Wednesday 14 June 2017 – I had booked early to go to this event in the refurbished old Print Room that is part of the Echo Building in Bournemouth and seeing as it was the founder of the fashion brand Ted Baker, I was really looking forward to it. I am a bit of a tart when it comes to buying Ted Baker shirts in the sales. I still have unopened packets upon packets much to the annoyance of my other half.

His face is mostly blanked out in his photos, so I've done the same.

On the Ted Baker Instagram account I kept on seeing views from a hotel room overlooking Bournemouth and I didn’t quite get the connection. The room was filled with Ted Baker home furnishings but why from the Hilton in Bournemouth. Turns out the interior was designed by Ray Kelvin, the found of Ted Baker, who is also a majority shareholder of the company that built the hotel.

Following on from that, we found from the evening’s talk that the same company is also being the refurbished building that we were sate in – THIS Workspace. Ray Kelvin has indeed invested time and money into the area that he used to visit as a child.

In a nutshell, he truly is a London geezer rags to riches kind of guy. He ain’t no Karl Lagerfeld, nor would he remotely want to be one and hence the charm of the man all night. A straight-talking grafter who knows his craft, but also knows his figures meaning he runs a tight operation that is not over stretched with the corporate vanity of too wide a range of shops.

He talked about their work culture in the office and the fact that he hugs everyone, which came about due to an arthritic condition in his wrists. In fact, he spent the first 10 minutes talking to an audience member about it. The room was packed and they had to release another batch of tickets to cope with the demand. Now that the medication has made things better, as it stopped him shaking hands with people, the hugging practice continues.

He recognises that people will make mistakes along the way, but people are listened to if they come up with thought through ideas backed by research. However, you only get that opportunity if you “commit” and he stressed that many times.

If you are late to the office, you do press-ups!

When it comes to his shops, and now with his online campaigns, it’s all about the buying experience and not the selling. Woe betide any staff calling a potential customer “mate”. First thing to do before the shop opens, check the stock then you know what to push and what you don’t have to sell and be left with a broken promise.

Tales of his mother working in the shop and given staff her worldly experience were gems.

He really interacted with the audience, to such an extant that one person got an internship out of it, job offers verbally made, and tying different people/businesses in the room together.

It was a great evening and I got a pat on the shoulder and a fist bump right at the end. What’s not to love.

#loveted