The countdown is on to the first major business event of the New Year - the Kent and Medway Business Summit 2021.

The annual event, which has traditionally taken place at the University of Kent in Canterbury, will this time out be taking place entirely online - utilising a platform called Remo.

It promises to provide virtual networking opportunities, as well as workshops, in a far enhanced version to that of the more traditional video conferencing sites.

Staged on January 15, the line-up features a host of key-note speakers with the focus on how Kent and Medway can ride out the storm of the pandemic and Brexit and grow over the months and years ahead.

The event is hosted by the university's Kent Business School in association with its partners the Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors and inward investment agency Locate in Kent.

Organisers have compiled a list of 15 reasons why business figures in the county should attend - some rather more tongue-in-cheek than others:

1. Check out a fantastic online conference platform used around the world (it’s so not Zoom…)

2. Meet key policy makers directly, and tell them what could be done better to help your business

3. Get interior design ideas from others' home working backgrounds

4. Make fresh new contacts that could help you and your business

5. Understand what AI is and what that means for us as humans from world-leading tech pioneer Rana el Kaliouby

6. Increase your LinkedIn contacts so one day you can meet them in person (and join the Summit Linkedin group)

7. Prove to a wide audience that your business is engaged, looking ahead and interested in a sustainable, profitable future

8. Engage with 400 businesses without leaving your laptop

9. Make Friday January 15 the most interesting day of the month

10. Understand what our new relationship with the EU will mean for business

11. Feel positive about future business prospects

12. Get the latest on future local government plans from Kent and Medway

13. Input into what our high streets and town centres need now

14. Find out what can be done to make our ways of working more sustainable in the green economy

15. Benefit from mixing with a range of academics, government representatives and businesses that you wouldn’t normally access

Registration for tickets is open now - but be quick as numbers are limited to 400.