THE second year of Thrive Yorkshire - Business Growth Conference, held in Ilkley last week, has been hailed a great success by delegates and exhibitors - despite the keynote speaker having to pull out at the last minute as she gave birth to twins early.

Award winning business woman Kate Hardcastle had been due to deliver a speech entitled ‘How to put the #OOMPH into your business’ at the event held at The Craiglands Hotel on Thursday, but instead found herself welcoming twins Martha and Jude into the world.

Kate has already promised her attendance as keynote speaker for Thrive 2016.

Chris Allen from Blacks Law stepped into the role of keynote speaker and was received enthusiastically by delegates with his talk on ‘How a small business can use social media to its advantage’.

Chris said: “It was great to meet so many local businesses and the feedback has been terrific. #Thrive15 provided a wide range of subjects and discussion points for delegates. I hope you will repeat the event next year."

The event heavily subsidised and sponsored by the Ilkley Business Forum and was attended by over 130 people.

Feedback from delegates included: “Chris Allen was a fantastic speaker, motivating, inspiring and hilarious too!”; “Inspirational speakers”; “Being able to hear people who had 'walked the talk' and could empathise with an SME was great” and “the leads generated and the raised profile made it overall good learning and good value for us”.

The event was opened by Chris Ives co-founder of the Ilkley Brewery who told the company's story from start-up, through growth and beyond.

The event also included a Q&A session about ‘Positive Image’ led by Tina Boden, co-founder of Enterprise Rockers with A Level students from Ilkley Grammar School.

John Comiskey ,head of business and economics at the school said: "The conference has been a terrific opportunity for Ilkley Grammar students to see the variety of businesses in the Yorkshire region. The curriculum links to branding and marketing in the presentation, have enabled students to really see how these principles operate in the community".

With interest already in exhibiting for 2016, Thrive Yorkshire is set to become even bigger and better over the years. The date and venue will be confirmed shortly.

For more information on exhibiting in 2016, contact info@thriveyorkshire.co.uk. For more information on the Ilkley Business Forum visit ilkleybusinessforum.co.uk