Friday 15 July 2011

Skills Factor meets the X factor

Hi there, our recent Young Chamber event at The Indig02 last week actually achieved the Wow Factor that I  was looking for. Schools and business people from across the country met up for a day of fun and celebration at the Skills Factor 2011 Final.

The first surprise of the day was discovering that the X Factor was also at The 02 recording one of their future shows. It was really good to be sharing the same venue as Young Chamber and it was great to see our branding on display alongside theirs. I must say our promotional materials looked fantastic, promoting both the Skills Factor and the Battle of the Bands.

The day started with the final school presentations from the six finalists which were all excellent and made it very difficult for the Judges to make their final decisions.

As I had previously mentioned we also had in attendance a few surprise Guest Speakers all telling their stories of how they became successful within their chosen careers. The first one up was Scott Mills from Radio 1, followed by Alexis Conran from BBC 3's the Real Hustle and then finally making the stage, just before the Skills Factor Winners were announced,  we had former BBC 1 Blue Peter presenter,  Zoe Salmon. Everyone found their different stories fascinating and the headline message from all of them was to not give up, if you get knocked back in pursuit of your chosen career, get up dust yourself down and try again, until you do succeed.

In the afternoon we were treated to some top quality musical performances from our Battle of the Bands finalists which would have easily rivalled anything that was going on next door in the X Factor, the winner of which was the 'super' Kerensky Offensive.

The winners of this years Skills Factor Final for 2011 were from Maltby Academy in Rotherham, well done to Maltby and all of this year's Skills Factor Finalists.

We have already started work on next year's Skills Factor 2012 competition which will be launched to schools this September, so if you missed out this year make sure your school or college gets involved for next year. It will be great and full of enthusiastic young people who will provide numerous examples of the many talents that young people possess from across the country and who will provide the future backbone of the UK economy. We will also have more surprise guest speakers to inspire everyone in attendance, more details will be announced on the Young Chamber website in the very near future.

Best Regards
5th Matrix

Friday 1 July 2011

The Scene is Set

Here we go then, the scene is set and the second annual Skills Factor competition is now only days away. We have the venue the Indig02 London; we have the finalists already for action; we have the Battle of the Bands waiting to take the stage; we have supporters all ready to cheer and support and encourage their teams throughout the day; we have the judges all set to challenge the finalists and we have some very special guests who will share with all attendees their stories about how they have made it to the top of their chosen careers. Now if you are not attending this years event you are going to miss something really special, a celebration of all that is good about our young people in the UK today, a small sample of which will be in attendance to demonstrate the qualities and skills that will look after and protect the UK economy for many years to come. This event is not just the Skills Factor it will also become known as the Wow Factor. For those attending I look forward to seeing you there, for those who are not you have missed something spectacular.