Festival Programme

Joanna is founder and CEO of futures agency, TrendBible. She advises some of the world’s most recognised retailers, brands and organisations, helping them to understand what life at home will be like in the future.

With 20 years experience, Joanna is regularly cited as an authority on trends by The Independent, BBC Radio 4 and the Financial Times.

Born and raised in the North East, Steven is the founder and “head honcho” at The Weird and The Wonderful, an Artist Management company representing a wide range of musical acts from across the globe.

Steven has experienced some amazing successes during his time in the music industry, touring in 45+ countries, multiple awards and the pinnacle of which was guiding his artist and friend, KDA, to #1 in the UK chart, besting One Direction to the coveted spot.

Storytelling – a superpower for business owners?

Drawing on his personal experience as a business owner, Andrew will demonstrate what it means to tell a better story, one that educates and inspires people to buy your product, service or idea. His session will focus on 3 themes: what you say, how you say it and how you sell yourself in the process. You’ll learn how to deliver an intriguing elevator pitch, a compelling presentation, a reassuring case study and an amusing anecdote. Expect a highly practical and entertaining session from ‘the Multi-Story Man’.

Andrew Thorp is an award-winning speaker, trainer and consultant in the field of business storytelling. He works with senior leaders, business owners and professionals to help them connect and persuade by telling a more compelling story. This starts with developing a narrative which does justice to both the individual and the organisation they represent. He helps to humanise and ‘storify’ what can otherwise be a dry, factual message, something he describes as ‘Verbal PR’.

An award-winning entrepreneur with North East start-up successes to her name, Lizzy’s path to the life she knows today has not been without its difficulties. Having fought depression and anxiety, Lizzy now shares her enormously ambitious and passionate stance on positive wellbeing and mental health.

Lizzy raised her profile through the North East and beyond with her first business, The Sweet Beet, which she sold in 2019 and her position as co-founder and CEO of Discova, a mental health support application awarded over £300k from Innovate UK.

Impossibrew, a 0.5% alcohol beer developed by plant scientists that aficionados are awarding five stars to for the beer’s malt and biscuit flavours.

Throughout the process Mark says he learned one important thing – that he needed to learn lots more about actually running a business: “I heard about DABS through an e-news piece on entrepreneurs and got in touch to see what help I could get from them. I have absolutely no business background and founds DABS offered good programmes, online training and network events. I particularly like these events because everyone is very helpful and generous in sharing their experiences – what worked for them and what didn’t.”