About SheffEX

The story behind the event

The idea for a Sheffield focussed business exhibition came about out of frustration that as a city we always seem to be behind the curve when it comes to promoting ourselves to ourselves.

We’re all familiar with that old Little Mesters psyche that runs through the heart and soul of every true and adopted Sheffielder – one for all and each man for himself (thanks to Blackadder for that line). We like keeping our head down and just getting on with things, but sometimes we need to shout out just how fabulous the city and it’s business community is.

It’s all very well for those brilliant and well known local companies – they are big and ugly enough to look after themselves and get their sales and PR teams out there to promote their business. However, there are a lot of other firms that don’t have the time, or sometimes the cash, to make a splash. We wanted something that works for them too. Size shouldn’t be a barrier to playing a part in the local business community.

We’ve sunk gallons of coffee putting the world to rights in coffee shops and board rooms around the city, but after a while it was obvious that we’d better just do something about it. SheffEX was born!

We decided to make it easy for anyone to get involved so it had to be cheap – really cheap. Not more than a grand to exhibit was the message that came back from the people we spoke to. Free entry for visitors would make sure as many people as possible attend.

Make it independent was the other thing that we picked up on. There’s no angle being pushed at SheffEX except business.

What else? Have it in a central location with easy parking. We started in the sports hall at Ponds Forge, and after the first 4 events we moved to the more salubrious surroundings of the Holiday inn Royal Victoria Hotel, conveniently positioned at the end of Parkway with plenty of on site parking and excellent public transport links.

There you have it then, SheffEX from the inside out, though we’d still love to hear any ideas you might have to make it a better event. We hope that you’ll register today and look forward to meeting you on the day.

The idea for a Sheffield focussed business exhibition came about out of frustration that as a city we always seem to be behind the curve when it comes to promoting ourselves to ourselves.

We’re all familiar with that old Little Mesters psyche that runs through the heart and soul of every true and adopted Sheffielder – one for all and each man for himself (thanks to Blackadder for that line). We like keeping our head down and just getting on with things, but sometimes we need to shout out just how fabulous the city and it’s business community is.

It’s all very well for those brilliant and well known local companies – they are big and ugly enough to look after themselves and get their sales and PR teams out there to promote their business. However, there are a lot of other firms that don’t have the time, or sometimes the cash, to make a splash. We wanted something that works for them too. Size shouldn’t be a barrier to playing a part in the local business community.

We’ve sunk gallons of coffee putting the world to rights in coffee shops and board rooms around the city, but after a while it was obvious that we’d better just do something about it. SheffEX was born!

We decided to make it easy for anyone to get involved so it had to be cheap – really cheap. Not more than a grand to exhibit was the message that came back from the people we spoke to. Free entry for visitors would make sure as many people as possible attend.

Make it independent was the other thing that we picked up on. There’s no angle being pushed at SheffEX except business.

What else? Have it in a central location with easy parking. We started in the sports hall at Ponds Forge, and after the first 4 events we moved to the more salubrious surroundings of the Holiday inn Royal Victoria Hotel, conveniently positioned at the end of Parkway with plenty of on site parking and excellent public transport links.

There you have it then, SheffEX from the inside out, though we’d still love to hear any ideas you might have to make it a better event. We hope that you’ll register today and look forward to meeting you on the day.