A NEW festival of ideas featuring podcasting superstars Steven Bartlett and Elizabeth Day is aiming to bring over 3,000 people to Aberdeen City Centre in 2023.
Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) is launching the Ultimate Masterclass Festival (UMF) next year as part of a six-figure investment in Union Street and the surrounding area.
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The events – to be held throughout the year and across five city centre venues – will feature three internationally acclaimed best-selling authors, as well as business experts across a number of disciplines.
They include Hollywood social media strategist, Brendan Kane, who went from zero to one million Instagram followers in just 30 days and wrote a best-selling book about it.
He counts Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Ikea among his clients and is jetting in from Chicago for an exclusive dinner with 300 guests at The Chester Hotel in February.
In May, The Tivoli Theatre will host a special evening with Elizabeth Day, author of ‘How to Fail’, which has gone on to become one of the UK’s most popular podcasts.
The journalist, author and screen writer will explore her own experiences and how when she removed both the fear and ego, saw failure very differently.
And headlining the festival at The Music Hall in October will be Steven Bartlett, star of television’s Dragon’s Den and one of the world’s most famous and respected entrepreneurs today.
After starting a £400million social media marketing company from his bedroom in Manchester, Steven now acts as a speaker, investor, author and content creator, and hosts Europe’s most downloaded business podcast, ‘The Diary of a CEO’.
AGCC is investing a significant six figure sum in the festival with the events being held in the city centre as part of efforts to repopulate Union Street with businesses and people.
Ryan Crighton, Policy & Marketing Director at AGCC, said: “We’re bringing together some of the brightest business minds and giving them a platform to share the secrets of their success.
“Why? We want to inspire our business community with new thinking and new ideas to grow our region’s economy. UMF will be a series of business masterclasses held by experts in their respective field, designed to enlighten and empower anyone looking for business or personal growth.
“Backed by the Chamber leadership, this programme has been designed entirely by staff within the organisation, who have been given creative licence to build a series of events that the region can be proud of.”
Other events in the series include a messaging masterclass from a communication director who worked in the UK Government during Brexit and the CV19 pandemic, and a marketing masterclass with the brains behind the vegan sausage roll launch which enraged Piers Morgan.
There will also be a masterclass with the advertising agency behind Irn Bru’s infamous ‘fanny’ campaign, and many of the other edgy adverts we see on our screens.
To view all masterclasses and book tickets at umf.events. Tickets for the Brendan Kane dinner are available now, while tickets for Steven Bartlett and Elizabeth Day will go on sale on December 9th at 09.00.