On Thursday 11th October, we were back at our old haunt, West Herts College for our 12th Digi-Cluster. And what a great event it was!

Digi-Cluster is the leading digital meetup for agency owners across Watford and Hertfordshire. The discussion centres on the future of digital and technology and we regularly welcome guest speakers. There’s always plenty of food on offer and a chance to network with like-minded business owners in the Hertfordshire digital scene.

We started the evening as we meant to go on with relaxed networking and the drinks flowing. The weather was horrendous and the majority of our guests came in absolutely soaked but that didn’t dampen the mood and we still had a full house!

Introductions ...

Josh Bolland, from  J B Cole UK took to the stage to open the event and spoke of the ethos behind Digi-Cluster. 12 events later, our intention remains the same; to get like-minded people in the same room and to encourage relationships to blossom.

Our very own Chairman Syd Nadim was next up to introduce our sponsors, Nimbus Hosting. Tom Kingham spoke of the hosting service Nimbus offer their clients with a little help from Ollie Bolland, J B Cole UK, who has had first hand experience of the service and couldn’t recommend it more.

‘Nimbus Hosting are a dedicated team providing high quality Linux and Windows cloud web hosting. Their in-house built hosting platform STORM, has been specifically designed for agencies and freelancers to streamline their workflow and manage their client’s hosting needs. They have a 30-day free trial of STORM available, with full access to explore just how much they can simplify how you manage your hosting.’

Next up were the 90 second pitches ...

The aim of the 90 second pitches is to showcase, in a minute and a half, different local businesses out there and in attendance, opening up opportunities for conversation later in the evening.

We welcomed the brilliant Stevie Brooks, Founder & CEO of Cloud Custom and Head of Business Development at Adenzo, to share how it can help business.

“Over the past ten years I have seen and learnt first hand about how sales, marketing and business development has been revolutionised by web based applications. Most businesses are not taking advantage of latest technology and as a result are either failing or not reaching their full potential.”

The stage was then joined by the fabulous Marcel Cowan from DashAgency.

“Everyone knows that your web build projects don’t end when the website goes live. DashAgency enables you to easily list, sell and take payment for all those tasks that need doing after go live, straight from your client’s WordPress dashboard."

The Main Event ...

Adam King from SwipeStation then took to the floor to provide fascinating and detailed insight into start up SwipeStation.  SwipeStation have just secured nearly £600k investment to scale them up, through a crowdfunding campaign with Seedrs. Adam spoke about his experiences over the past two and a half years turning SwipeStation around, lessons learned from crowdfunding, and the plans for the future.

“SwipeStation was founded in 2012 with the goal of enhancing the in-venue experience and improving the way consumers interact with brands.

Each member of the SwipeStation management team is a successful entrepreneur in his own right, bringing to the table a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise.”

Grubs Up ...

Instead of the usual pizza, we opted for the buffet option served by West Herts College themselves. And what a fantastic selection of yummy food and it all went down rather well, along with the beer and wine!

Once West Herts College had closed up, a few carried on into the night at Bar Bodega in Watford, where the drinks and conversations continued to flow.

Upcoming events

We are confirming dates for our 2019 events so keep an eye out or get in touch for an update. We have some bigger plans for next year too so watch this space…

We are always looking for new speakers, panelists and 90 second pitchers to welcome to Digi Cluster so get in touch with rhiannon.bland@clock.co.uk if any of these are of interest to you.