.

- Gary Baxter, Black & Pink
Gary was introduced to the design industry when working with a tax and management consultancy in the early eighties. Clients included David Davis, Robinson Lambie Nairn, and Tatham Pearce. He joined The Partners as Finance Director in 1989, developing the financial management system from manual bookkeeping (when designers used polyboard!) to fully integrated computerised project management and operating performance analysis.

Gary left The Partners in 1997 to form an independent consultancy, specialising in the financial management of design groups. The consultancy's core work is to advise on the establishment of financial accounting systems, business planning and management reporting to facilitate informed decision making.

- Mandy Merron, Partner, Willott Kingston Smith
Mandy is a partner who works with design and other creative businesses of all sizes and at all stages of development. She has lectured and written on management and financial issues in "people businesses? She has lead responsibility for developing our services to design businesses. Mandy writes sections of the annual survey "Financial Performance of Marketing Services Companies" and contributes to the quarterly publication "Marketing Services Monitor." She is a director of WKS Results.

Prior to joining the firm Mandy was at the West End office Spicer & Oppenheim (latterly Touche Ross & Co) where she worked with a number of marketing services businesses at all stages of development. During this period she also spent time specialising in taxation and working with the firm's corporate recovery department on marketing services assignments. Mandy is also a director of Women in Film and Television and the Direct Marketing Association.

- Tom Foulkes, Head of Development Marketing- Retail, Land Securities
Tom Foulkes is Head of Development Marketing for FTSE 100 PLC Land Securities, recently pronounced Design Week’s Client of the Year. Formerly a senior planner with leading branding and design agency Communiqué 360, where he worked on global marques such as AMP, Kuoni, Lexus and Monarch Airlines, he joined Land Securities’ fledgling marketing department in 2002 and was appointed to his current position in 2007. Since then he has been responsible for the commercial
marketing of Land Securities’ entire retail portfolio embracing: existing assets, new developments, and the Group’s retail division.


Event details
Date: Tuesday 9 September 2008
Start time: 3.00 - 3.30pm registration
End time: 8.30 - 9.00pm drinks

(A light buffet meal and refreshments will be provided at 6pm)
Venue: CBI Conference Centre, 103 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1DU Tickets: Standard rate £199+vat (£233.83). DBA member rate £99+vat (£116.33)