A new consultancy set up to improve performance and motivation announced its arrival with an evening of quickfire inspirational messages to a packed business audience.
Martin Johnson, chief executive of Trans2 Performance, said he is now planning more events after the success of the company’s debut with T2 Talks at The Deep in Hull.
Guests of the company, which has been shortlisted in the start-up category of the Mail’s Business Awards, included top executives from significant businesses in the Yorkshire and Humber region and further afield.
Dean Branton, chief operating officer of Gazprom Energy’s global retail team in Manchester and a former director of KCOM Group, said: “I brought eight of my sales people. They thought it was fantastic and it’s given them some new ideas for dealing with our customers so that’s a massive result.”
Neil Fisher, managing director of Hull-based Airco and joint winner of the Institute of Directors’ Yorkshire and Humber Director of the Year awards, said: “I always find these talks inspirational. The choice of speakers was excellent, a real mix of team-building and new technology and how things will change in the future. It seems to me more and more prevalent that sport, business and the military psychology all roll into one at certain times.
“Martin’s talk on social excellence and emotional intelligence was a must-see for anyone wanting to motivate and inspire their staff.”
Trans2 Performance was launched at The Deep Business Centre in June by Martin, who founded the business to make the most of his experience from the Royal Navy and senior roles with the Butler Group and Gartner Associates.
He is working with professional sports teams, charities, education companies and the military, and that client base was reflected in the line-up of speakers for the first event.
Hull Kingston Rovers vice-chairman Rob Crossland examined the parallels between sport and the mainstream business world. Owen Hunnam and Charlie De Rusett looked at using technology to harvest innovative business development input from a workforce, something which they have developed through setting up Idea Drop
Wayne Okell, who received the MBE for services to the military and sport, explored the links between emotional intelligence and technical competence. Bertie Kerr, a former captain in the Royal Marines, told of the front line experiences in Afghanistan which preceded his career in Deutsche Bank, where he is now a vice president.
Freya Cross, business and corporate manager at The Deep, said: “Our role on the night was to make sure the event ran smoothly but it was impossible not to be distracted and impressed by the messages coming from the speakers.
“We host a lot of corporate events and we attend others elsewhere but this was completely different. It attracted some very influential people from the Hull and East Yorkshire business community and it was particularly pleasing for us that it was presented by one of the companies based in The Deep Business Centre.”
Martin added: “Being based at The Deep Business Centre has given me access to all sorts of services, skills and support and the result is that we have almost put our entire first year’s forecast on the board in the first three months.
“We are planning another event for March 2016. We aim to keep the combination of sport, business and military input but we’ll also keep people guessing because it’s not just a series of talks about leadership – we want to split opinions and the feedback shows we achieved that.”
