The Importance of Face-to-Face Pitch Events

“We invest in the entrepreneur presenters, so reading their body language and how they respond to questions is critical.” Says Don McQueen Chairman of Dorset Business Angels (DBA), giving just one of many reasons, why he is so pleased to welcome back face-to-face events. The next event is on 4th October in Bournemouth. Don continues, “face to face interaction on the night, with the presenting pitching company and investors, is incredibly valuable for angel investors.”

Opportunity to share investment ideas – meeting like-minded people

Max Wright, DBA Director, and an active angel investor says, “I am really looking forward to discussing with other angel investors, their activities over the last months. To explore the mood of the markets.” Similarly, Steve Royffe DBA Director, and Chartered Certified Accountant comments that “online networking is fine, but the 4th October pitch event allows many opportunities for face to face private conversations on a wide variety of topics.”

We’re here for the long term! Stronger more meaningful relationships

Peter Eales, GM and one of the founder directors adds “we’ve been doing face-to-face events since 1st May 2012, so nearly 10 years now. DBA has tried various formats, we endeavour to be innovative – to practice what we preach!” What is key, is to continue to grow our networks, subscribers and members. Zoom, video, website and communications to everybody are critical but central to activity will always be personal relationships. A study by Forbes Insight, showed in-person meetings build stronger, more meaningful relationships – while video is more convenient.  Another study by the Harvard Review shows 95% of people say face-to-face meetings are a key factor in successfully building and maintaining long-term business relationships.

It’s a People Business

Last word to DBA Vice-Chairman Frank Guinn. “I have been angel investing for many years. In recent years there have been new ideas such as crowd-funding, or bitcoin. And new technology aids such as Zoom. But business still comes down to people, solving problems with great ideas. And you cannot do that at arm’s length! That’s why I love what we do at DBA.”

Come along to the Dorset Business Angels pitch event on 4th October, register here.

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Our Pitch Events

There are four pitch events per year, in 2024 they will be held in February, May, September and November. Hosted at a Bournemouth hotel or virtually via Zoom.

At each pitch event, there will be 5 business presentation pitches of 10-15 minutes, to suit all investor appetites. These will be selected by the Dorset Business Angels directors nearer to the event. Short summaries will be posted to our Events page and distributed via our newsletter ahead of the event. Each pitch includes a Q&A session and is followed by an investor debate, held privately.

These pitches and our other social events are ideal opportunities for networking and learning about what is new and trending in a variety of industries. If you would like to be involved you can find out more on our Investors Membership page.

Our Next Pitch Event

Takes place on May 20th 2024 and is open to Members and High Net Worth/Sophisticated Investors from our wider community. 

Registration will be open soon.

2024 Events

May 20th - Pitch event

September 30th - Lead Investor Workshop & Pitch Event
*The workshop is available to book now.

November 25th - Pitch event