**STOP PRESS**
The early-bird 10% discount has been extended until the 28th of January. Book here now.
Tickets for the new-look Voice11, the UK’s biggest social enterprise event, go on sale today. Entry prices to the Social Enterprise Coalition’s annual event have been reduced with smaller SEC members enjoying the biggest reductions. A 10% discount is also being offered on all earlybird bookings made on or before 15th January 2011.
Voice11 will take place on 29th and 30th March at the prestigious London venue The O2, the first time Voice has been held in the capital. Voice is already a well-established event, but from now on it will have a dramatically different look and feel. The plenary programme has been scaled back in favour of a programme that will take place simultaneously across zones including the Young social enterprise zone ; Start your social enterprise zone; Grow your social enterprise zone; Move to social enterprise zone ; Membership zone (with a speakers corner and twitter forest) and the O2 Stage in the middle of it all. Each zone is tailored to meet the needs of a different part of the social enterprise movement. They will offer delegates the chance to seek advice, ask questions, showcase their business, make new connections and meet investors.
Peter Holbrook, CEO of the Social Enterprise Coalition said: “Our Voice events have long been a must-attend in the social enterprise calendar and Voice11 is shaping up to be the best yet. It will be the biggest social enterprise event the UK – and we’re pretty sure the world – has ever seen. Our plans for a revamp will ensure that the event offers something for everyone.
The support of O2 has provided us with an amazing space in which to create a vibrant marketplace for people working in or interested in social enterprise. We want to see lots of business and networking being done and with delegates enjoying lower ticket prices we believe Voice11 offers real value for money.”
The winners of the Social Enterprise Awards will be announced on 30th March and an evening reception will take place at The O2 as part of Voice11. The awards celebrate best practice within the social enterprise community, recognising innovative and inspiring businesses. Applications are open until 18 January.
To find out more about Voice11 and the Social Enterprise Awards, visit www.socialenterprise.org.uk
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Notes to Editors
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact the Social Enterprise Coalition press office on 020 7793 2286 / 2318 (out of hours 07967 586489).
O2 press office: t +44 (0)1753 565656
The Social Enterprise Coalition (www.socialenterprise.org.uk) is the UK’s national body for social enterprise. The Coalition represents a wide range of social enterprises, regional and national support networks and other related organisations. We work with our members to inform the national policy agenda, showcase the benefits of social enterprise, and share best practice.
Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purposes in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. There are 62,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing over £20 billion to the economy and employing nearly a million people.
About O2
Telefónica O2 UK Limited is a leading communications company for consumers and businesses in the UK, with 21.4million mobile customers and over 600,000 broadband customers as at 31 March 2010.
Telefónica O2 UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc, a business division of Telefónica S.A. which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic, and has 53.9 million customers across these markets.
In 2006 Telefónica Europe acquired Be, the UK fixed broadband provider, and in October 2007 O2 launched its broadband service using the Be network.
O2 is the naming rights partner of The O2, the world-class entertainment venue.
O2 employs around 13,000 people in the UK and has 490 retail stores.
O2 was ranked highest in customer satisfaction for both UK mobile and fixed broadband customers according to the J.D. Power and Associates UK Mobile and Fixed Broadband Studies 2010.
O2 Home Broadband came top in 10 out of 11 categories in the uSwitch Broadband Customer Satisfaction Awards 2010.
O2’s UK mobile network covers 99% of the UK’s population. O2’s 3G network covers over 84% of the UK population and is fully HSDPA-enabled, providing speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps for customers with an HSDPA-enabled device.
Telefónica Europe also owns 50% of Tesco Mobile, which operates in the UK and Ireland, and 50% of Tchibo Mobilfunk in Germany.
For information about O2 go to www.o2.co.uk/news