Hello all and welcome to my first newsletter as ISSBA Chair. I would like to thank ISSBA members and the committee for this opportunity. I am thoroughly looking forward to a busy year ahead. I would also like to say thank you to Samuel Stamp-Dod for his hard work during his tenure as Chair.
Our AGM was a huge success and Ufford Park were fantastic hosts. We enjoyed fantastic views across their grounds, lots of networking and some very tasty food and drinks. Thanks to all that attended. It seemed fitting for Samuel to write the review which you can read here.
We always have a break from events during August and hope that you are all enjoying the summer break but we are looking forward to seeing you all at our next event on 25th September at Belstead Brook Muthu Hotel who are kindly sponsoring. Book your place now!
Our Business Focus piece this month is titled ‘The Hidden Treasures of Office 365’. Thank you to React Computer Partnership for sharing their knowledge and we hope you find it interesting. Read the article here.
We were very excited to announce Over the Rainbow Children’s Charity as our new Charity of the Year at the AGM in July. Read our August Member of the Month piece to find out about the fantastic work they do. We are looking at ways in which we could support them throughout the year so if anyone would like to donate a prize which could be raffled off at one of our monthly events, please let us know.
Our new Recommend a Friend scheme is starting to take off, it is great to see ISSBA members benefiting from this. Any current ISSBA member will get one month's free membership for each new member they recommend, plus the new member also gets one free month, so Win-Win! There are no limits to how many referrals each ISSBA member can make as long as you have a current, paid up membership, so if you bring in 12 new members you'll get a whole year for free!
GoCardless is making the renewal process much easier for many of our members. If you haven’t signed up yet, either let us know on mail@issba.co.uk or keep an eye on your inbox for an authorisation request. GoCardless is a direct debit system fully protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee and means that you never need to worry about forgetting to renew again. By signing up to this you will help your committee save valuable time in chasing renewals, so please, if you aren’t already signed up, please do!
Don’t forget that if you have any suggestions/comments or would like to be considered for a future Member of the Month feature or you would like to write a business focus piece, please get in touch on mail@issba.co.uk.
Graham Barton, ISSBA Chair