“Hot on the heels of Beijing 2008, there was no time to waste as London gears up to host the greatest show on earth,” said Mash Media publisher Roisin Sullens. “Small and medium-sized businesses in the meetings and events industry are crying out for advice from the authorities on how to get involved and win a slice of the business action. That is why Mash Media, in conjunction with R3 Events, decided to launch this series of conferences and events.

”A broad range of presentations included a keynote from chief executive of London Business Network, London First, Mike Mulvey. He ran through the official mechanism in place for handling tenders for Olympic contracts via the CompeteFor website at: www.london2012.com/business

“In its simplest form,” Mulvey explained, “it is a kind of speed dating opportunity for buyers and suppliers”.

CompeteFor is an organisation designed to publicise new business opportunities with the London 2012 supply chain and feeds into the Business Link and regional development agency networks outside London.

“There is a team of 13 on the buyer engagement team and small private companies are invited to register and go for some of the contracts available,” said Mulvey. Many of these contracts are ‘trickle down’ sub-contracts from some of the Tier 1 suppliers like the construction companies of major Olympic infrastructure builds such as the Aquatics Centre.

There were some case studies presented by companies who had actually won business via the CompeteFor Website which gave delegates a practical insight into how to go about it.

“The audience was an interesting mix of venues, event organisers and suppliers to the meetings industry,” said R3 Events’ Rory Ross Russell. “We were delighted with the size and the quality of the audience. With a series launch of this nature you tend to get a pretty strong signal as to whether the event concept ‘has legs’ and this one looks to have the thighs of a tree trunk.

“There was a real buzz about the meeting as delegates actively sought contacts and information on how they can get in a position to benefit from the Games in 2012 - either in an official or non-official capacity.

Ross Russell added: “Judging by some of the statistics predicted by the morning speakers, there is a phenomenal amount of business for companies of any type or size in the meetings industry to go after, and although delegates were seated side by side with their direct competitors, there was real sense of being in this together, and a refreshing openness about the discussions.”