A rare day out, mixing with colleagues and the stars!

My first entry for a few days. Been a bit busy you know!

Whilst not wishing to bore the reader with what's keeping me busy, I will say what I did yesterday.

On a rare day out for me, I went along to my Network's annual conference, which was held in west London. On a bitterly cold day, I had already decided that I'd go by my motorbike, (eco-friendly and free parking!) which after a few miles I regretted to my frozen-to-the-bone legs! I really must get some better cold weather gear.

Amongst all the information delivery that is the norm at such an event, we had two guest speakers. The first was the new Dragon in the Den, James Caan. He was a very good speaker, and he told us how he made his millions, and the process he went through. Effectively, when he starts a business, he writes down all the attributes that business should have. He then looks at that list, and thinks what name it would have if it were a person. That's why his businesses are named with real names and not corporate names. He even said he'd chosen his own name that way!

In the afternoon, we were definitely entertained by Ian Robertson, the BBC rugby correspondent (he of the Scottish accent), who gave us a quick- fire round up of anecdotes as a preparation to him interviewing the other guest speaker, Lawrence Dallaglio, who has won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and was a Final loser in 2007. Lawrence likened the sports world to the business world in many ways, and he nearly gave us the 'truth' about what he really thought about Will Carling, but then added "I'll tell you what I really think in the bar afterwards" which raised a good laugh.

We also heard from the CEO of New Star investment managers, John Duffield. Whilst giving us his very considered opinion on the current investment climate, and how it relates to the housing market, he did say that the current price of shares should not reflect the pessimism of the buyer. Everyone knows that it is best to buy shares when the price is depressed and stock such as house builders now represent half the purchase price they did a year or so ago. (This does not constitute investment advice, by the way!) He also said that the stock market is traditionally half a cycle ahead of the economy, which is an interesting indicator for the laymen. He also said that currently it is quite possible that the economy is going to come down, and therefore it is an excellent time to invest. John Duffield founded Jupiter Asset Management in 1985 and built it into one of the UK's most successful retail fund management businesses. Within 15 years, Jupiter's funds under management grew to £14 billion and the company attracted approximately one million investment accounts. In the five years before he left Jupiter in 2000 it received more than 100 investment awards. He then went onto start New Star, which has won many awards for its marketing since it's inception. Not bad for an investment company.

Today, it's back to my desk and on with the work.