Fred takes to the stage to lead conversation and collaboration
- Dave Laister
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Fred recently helped deliver an inaugural conference and exhibition for North East Lincolnshire Council’s economic development team.
Industrial Connections NEL brought together the strategic drivers of growth on the South Humber Bank for a full day of insight, networking and mutual understanding.
It sparked conversation and collaboration between businesses in the manufacturing, engineering, chemicals and process, energy and renewables, ports and logistics, and food manufacturing / processing spheres.
Fred’s PR and media director, Dave Laister, was asked to host the event, delivering an opening speech and reflecting on his time as the business editor in his hometown. And with the venue in his secondary school catchment area, he wound the clock back even further to give a flavour of his first experiences of industry, and the importance of stimulating interest throughout the education journey.
Dave then welcomed chief executive of North East Lincolnshire Council, Rob Walsh, to the stage, holding a question and answer session with the long-serving and hugely respected figure, ahead of chairing a panel discussion on skills.
David Talbot, chief executive of beacon training facility and membership organisation Catch, was joined by Katrina Pierce, development manager of the Local Skills Improvement Plan, with the Federation of Small Businesses Lincolnshire, and Lee Douglas, strategic careers hub lead for the new Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, to explore their views on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats when it comes to addressing demand.
Last to join our man on stage was Mark Webb, managing director of business support organisation E-Factor. He highlighted the incredible roles played my micro businesses and the SME community, before they together discussed the benefits of a truly local supply chain. This included learnings that can be taken from offshore wind’s arrival for the next big industrial opportunities - decarbonisation through carbon capture and storage, electrification and hydrogen-focused fuel-switching.
At a breakfast reception prior, Dave had also hosted a question and answer session with North East Lincolnshire Council leader Philip Jackson and business leaders, with the work building on his hosting of Offshore Wind Connections, The Waterline Summit, Gyles Brandreth’s The Business Day welcome and various roundtable and panel events.
Penny Codd, economy and funding manager for investment at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “Dave Laister was our host of choice for our debut industrial sector exhibition event held at Grimsby Auditorium.
“The criteria we set in our search for a host was someone who we were confident would be an excellent host but also had a deep understanding of the local economic environment, its history, its evolution, its successes, and its challenges. For us, Dave met all of the criteria.
“From our initial discussion with Dave, we felt that we had reached out to the right person. Dave was fully supportive of our event from day one, suggesting positive avenues for us to explore, wanting to engage as much as possible and helping greatly in the promotion of the event.
“On the day of the event, we were very happy with the preparation Dave had put into his role as host. From the speeches delivered, his engagement with guest presenters and the audience, as well as tackling unforeseen challenges on the day, the standard delivered was exceptionally high.”
“Post-event we were delighted with the continued exposure Dave has provided to the successes of our event, utilising his own digital channels and engaging with those who attended the event.
“Overall, we would highly recommend Dave to others involved in the delivery of events. The levels of communication, passion shown for our goals, and continued advice throughout, gave us the confidence in knowing we were on the right path to delivering a successful event.”