Business

Two-week Digital City Festival coming to Greater Manchester in 2021

The sprawling event is set to return in April - streaming live from MediaCityUK.

The Manc The Manc - 25th March 2021

A two-week event exploring ‘what it means to be a leading digital city’ is coming to Greater Manchester in 2021.

Digital City Festival will stream live from Salford in April – broadcasting a wide array of Q&As, roundtables, gigs and cultural exhibitions completely free of charge.

The event will also see the official launch of StreamGM – a creative platform that follows in the footsteps of United We Stream to showcase Manchester’s greatest talent.

Digital City Festival will be hosted on the Digital City Network live from Europe’s first ‘connected neighbourhood’ MediaCityUK.

The large-scale celebration will be produced by Badger & Combes – a team who worked on United We Stream – and underpinned by infrastructure from dock10.

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Discussions and showcases will cover digital infrastructure, skills and talent, inclusion, culture, innovation and more – with tracks for Tech, Marketing, eCommerce, Media and Culture.

Each track will see a range of specialists share their expertise and insights to create an all-round digital experience.

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The Digital City Network will also host this year’s Digital City Awards on April 19th – celebrating top talent in the industry and recognising the best individuals, teams, projects and platforms.

The network will remain open after the conclusion of the festival to allow organisations to keep connecting – utilising matchmaking functionality and other networking features.

Digital City Festival 2021 will run from April 12-23.

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The event’s Headline Partners are tech leader BJSS and international agency Dept, and its Lead Sponsors are iomart, MiQ and HOST; with the likes of Hootsuite, EY, Zip and Deloitte also involved.

Head over to the Digital City Festival website for more information on how to get involved.

Business

A look inside the brand-new M&S Trafford Centre ‘mega store’ as it finally opens its doors

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

It’s been a long time coming… but the brand-new M&S at the Trafford Centre has finally opened its doors to the public.

And the first look images of the place prove it’s just as swanky as we were expecting.

In case you hadn’t heard, after it was revealed all the way back in January that M&S would be relocating from its old unit and taking over the former Debenhams site inside the Greater Manchester shopping centre, the retailer’s brand-new Trafford Centre store welcomed its first customers yesterday.

The new ‘mega store’ officially threw open its doors yesterday (30 November) at 10am, and it’s all just in time for Christmas, so shoppers can get stuck in to buying all their festive food and gifts before the big day arrives.

The brand-new M&S at the Trafford Centre has finally opened its doors / Credit: Supplied

Having opened as part of M&S‘ ongoing plans and wider investment to regenerate vacant sites in major UK shopping centres, the new M&S Trafford Centre store spans across a whopping 98,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Promising shoppers “an even bigger and better store”, there’s huge new “spacious and stylish” Clothing, Home, and Beauty departments, as well as a brand-new M&S Cafe, and the star of the show being the all-new “market style” Food Hall – which stocks the full M&S Food range, and has “wider and brighter aisles”, with free designated car parking to make shopping “more convenient”.

Percy Pig was on-hand to welcome shoppers to the new store, with the first 200 customers through the door handed ‘golden tickets’.

Every golden ticket holder was guaranteed a win. whether that be a free bag of Percy Pigs, freshly-baked cookies from the new M&S Bakery, or something even bigger – with one lucky customer even bagging a £200 M&S voucher to take home.

It promises shoppers “an even bigger and better store” / Credit: Supplied

180 new jobs have been created by the opening of the new store, and staff at M&S’ former Trafford Centre store have also transferred over to the new location.

The store is led by Store Manager, Laura Smith, along with a team of 420 M&S colleagues.

Soaking up the opening day celebrations, Laura said: “We are thrilled to officially open our brand-new store in the Trafford Centre. The last few weeks have been so exciting for us all as we’ve seen the store take shape, and I’d like to thank everyone in the team for all their hard work to make sure everything is ready for our customers today.

“The store is an exciting investment in the future of M&S in Trafford, and I can’t wait for our customers to explore all the new features that the store has to offer.”

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The new M&S Trafford Centre store is now open from 8am-10pm Monday to Friday, 8am-9pm on Saturday, and 12-6pm on Sunday.

Featured Image – Supplied

Business

How to get 55 days off work in 2024 using only 25 days of annual leave

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Whether you can believe it or not, we’ll be getting ready to say welcome in December by this time next week.

And that also means in won’t be long before 2024 arrives either.

2023 has been quite the year, and with the working world getting ready to wind down for the festive season, many are no doubt already looking ahead to the new year, and planning all the holidays and time off work they want to book.

Fancy making the most of it though? For those looking to play their cards right and hack the system a little bit, travel insurance price comparison platform PayingTooMuch has worked out a way to secure yourself a whopping 55 days off work using just 25 days of your annual leave allowance – and it’s pretty impressive.

With most full-time employees who work a five-day week having a minimum of 28 days (5.6 weeks) of paid annual leave each year, travel experts at the company have figured out how these people can effectively double their time off in 2024.

Here’s how it works.

There’s a way to get 55 days off in 2024 using only 25 days of annual leave / Credit: Behnam Norouzi | Marissa Grootes (via Unsplash)

January

Saturday 30 December 2023 to Sunday 7 January 2024 – To extend your new year celebrations, you’ll want to book four days off at the start of the year for a total of nine days off.  

Easter

Saturday 23 March to Sunday 7 April – With Good Friday falling on 29 March next year, you can enjoy a long Easter break of 16 days by only booking eight days off.   

May

Saturday 4 May to Monday 12 May or Saturday 25 May to Sunday 2 June – Thanks to the two bank holidays in May, there’s two ways for you to enjoy nine days off in a row by only using four days of annual leave. 

August

Saturday 24 August to Sunday 1 September – Here you can book just four days off in August to gain nine days off for a summer holiday.

December

Saturday 21 December 2024 to Tuesday 1 January 2025 – To end the year on a high and give yourself the chance to properly enjoy the festive period with family and friends, you can book five days of annual leave to gain 12 days off in total.

There’s also loads of health-boosting benefits about taking time off from work / Credit: Towfiqu Barbhuiya (via Unsplash)

PayingTooMuch also spoke to Wellbeing Coach Lorna Wilkins to explore the health-boosting benefits of going on holiday and taking time off from work.

“One of the key health benefits of going on holiday is that it reduces stress,” Lorna explains.

“Having a break from your daily routine can make you feel more relaxed and therefore improve your mental wellbeing.

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“A change of environment and getting away from the pressures of day-to-day life not only helps you to clear your mind but can also help to improve your sleep quality as you’ll be feeling more relaxed.”

Featured Image – Jose Losada (via Unsplash)

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