Conference Trends 2nd Nationally on Twitter

News release

15th March 2013

The first ever onlincolnshire Digital Conference proved such it hit it became the second most talked about thing on Twitter nationally.

The event’s Twitter hashtag, #godigital2013, began trending at number two in the UK after just a few hours of starting on Wednesday (13th March). The event generated 1,000 retweets featuring the hashtag, and conversation about the conference appeared in more than 2.5 million Twitter feeds throughout the day.

Facebook activity was also high, with photos, video clips and comments reaching 511 accounts from the UK and United States to Mexico and India.

Almost 150 delegates heard from major industry names such as Freeserve co-founder Rob Wilmot, Stephen Parry from Lloyd Parry and Trefor Davies from Timico Technology Group. Social media workshops by John Popham were also packed out and delegates also had the chance to meet exhibitors from the onlincolnshire Digital Business Cluster, which offers business support and free workshops to businesses in Lincoln, East Lindsey and Boston.

Angela Driver from onlincolnshire said: “The 1,000 retweets was brilliant for the event, and it shows that people out there do want to know more about how superfast broadband can change their lives. The event even proved so popular on the social media channel that it pulled in promoted tweets from big brands such as mobile provider @EE.

“We wanted to show people how they could benefit from superfast broadband and give them some tangible examples of how businesses have embraced that technology to grow and boost sales. The feedback from the event has been very positive, with many more businesses signing up for our free business support as a result.”

Fifteen firms including experts in search engine optimisation, web design, graphic design and live streaming exhibited at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Lincoln. They included Lincoln-based media production firm Bright Spark Studios, web design agency TJS and SEO Traffic Lab from Gainsborough.

The conference was part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and was organised by CDI Alliance on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council-run project. It was aimed at informing, engaging and connecting Lincolnshire businesses so they won’t get left behind the rest of the UK when superfast broadband arrives – something which will now happen by 2016 following the signing of a £48m deal between Lincolnshire County Council and BT to upgrade the county’s infrastructure.

The upgrades should give 88 per cent of all properties access to superfast broadband by April 2016, with the council aiming for everyone else to have access to at least of 2Mbps broadband. For the first time ever, broadband should be available everywhere in Lincolnshire.

Keep up to date on when your broadband will get better broadband by visiting www.onlincolnshire.org, following @onlincolnshire or by joining the onlincolnshire Business Support group on Linkedin.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

About the conference

• The conference took place at DoubleTree by Hilton Lincoln on Wednesday 13th March.
• Stephen Parry from Lloyd Parry explained how companies can encourage their employees to be more creative and innovative; Trefor Davies from Timico Technology Group looked at the technologies available and offered examples of how some Lincoln-based businesses have benefited from new digital services; Jonathan Fitzgerald from Lincolnshire County Council’s communications team demonstrated the power of social media; Richard Duxbury from Lincolnshire Media explained how the media industry has adapted to the digital age to continue provide news to the local community.

• The full list of exhibitors was:

Epix Media

TJS Design

First Media

Bright Spark Studios

Timico

AB Internet

BT

SEO Traffic Lab

Lava Communications

Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce

Community Lincs

Lincolnshire Media – This is Lincolnshire

KM Media - County Life

Onlincolnshire

CDI Alliance

About onlincolnshire

• onlincolnshire is part-funded by the East Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013
• Some Internet users in rural Lincolnshire experience speeds of less than 1 Mbps. The UK’s average broadband speed is 7.6 Mbps, according to Ofcom.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf

• The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds. This will mean that at least 94% of all premises should have access to fibre broadband by April 2016.

Cerri Delaney
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
07985 143990
cerri@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @CerriDelaney

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