At the start of March, Sussex Innovation Centre took part in the Spring Forward Festival, by putting on an interactive workshop called ‘Make Your Ideas Happen’. I was really keen to be involved in Spring Forward, as it is a fantastic opportunity to run an event for women with an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. The festival is “a month-long celebration of the role of women in digital culture”, which takes place in Brighton throughout March. Now in its third year, Spring Forward has grown from strength to strength, with 14 diverse events aimed at women.

Simon and I ran the first event on the programme, ‘Make Your Ideas Happen’, on 2nd March. During the two-hour evening session, we explored the ways in which you can develop and test an idea for a business or social enterprise, using principles from the Lean Startup. We then introduced the group to the Business Model Canvas, giving them the chance to try it out on their own idea. The atmosphere was fantastic – everyone got really stuck in and there were some fantastic conversations around the room.

2016 Spring Forward SINC 2

For us, it was exciting to be able to deliver a session to a totally new group of people, and we hope that everyone was able to take something away from the evening to help them pursue their ideas.

Nina, one of our attendees gave us some lovely feedback after the workshop:

“It was a really great session. I learnt so much about the practicalities of getting started on an idea and I felt so inspired by the energy in the room. Really appreciate all the time you and Simon put into planning it.”

I hope that we can take part again next year, as we really enjoyed it. We’d like to thank the Spring Forward organisers, as well as the venue sponsors Clearleft and 68 Middle Street, and photographer Lauren Psyk.