This article appeared in the Cornish Guardian, Nov. 5 (Guy Fawkes' day!), as part of a bumber Eclipse pullout.

Top Tips For Business

It's not a moment too soon to start planning for E-day - August 11, 1999 - when most of Cornwall and South Devon will experience a total eclipse of the sun.

With vision and planning, businesses within the zone stand to benefit from the event's unprecedented marketing potential. Even more emphatically, however, there is scarcely a single company that will escape the operational implications of such a massive logistical challenge.

If we are to avoid the ultimate worst case scenario - including the most popular fears of traffic gridlock, food and cash shortages and the breakdown of law and order - then contingency plans have to be drawn up now.

Brigadier Gage Williams, Cornish eclipse co-ordinator, has devised a top 20 checklist, a fundamental eclipse plan for every business affected.

1

Sit down with your directors and managers now for a brainstorming session. Identify every opportunity and threat for your business and decide how you will react. Invite similar input from your staff; incentivise.

2

Review your staff holiday roster. For two weeks either side of the eclipse Cornwall and South Devon's roads and railways will be extremely busy. This could have an impact on departure and return times, even at the start and finish of that period. If the nature of your business permits, consider closing down altogether for the big fortnight.

3

Where possible, work from home. Utilise computer links. Identify special projects that can be undertaken largely, if not totally, from home.

4

Minimise travel. Organise your diary with few if any appointments during the big fortnight, and for a week either side if possible.

5

Give the car a break. Why not cycle and improve your fitness? (The UK has the highest ownership of bicycles, but the least usage.)

6

Can your offices double as bed and breakfast accommodation? Explore the possibility of accommodating your staff on site for the duration. Alternatively, do your premises have open space which could become camp sites?

7

Check out your nearest temporary campsites. There could well be more than you are expecting, and there may be one near your premises... with some pitches left for your staff. Good fun, as well as cost and time efficient!

8

Help Cornwall in its month of need. If you are in manufacturing, you may be able to supply some of the items which will be in great demand and which may be hard to come by in sufficient numbers - portable toilets, showers, for instance.

9

If you are expanding your production or services, check whether you need more insurance cover. If you are catering, there may be additional health and safety requirements.

10

If cars must still be used examine potential for additional parking space on your premises. Or consider organising your own park-and-ride scheme to help minimise traffic volume.

11

If you are in retail, seek extra credit in order to pre-stock sufficient quantities of goods, ideally on a sale or return basis. Identify additional storage space.

12

If you are in distribution, identify additional warehousing capacity if your own premises cannot meet anticipated additional demand.

13

Think big: if you are involved in tourism, think of the difference between you normal quietest and busiest periods then multiply that factor five-fold to anticipate the likely demands of August 1999.

14

If you are in retail, adapt your staff's working hours as necessary and revise your opening hours to suit the anticipated nature of demand and people movements, and activities in your area.

15

Serve the 'captive audience'. Many thousands of people will be stuck for long periods in stationary or slow moving traffic. This offers selling opportunities.

16

Of the 1.5m forecast visitors, a million will be camping. Think of taking products or services to them, since campers will have difficulty in accessing normal supply outlets.

17

Take full advantage of Cornwall's high profile in 1999. Consider adopting a one-off logo for your marketing and letterheads for the year.

18

If you are an accommodation provider, you will be turning many people away. Try to identify neighbours/farmers who may be in the market for one-off bed and breakfast/camping and come to suitable arrangements with them.

19

Invest in extra training and dummy run practice operations as appropriate. Also, bo ready for an influx of students from all over the country seeking temporary employment opportunities.

20

And finally... remember that, whatever your line of business, and even if you are not in the service sector, you and your employees will, in some way, at some stage, be in the front line of representing Cornwall. A little investment in 'people training' - how to be friendly and helpful to visitors, especially when patience is at a premium - could work wonders for everyone.