David Devant, one of the founders of the Magic Circle back at the start of the last century, is a bit of a hero of mine. I named this company after him back in 2003, loving his motto “All done by kindness”. So you can imagine what a thrill it was to be allowed into the Devant Room at the Magic Circle in London, to have my photo taken with a life-sized bronze of the man himself.

I was there thanks to Mark Lee, a good friend of mine and fellow professional speaker, at a party to celebrate Mark’s birthday. Mark’s speaking combines magic with how to stand out in the world of accountancy and professional services – maybe an even more unlikely pairing than magic and contracts!

Winter time brings dark evenings and chilly days so it’s great to have a sprinkling of fairy dust and sparkle! I wish you and yours every happiness over the festive period and beyond, and hope your New Year is, like David Devant’s magical career, filled with kindness.

Gird your loins – GDPR is getting closer…

You’re probably sick of emails telling you to prepare for GDPR. I get several a day! There’s lots of fear, uncertainty and doubt in the business world about what we need to do to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations before they come into force in May 2018.

I wish I could say you shouldn’t worry, it’ll all be a storm in a teacup. But the rattling of sabres from our own Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO.org.uk) suggests otherwise. If all you’ve done about GDPR so far is worry, then the New Year is a great time to make a positive start on your preparations.

If you’ve been complying properly with the Data Protection Act 1998, or if you’re ISO27001 compliant, you won’t have a huge amount of work to do. Unfortunately, lots of us have just been paying ‘lip service’ to data protection for the last nearly 30 years, and we won’t be able to get away with it under GDPR!

Like everything, GDPR looks massive and scary when you don’t have a plan. To be honest, even when you do have a plan, it’s still a bit scary. But at least you know you’re making progress, which is better than the cold dread of having shoved all those GDPR emails into a folder, where they’ll wait until you “get around to it…” If you don’t know where to start, we can help.

Devant has teamed up with isms.online to combine their collaborative online GDPR management platform with our legal and commercial knowledge. We’ve started the process with our own GDPR compliance, and are helping several clients work towards theirs. Get in touch and we can help you put one foot in front of the other to ensure you don’t need to panic when 25th May 2018 arrives.

Polish up your contract skills!

We’ve shaken up our public training for 2018, with two new 2-day courses aimed at meeting the specific needs we’re asked for most often in our in-house training. If your team reviews, amends, prepares or negotiates commercial contracts or statements of work, take a look.

There’s an early-bird discount worth £100 off each course if you book fast. Use:
1. 2D03DC for Reviewing, Understanding and Amending Commercial Contracts and Statements of Work (March 2018), and
2. 2D04DC for Negotiating Commercial Contracts and Statements of Work (April 2018).

I’m off to the Antipodes …

A couple of months ago, I was thrilled to be appointed as the President for the Professional Speaking Association of the UK and Ireland. During my year in this amazing role, I’m visiting each region of the PSA, sharing my new keynote (Building Resilience through Everyday Adventure) and meeting the members and Regional Presidents. In February, I’m honoured to be representing PSA UK&I at the Global Speaking Summit in Auckland, New Zealand. It should be a fantastic event.

To make the most of my time in the Antipodes, I’m also visiting Australia and Singapore. If you know of a team that could benefit from sharpening up their commercial contracting and negotiation skills, learning about collaborative contracting, or building their personal resilience to help them perform better in and out of the office, do put them in touch. I have a couple of days in each location available for master-classes and talks, and would be delighted to help out if I can!