Curious Conversations • Yorkshire

Business learning over a cuppa

A monthly gathering for curious business leaders. Real stories, candid talks, and ideas worth taking back to your desk.

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Next: 15 Oct
Next Event

Why do intelligent leaders sometimes make poor decisions?

Thursday, 15 October 2026 • 09:00 • Everyman, Harrogate.

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Upcoming Events

A key theme every month and guest experts.

Every third Thursday of the month • 09:00-11:00 • Everyman, Harrogate.

About the series

More than networking.

Running a business can leave little time to step back, meet different people and discover new ways of thinking.

Connect Over a Cuppa gives you two hours each month to do exactly that – hear an honest business story, make useful connections and leave with ideas and perspectives you can take back into your own business.

Learn

Every month, hear how other leaders have tackled challenges you may be facing yourself.

Connect

Build genuine relationships with business people you might not otherwise meet.

Reflect

Step away from the day-to-day and think about what the conversation means for your business.

Grow

Take away an idea, connection or question that could help you move your business forward.

MONTHLY • YORKSHIRE

“The events I’d want to attend”

Edward Ryder • Founder

Upcoming events

Join us next.

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Next event – 15th October

Why do intelligent business leaders sometimes make poor business decisions?

  • Thursday, 15 October 2026
  • 09:00 – 11:00
  • Everyman, Harrogate

Speaker: Keith Rice

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event • NOVEMBER 2026

From corporate career to outdoor entrepreneur

  • Thursday, 19 November 2026
  • 09:00 – 11:00
  • Everyman, Harrogate

Speaker: Emma Shipley

Event details
event • DECEMBER 2026

Taking the Lead: Building the Next Chapter of an Established Business

  • Thursday, 17 December 2026
  • 09:00 – 11:00
  • Everyman, Harrogate

Speaker: Phil Lyons

Event details
Themes we explore

Ideas that matter to your business.

Whatever stage your business is at, there will always be something that needs your attention – people, growth, customers, leadership, technology, risk or simply deciding what comes next. Each month we explore a different challenge, giving you fresh thinking, practical experience and the opportunity to consider what it could mean for your own business.

01

Leadership & the science of being human

02

The craft of leading a business

03

Sustainability in practice

04

Neuroscience & business behaviour

05

The energy of a team

06

Strategy meets founder stories

07

AI & the future of work

08

Marketing & building an audience

09

Social enterprise & cooperatives

10

Curiosity, reinvention & growth

11

Authenticity at work

12

Innovation & emerging practice

Past speakers

People who’ve shared their story with us.

SM

Sue Moul

CFO to multiple businesses across Yorkshire

ST

Simone Talfourd

Adventurer, speaker and world record holder

RP

Rebecca Pick

Founder, Pick Protection

JT

Jo-Leigh Thompson

Director, Foxglove Care

See all past speakers
Insights

What we’ve learned.

All Insights
Mindset

What business leaders can learn from an adventure mindset.

Adventurer Simone Talford reveals how business leaders build resilience, drive innovation, and unlock growth by embracing uncertainty and taking action.

Simone Talford • 5 min read

Leadership

Building a business that can thrive without you.

Founder Johanna Leigh-Thompson shares how scaling a business successfully requires delegating decisions, embedding values, and building leadership capacity beyond yourself.

Johanna Leigh-Thompson • 6 min read

Leadership

Leadership lessons I learned before I was old enough to vote.

Working as a teenage tourism employee taught Edward Ryder that great leadership empowers people, fosters culture, and drives long-term commercial success.

Edward Ryder • 7 min read

ER

“I wanted to create the kind of business event I’d actually look forward to attending — warm, lots of opportunities to learn and genuinely useful.”

Edward Ryder • Founder of Biskit Ltd and host of Connect Over A Cuppa

Beyond the events

Growth & Opportunity Review, Strategy & Strategic Oversight.

Biskit helps ambitious businesses step back, see where the best opportunities lie and make clear choices about where to focus. We work with owners and leadership teams to turn those choices into practical strategies and actions that their people can deliver.

Explore Biskit’s work

Growth & Opportunity Review

We help you step back from the day-to-day and look at where your business is now, where you want it to go and what might be holding it back. We explore your strategy, customers, sales and marketing, people, leadership and ways of working to identify the easiest opportunities, the biggest priorities and the practical actions that could make the greatest difference.

Strategy Development

Building on the Growth & Opportunity Review, we work with your team to turn the opportunities and priorities identified into a clear, actionable strategy. Together we agree where the business is going, what needs to change and what matters most, creating a practical plan that your team has helped shape, understands and can deliver.

Strategic Oversight

Keeping your strategy moving once the plan is in place. Through regular meetings with the business owner and leadership team, we review progress, challenge thinking, address emerging issues and keep the focus on the priorities that matter. It provides independent support and accountability, helping your team make better decisions, adapt when circumstances change and turn the strategy into results.

Stay in the loop

Never miss an
event.

One short, thoughtful email each month with the upcoming speaker and takeaways from Connect Over a Cuppa. No spam.

Hosted in Harrogate · Connect Over a Cuppa is a Biskit Ltd initiative.

  • AI & the future of work

  • Curiosity, reinvention & growth

  • Neuroscience & business behaviour

  • The craft of leading a business

  • The energy of a team

  • Marketing & building an audience

  • Authenticity at work