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U.K. Chapter

Simon Morris, President

Final 2007 Event: Building High-Performing Teams
The fourth and final U.K. Chapter event of the year will be held on Thursday, November 29. The topic addressed at the event will be “Teams,” where participants will explore how high-performing teams can help to grow the services business. The meeting will take place at the offices of Festo in Northampton and will begin at 1 p.m. Member fee is £25; non-member fee is £55. Watch for further details and registration information in your e-mail and posted on the chapter Web site at www.afsmi.org.uk.

Special Conference at SME Held October 25
As in 2005 and 2006, the U.K. Chapter took over the Strategic Service Theatre during the afternoon of day two, October 25, at the Service Management Europe exhibition held at NEC in Birmingham. The afternoon kicked off with a reception in the VIP area of the show floor. The formal proceedings got underway at 1:30 p.m. with a welcome and introduction from chapter president Simon Morris. It was standing room only for the first session led by Professor Graham Clark from the Cranfield School of Management. Professor Clark delivered a thought-provoking presentation on the subject of “Developing Service Strategies.” The expected academic theory was well balanced with practical (and often amusing) examples, and the session was very well received.

Following up their presentation discussion at the AFSMI World Conference in Orlando, Stephanie Mart (organizational change and development executive) and Jonathan Clough (associate director, Voyager Solutions Ltd.) delivered an interesting presentation on the trial of implementing shared services at Rolls Royce PLC. Despite the fact that they had never seen Professor Clark’s presentation, much of the content provided practical illustrations of the theory that he had presented. It was the perfect foil to the previous presentation and an excellent learning experience.

The final session of the day was a presentation from Steve Downton on “The New AFSMI,” discussing with the audience some of the exciting developments taking place under the new AFSMI leadership. The level of interest in the growing Association was unprecedented, and feedback proves that the future looks bright for the Association and the chapter.

For more information on the chapter and its events, visit the chapter’s Web site www.afsmi.org.uk.