Sparks, is the highly anticipated LSE Entrepreneurship Conference, it will welcome students from across the UK and Europe when this Thursday the 11th November, believe it or not it is entirely student-run. It will include lectures, panel discussions and networking sessions.

The Sparks team have organised an impressive variety of speakers, including several LSE alumni. The conference is set to host a rich mix of successful entrepreneurs and businessmen, all leaders in their respective fields. The day includes four keynote speakers and two panel-discussions; main speakers include Edward Wray, the founder and Chairman of Betfair; Lord Karan Bilimoria the founder of Cobra Beer; John Bird MBE, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue and Mike Clare, the founder of Dreams.

“Our goal is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs with the successful creation of a major annual event organized by students in cooperation with the LSE Entrepreneurs Society” – Sparks@LSE.

All conference attendees receive a free membership card to the 1eat Student Dining Club, which gives students discounts of up to 50% at hundreds of restaurants in London. Attendees will also be provided breakfast, lunch and refreshments throughout the day and welcome packs filled with freebies.

For further information and to purchase tickets, visit: http://www.sparkslse.com/

The conference is being held at the prestigious Freemason’s Hall. This venue has been the principal meeting place for Freemasons in London for 235 years!

The building has been used recently for the filming of the TV shows Spooks and Hustle and films including: Johnny English, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Sherlock Holmes.

The Sparks team have said that all profits will be donated to the Microloan Foundation which provides women in Sub-Saharan Africa with small loans to help them establish and run their own entrepreneurial businesses.

This is a great event coming up to the end of the year, highly affordable and look at that roster of speakers, YHP hopes to see you there, get your last minute tickets here

TEDx is Coming to Sheffield

September 9, from 1.30pm – 6pm

TEDx is an annual event where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to spread ideas worth sharing. The theme for the Sheffield TEDx is “Not Business As Usual” and it will focus on entrepreneurship. This is a great event for hard working business professionals who need new insights to recharge their business. Get full details at TEDxSheffield.com.

How to Make a Million Before Lunch

September 9, from 6pm – 7.30pm

Presented by Rachel Bridge – Enterprise Editor, The Sunday Times September 9, from 6pm – 7.45pm
Rachel Bridge is a writer, journalist and public speaker specialising in entrepreneurship, start ups and growing businesses. She is the Enterprise Editor of The Sunday Times newspaper and has written three books about successful entrepreneurs: How I Made It, My Big Idea, and You Can Do It Too. As part of the MADE Festival, Rachel will be performing her one-woman show, HOW TO MAKE A MILLION BEFORE LUNCH. This is a great event for those who want to laugh and gain new insight into entrepreneurial thinking at the same time. Get full details at MadeFestival.com.

MADE IN 48 Hours

September 10 + 11

School for Startups Doug Richard, Andrew Davis & Joost de Valk September 10 & 11 from 8am to 7pm
We will be running a 2-Day course in launching a business online and how every aspect of your business is changed by leveraging the connectivity provided by the web. This practical/tactical hands-on course happens September 10 & 11 and its perfect for business owners that currently have no web presence and for those who have a website that fails to engage customers or close sales. Get full details at SchoolforStartups.co.uk.

BUY TICKETS

Want to receive £30 off your ticket? Simply enter the discount code PASSPORT when ordering your ticket.

*Please note: limited availability on the TEDx and Rachel Bridge events, they are first come first served.

MADE in 48 Hours Event Speakers

Andrew Davis is one of the UK’s leading social media strategists, trainers and entrepreneurs. He started his career at digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra, before he was headhunted by Myspace.com to help launch its UK arm in Marketing and Content. His extensive work in community development and digital marketing led to his inclusion in the Guardian newspaper’s 2007 ‘Minority Report’, a shortlist of the Top 30 most important ethnic minority contributors to the British media. Andrew’s continued success for MySpace was again noticed the following year, when he became the only entrant to make it into the list for both Media Week’s ’30 under 30′ (a rundown of the industry’s younger and most talented media individuals in the UK) and Broadcast magazine’s ‘Hot Shots’ (a selection of media insiders tipped for future success).

Joost de Valk is a seasoned online marketer with a world class reputation for Web Development and SEO. Over the last 5 years he has been a regular speaker on this subject at all of the major industry events. Joost has worked with a long list of clients ranging from large corporates, such as eBay, Conrad Electronic and Salesforce.com, to smaller web based ventures. He continues to contribute to several Open Source projects including WebKit, the core of browsers like Safari and Chrome, and WordPress. He has written over 20 plugins for WordPress which, combined, have had more than 2.5 million downloads. Recently Joost developed QuixApp.com – a powerful browser tool that has been featured on hundreds of websites including Mashable, Lifehacker and Web Worker Daily. He is a co-host of the weekly WordPress podcast, WP-Community, where he converses with luminaries like Pete Cashmore of Mashable and Matt Cutts, head of web spam at Google.

For Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs

Date: Tues 2 Feb – Wed 3 Feb 2010
Location: Central London

Hosted and sponsored on location by Reed Smith LLP and BDO LLP

Doing it Right London is a programme where exceptional entrepreneurs enhance their company’s ability to attract funding and cultivate invaluable relationships.

Through candid discussions led by local investors and seasoned entrepreneurs, Doing it Right increases participants’ understanding of the current state of investment as well as what it takes to succeed in a high-growth enterprise.

Email us to find out if you might qualify or register today for open sessions.

50% discount for University Enterprise Club/Society members! Use the code ‘ASTIAstudent’.

Astia Highlights

Astia is a global non-profit organisation that provides innovative programmes to exceptional women-led start-ups. Head-quartered in San Francisco, Astia delivers programmes for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, New York, London and, from later this year, India. Astia is well positioned to work with start-ups around the world as they access capital, grow their businesses, and develop the leadership of the founding team.

The Astia model of engaging a community of experts to the benefit of the select start-ups it serves has resulted in an exceptional success rate; since 2003:
· Presenting companies have raised over $600 million
· Greater than 55% of the presenting companies at Astia Investor Forums have achieved funding or an exit within one year of the program
· 16 presenting companies have secured an exit, including 2 IPOs