Elaine Pritchard, co-leader of WiRE Burton, has teamed up with three local businesswomen to organise Burton’s first #SmallBusinessBigDifference conference as part of celebrations for this year’s Small Business Saturday UK campaign.

The event takes place on Wednesday October 12 from 8.45am to 2pm at the town’s Pirelli Stadium – home of Burton Albion football club.

Thanks to support from Elaine and her three partners – who call themselves Burton Small Business – the event is free to attend and includes a networking buffet lunch. Free tickets are by application only and STRICTLY LIMITED – so download this form  and email it back to info@burtonsmallbusiness.co.uk before 5pm on Friday September 23.

Elaine explained: “Last year my Caittom Publishing business was chosen as one of the Small Business Saturday #SmallBiz100 companies. This meant that I was profiled nationally and benefited from lots of PR and publicity that has really helped my business grow. This year, I have partnered with Liz Strama of HR Protected, Tilley Bancroft of Red Door Studios and Cheryl Morris of Creative Word PR to organise a free conference for all small business owners and directors.

“We decided to hold it at the home of Burton Albion because their meteoric rise from a non-League club to the Championship has been inspirational and made a massive difference to the town.”

Ten speakers are booked in to deliver sessions on subjects including PR and social media, employment law, visual branding, cyber security and much more.

Elaine and the team are delighted that Claire Mulry from the national Small Business Saturday team will attend the conference as a guest speaker.

Small Business Saturday UK – now in its 4th year – is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to support small businesses in their communities.

Last year, The Burton Small Business group held a ‘flash’ conga in Burton town centre on Small Business Saturday itself. The publicity this attracted led to the national Small Business Saturday team deciding to include Burton (‘home of the small business conga’!) among the 29 stops on its 2016 promotional bus tour. The bus will be in Burton Market Place from 2pm to 4pm on Monday November 7.

Pictured: The 2015 Small Business Conga in Burton. Photo by WiRE member Joanne Cooper Photography.