Innovation webinar, speaker opportunities, Firebrand, and more...!
By Sarah Cronk, January 2024
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024, featuring lots to look forward to in the coming weeks....
Upcoming webinar session with the University of Brighton on Innovation and R&D
Info on speaking at Eastbourne DigiFest 2024
A Chat With: brand strategy agency, Firebrand
Chalk Connect dates for 2024
Hack Sussex's 2024 Hackathon
Plenty to get involved with, no matter your level of professional experience!
Join us for an Innovation and R&D session with the University of Brighton
Wondering how you can gain more traction to get your innovation and R&D projects off the ground? Whether it's funding, advice, or people power you need, it's worth joining us on Wednesday 28th February for our first-ever Chalk Eastbourne webinar session.
We'll be joined by Lorraine Davies, SME Engagement Manager at the University of Brighton. Lorraine will share how you can access innovation and skills funding from your local universities, and (spoiler alert!) there is more support out there than you think. There will also be a Q&A where you can ask Lorraine about specific projects you may be considering, and how you can get more engaged with the university.
Please join us at 1pm on Wednesday 28th February. If you can't make it to the live session, don't worry: we will record and share it at a later date.
Fancy speaking at Eastbourne DigiFest 2024?
That's right, Eastbourne DigiFest is back this year on 10th October!
Eastbourne DigiFest attracts a range of professionals working in the creative, digital and tech sector locally and from further afield, plus it provides a great opportunity for students to learn more about future careers and their interests. Many of the professionals have both work-related and personal passions for topics which affect the CDT sector, so there is a huge desire to continue their development and fulfil their thirst for knowledge.
We want to ensure the next event is better than ever, meaning well-curated sessions covering a good range of talks and workshops, both in terms of the target audiences and depth of prerequisite topic knowledge.
If you would like to be considered for a speaker slot at Eastbourne DigiFest, we would love to hear from you! We welcome applications from all speakers (regardless of your previous speaking experience, background, or personal characteristics).
A Chat With: Michael Dale and John Coupland at brand strategists Firebrand
This month’s chat took us into the realms of brand strategy and design with Eastbourne-based agency Firebrand.
We caught up with Michael Dale and John Coupland to find out about their career journeys, what a typical brand career path might look like today, how Firebrand works and, of course, why they love living and working in Eastbourne.
Michael and John also share their three key principles to creating brands that work - and how brand is accessible to SMEs, not just the big players.
Chalk Connect's 2024 dates confirmed
Chalk Connect, our free monthly tech makerspace, takes place on the first Tuesday of every month from 5-7pm at FOUNDRY in Eastbourne. There's tech enthusiast chatter, coding help, and hot drinks!
If you want to add all of the dates to your calendar in one go, they're confirmed as:
Tues 6th February
Tues 5th March
Tues 2nd April
Tues 7th May
Tues 4th June
Tues 2nd July
Tues 6th August
Tues 3rd September
Tues 1st October
Tues 5th November
Tues 3rd December
Come along whenever you are able, committment-free, and give it a go.
The Lightning Talks beta continues next month with confirmed presentations from Lewis Hobden on how he created his own private internet and Tom Pearce on Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Pop along if you're interested in learning more on these topics (among other things!).
Hack Sussex's 2024 Hackathon is back for students and graduates!
What happens at one of Hack Sussex's 24-hour hackathons? This is an opportunity for students of all abilities to collaborate, learn new skills, and build something cool using technology. It's a great way for people with similar interests to work together on exciting projects in a fast-paced, creative environment.
Enjoy yourself, boost your CV, and above all learn something new - be it tech and software skills or teamwork experience. There's room for both the competitive and the laid back, and a chance for people of any level of experience to win prizes.
The event takes place at the Chichester Building at the University of Sussex, BN1 9HR over the weekend of 17th-18th February and is a free event for students and graduates.
One last thing...
We're still looking for extra businesses to share our Chalk Eastbourne stand at the BIG Futures Show on Tuesday 23 April at Eastbourne Sports Park, along with Switchplane and Calibre Marketing. This means both a share of the cost and a share of the time commitment at the exhibition, whilst making sure young people know about the exciting careers open to them in the digital sector.
Keen to get involved? Drop Donna an email to find out more (donna@chalkeastbourne.com).
