Record numbers visit Small Business Expo

Record numbers visit Small Business Expo

This year’s Small Business Expo in Auckland is proving to be its the busiest yet with more than 2000 people visiting already and more than 6000 business owners having pre-registered before the expo’s opening day (17 April).

Last year more than 13,000 people visited the Small Business Expo in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, making it New Zealand’s largest event for business.

“Its been the busiest morning of any of the six expos we have run,” Small Business Expo organiser Sarah Trotman says. “Feedback has been very positive today, particularly in respect to the strong government presence at this year’s expo. We’ve also had huge interest in the many stands that are offering business office equipment and services and business mentoring.”

“The free National Bank Seminar series has been more popular than ever before with every session full so far; we have had to increase the seating to accommodate numbers.”

Josephine McGillivray from Poste Haste Couriers said she got some good business leads at the expo and was impressed by the variety of stands this year.

Small business owner Fiona Tomlinson said she was given some really good information from AA Maps and NZ Trade and Enterprise and came away with some great ideas for her business.

Statistics NZ customer services manager said this year’s expo has been busy from the moment the doors opened. “We’ve had a steady stream of people wanting information on a wide range of statistics, especially from the latest Household Expenditure Survey.

“We were able to help a woman who runs music festivals with demographic statistics and a student with census information. The expo is great; it’s good that people can come together and share their goods and services; there’s a lot of information that’s freely available including a lot from Statistics NZ.”

The Small Business Expo 2008 website has full details of the speakers and topics being covered in The National Bank Seminar Series. From the website, www.businessexpo.co.nz prospective attendees can:
- book exhibition space;
- purchase tickets online;
- pre-register for specific sessions of The National Bank Seminar Series;

ENDS

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