‘You need to evolve and stay relevant’: Building the appeal of Biz Week

HISTORY: Pat Coyle preparing for a Heritage Open Days event at Rollits

Chewing the Fat, out to lunch with Phil Ascough

This week’s guest: Pat Coyle

There’s a buzz building about Biz Week.

The preparations have now been unveiled but have actually been under way for months.

Leading them is Pat Coyle, who already has one Humber Business Week under her belt as steering group chair, and who is aiming to build on that with an agenda of inclusivity, sustainability and community.

“We need to make sure we keep the quality and keep the focus on business,” said Pat, whose day job is director of marketing and client relations at Rollits LLP, the law firm founded in Hull in 1841.

“If it’s not broken don’t fix it but don’t be afraid to try something new. Keep improving. It’s a process and needs to evolve and be relevant and that will change over time because of the audience that it appeals to.”

Fittingly, as someone who once worked on marketing Crayola products, Pat has brought a bit more colour and variety to the event and the planning. That’s no reflection on her predecessor Kath Lavery, but on the impact of the pandemic, which wrecked plans for 2020 and 2021 and brought a recovery which was still tentative in 2022.

“In that first year of Covid we got to March and still thought we would be able to deliver something in June,” Pat recalled.

IN THE MIX: Pat with pop music legend Pete Waterman when he spoke at Humber Business Week 2024

“It was really only when we reached the beginning of May that we had to accept it wasn’t going to happen.

“We managed to run one or two things online but that was all and when we got to 2021 the majority of events were still online. It was really only in 2022 that people were ready to come back and it’s built and built since then. The pandemic could have killed it and it’s only because people believed in Biz Week that we were able to resuscitate it and make it better.”

The two chairs worked hand-in-hand for much of the time as Kath wrapped up her term and Pat picked up the baton and drew on some of the experience of driving post-Covid business recovery at Rollits, and in external roles including regional chair of the Institute of Directors and board member at Hull Truck Theatre.

We both have vivid memories of a lunch at 1884 Wine & Tapas Bar in Hull in March 2020 when the IoD brought in guest speaker Juliette Healey, agent at the time for the Bank of England in Yorkshire and Humber.

It was such a success that we pencilled in dates for a series of business breakfasts but the elbow-bump greetings between guests were ominous. Within days the nation was in lockdown and the restaurant closed its doors never to reopen.

Pat said: “At Hull Truck we had to innovate because you couldn’t bring in audiences so the theatre produced its very first outdoor performance at Stage @ The Dock. When the audiences did return they were limited by social distancing and by psychological challenges around going into enclosed spaces.

ON THE BALL: Pat with Kevin Keegan, another big-name speaker from a past Humber Business Week.

“It’s interesting how businesses have had to adapt and find new ways of doing things, especially in the professional services sector. There’s always something new with such a diverse client base and you have to be aware of new trends that are coming, but you still have to satisfy the different generations within your client base.

“You have got to be front and centre, use Linked In and other new and not so new tools and tactics. If you can’t meet people face to face how are you going to maintain that contact? At Rollits we had just started our 2020 Vision programme and we had to pivot from that as nobody saw the pandemic coming.”

Memories of how technology took over and provided people with a lifeline also prompted us to rewind to 1993 when Pat first walked through the doors of Rollits.

She arrived here from Northumberland, where she was born, via Newcastle where she studied graphic design and business studies at the Polytechnic, and watched Kevin Keegan play for Newcastle United. Then Bedford, where husband George worked as a solicitor, Pat did the Crayola job and worked with the Granada group of companies, and they both watched Luton Town on a Saturday. These days it’s Hull City, with Pat usually leaving Celtic fan George at home and taking prime West Stand seats with her friend Carole Cameron.

They moved to East Yorkshire in the late 1980s after George got a job with Rollits. When their sons Pete and Dominic grew up and were happy in school, Pat joined Rollits initially on a temporary basis.

She said: “We got here, we got settled, two kids going to school locally, we liked the quality of life. It became home and there was no reason to leave.”

LOCAL PRIDE: Pat at Hull City

The world of business was changing rapidly as organisations in all sectors set about embracing, exploiting and advancing technology.

Pat said: “In those days everything happened more slowly. The business community didn’t have internet and email was a new way of communicating rather than by letters or fax. There were no websites or e-commerce. The firm has invested heavily in IT over the years but when I started I had to go to computer classes to learn how to switch one on. I went to Goldings to learn how to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint – skills that today we take for granted!”

With the Law Society not allowing firms to advertise until 1986 it was still unusual within the profession to find someone whose job was to do just that. Pat relished the challenge, and over the years, has helped to shape a dynamic marketing and comms strategy and built some key partnerships.

Rollits has unbroken membership of the Chamber of Commerce, itself formed in 1837. Much more recently the firm was in at the beginning of Hull Forward, which evolved into the Bondholders, where Rollits remains a major partner. It also commits time and people to good causes including local charity Run With It, where Pat is a trustee, and Dove House Hospice which, along with Muscular Dystrophy UK, benefits from the Rollits golf day which has been running for nearly 40 years.

There’s also ongoing involvement with Heritage Open Days, which is no surprise for a firm based in the Old Town since it was founded, and the contacts base also extends through clients and suppliers into any number of business sectors and all levels of education.

Pat said: “We promote local talent and we work closely with schools and colleges to showcase the careers that are available in the legal profession. It’s about supporting the business community and the wider local community. As a firm we have always held events in Biz Week.”

TEE TIME: Pat with colleagues and charity representatives at the Rollits golf day in 2024

The steering group has a freshness and creativity from being unencumbered by the rules and regulations of more formal bodies and it’s not tied by the past, preferring to set new traditions as it moves forward. All the participants bring enthusiasm and different strands of knowledge, displaying a willingness to learn from each other at every meeting and every event. They draw on ideas from their day jobs, and it follows that people who have been around for longer will generally have more experience, but the chemistry is about mixing that with the more youthful input of energy, modern relevance and ambitions for the future.

Pat said: “It’s really important that you have passionate people who want to make a difference and are happy to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Everybody on the steering group is a volunteer and is putting in a phenomenal amount of work on that basis.

“The university provides secretariat support and the group has expanded to cover more sectors including creative, culture, charities. They are all businesses as well. They employ people and they have to earn money to make ends meet. It’s really important that they feel that Biz Week is for them and not just for the larger corporate businesses.

“We are engaging more with the south bank and with young people, thinking about what’s going to happen in ten years’ time. We also want to expand the reach outside the Humber region so people there can see how remarkable Humber Business Week is.

“If we were still doing what we did five years ago the week would die – relevance is huge, quality is huge and people look forward to the week. Last year there was a new energy and buzz around and a lot of enthusiasm for the week and we need to build on that. It’s all about people coming together. People buy from people.

“I’m excited for this year and I hope other people are as well.”

Humber Business Week will take place at venues across the region during week commencing Monday, June 2. The full programme will be announced at the official Humber Business Week launch at Hull Truck Theatre from 5pm until 6.30pm on Thursday, April 10.

• To find out more visit humberbusinessweek.co.uk/