Harrogate’s first free digital community hub… #HarrogateDigital

We did it!!! On the 6th August we saw 100 local businesses, Harrogate Council, Harrogate Chamber of Commerce AND Google come together at the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate to launch ELS Media’s community not-for-profit event, #HarrogateDigital.

Here at ELS Media, we conjured up this crazy idea of bringing world wide digital market leaders to the small leafy town of Harrogate, as a way to support and develop the digital knowledge of our local community whilst raising much needed funds for Saint Michael’s Hospice, a charity which is extremely close to the hearts of the ELS team.

After several months of discussions, hassling, begging and persuading, we finally got the biggest yes, from the biggest search engine in the world, Google!

It was fantastic to see so many local businesses come together, from so many different industries all for the same reason and our first #HarrogateDigital event was launched and a huge success!

The 100 local businesses, all got an exclusive insight in to how to use Google to benefit and drive their business forward digitally, giving them a unique advantage, setting their businesses apart from their competitors.

ELS Media, along with generous support and sponsorship from Berwins Digital, specialists in digital law and Inter-vention, specialist in IT recruitment, provided this rare opportunity free of charge and not-for-profit, to focus on raising as much money as possible for St Michael’s Hospice.

A few words used by attendees to describe ELS Media’s, #HarrogateDigital

Harrogate

Advanced- Harrogate Financial Planning

Relevant – Harrogate Things

Resourceful – High Vision Photography

Outgoing – StruggyTax

Good – Steve Pepper Training

Advantageous – Smithers

Trusted – Google

Educational – G23

Digital

Interesting – Inter-Vention

Ground Breaking – StruggyTax

Informative – Inter-Vention

Thoughtful- 247 Nursing

Awarding – St Michael’s Hospice

Local – Pop Up Bars

On the evening of the event, not only was it a success for ELS Media, #HarrogateDigital, our sponsors and attendees. It was also a huge success for St Michael’s Hospice.

Chief Executive of Saint Michael’s, Tony Collins, said:

“We are delighted to have been involved in this event and would like to thank ELS Media for this opportunity and all their wonderful support. It is thanks to contributions, such as this, that we can ensure more people living with terminal illness and their families can make the most of their time together.”

On the night, St Michael’s Hospice sold over 150 raffle tickets, with two companies showing interest in their Business 500 Club, and one of our sponsors going on to support the hospice, as a direct result of the #HarrogateDigital event. Plus several other companies and individuals offering donations and volunteering at the hospice.

So what next for ELS Media & #HarrogateDigital…

Going forward, here at ELS Media, we intend to develop the #HarrogateDigital concept into Harrogate’s first one stop digital hub.

We want to create an interactive digital space, where the business community of Harrogate can share digital queries, questions and knowledge, all supported by expert and trusted advice from local digital firms, for free.

On the back of the success of our first event, and the following #HarrogateDigital has gained over the passed couple of months, we are in talks with some of the other digital giants, and will be asking our #HarrogateDigitalists, what they want from the next event, to make sure we are making the events as current, relevant and successful as our first event.

To keep the vision going please do spread the word about our #HarrogateDigital events and hub on Twitter by using #HarrogateDigital / @ELSmedia, so the entire community can reap the benefits. Visit www.harrogatedigital.com for further information and future events.

Many thanks to all those, who helped us make, #HarrogateDigital the success it was. Special thanks to our sponsors Berwins Digital and Inter-vention and also Dan at Hedonist Drinks, Jase at Ont’Sofa, Jaye at JSAV, Sean at High Vision photography, and all the #HarrogateDigitalists for attending.

Check out photos from the event on our ELS Media Facebook page – #HarrogateDigital

We look forward to growing our #HarrogateDigitalist family and community.