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BECC 2010 Round Up in Brief
11 board meetings
10 business events inc our 1st exec women’s lunch+ 1st dinner with the Prime Minister.
9 monthly mingles
3 Sporting and Cultural events
2 Signature events: Guy Fawkes, The Burns Supper
3 new management team members
1 Change to the board
Now obviously we do not have enough time to go over every business event in fine detail or to thank every speaker who gave their precious time to speak at a BECC event but I feel I should mention the speakers, some of whom are here today, for sharing this year.
I want to hightlight 2 business events. Firstly The conference "Rise and shine, Estonia" in January and also the follow up London ‘SmartEst’ Conference and Trade mission in September.
These event required a huge effort to organize and so from the board of the BECC, I’d like single out Annely Lautre, Märt Haamer and Ardi Roosimaa as well as Andrus Alber for the huge amount of time and energy expended before the trip and for dealing with the 'bureaucracy'.
The Monthly Mingles are a relatively new but consistently popular opportunity for us to get together with each other and also to invite another chamber of commerce or business club each month.These events would not be possible without a host of hosts and sponsors so I hope you forgive me if I read out a list:
Meriton Grand Conference and Spa Hotel
Tallink Spa and Conference Hotel
Estonian Expo Centre
Von Stackelberg Hotel
3 Sisters Hotel
Nevskij Restaurant
Kaleva Travel and Baltika
The Estonian Mint
Best wines
Altia Eesti
The sporting events this year were both held in May. First of all many of you will remember the BECC Open Golf tournament in May which was held at the Estonian Golf and Country Club incidentally EGCC is one of our 3 Sterling Class members. Special thanks go to the E-Governance Lab for sponsoring the tournament. The second event was the Foreign Chambers Football tournament which unlike the English bid to host the work cup in 2018, we won in style.
Moving on the signature events which run every year: Guy Fawkes night was a great family event with more than hundred people participating and I still get the feedback that it was one of the best fireworks shows people have ever seen! Thanks to RSA Insurance Group, AS Tallinna Vesi together with United Utilities and A le Coq as well as the pupils of Tallinn International School for making the Guy.
The Burns night in January attracted 120 plus people and for the first time, speeches in Estonian as a result most of the people in the room understood what was going on at least some of the time.
Now, these two events are our 2 best chances to raise money for our charitable causes and together these events raised about 80 000 kroons this year .
This year we sponsored a programme to promote the game of cricket in Estonian schools. Cricket is a sport played by men and Australians, not to be confused with Crocket which is mostly played in movies about Edwardian England. I’m glad to announce that next year the BECC will continue to work with Tallinn Technical University in offering stipendiums to outstanding students and we’ll also continue to work with the Estonian Cystic Fibrosis Society and will hopefully be able to double the BECC contribution toward the purchase of a special massage vest which helps clear the lungs.
Now, if you overhead me saying the words Sexy Beast you might be forgiven for assuming I was referring to man in red, Hanno Kross, or man in black, Paul Emmet, in fact the BECC played a small role in supporting a film festival organized by him this year. As Tallinn is European city of culture in 2011, we have decided that we will also sponsor more cultural events in 2011 should funds be available.
That’s about it for 2011 bar my TV interview. Well before I tell you about that I should say that the most common and consequently the most tiresome 3 questions one is asked if one has spent any length of time in Estonia are (1) Why did you come to Estonia? (2) Why are you still here? (3) When are you leaving?
I should also say that I have 2 golden PR rules as Chairman of the BECC (1) never talk to the media (2) if you do talk to the media, never tell a joke.
Well earlier this year I broke rule number (1) and agreed to do a short TV interview. The lights came on and the camera started rolling and the interviewer asked me ‘So, Phil . . . Why did you come to Estonia?’
That’s when I broke rule number (2).
I said . . . ‘well I come from a part of the UK that’s very flat and is full of white people. So when I arrived here, I felt right at home’*
The interview went downhill from there.
My thanks go to Egle Org for breathing new life into the Chamber. Thank you Peter for inviting us into your home, thanks to my colleagues on the board to Diana Varik and Oliver Watts our new team members and thanks to you our members for participating this year and hopefully next year too.
* thanks go to S.D. for this pearl
