More than 400 visitors poured into the Drill Hall in Denne Road, Horsham, on Saturday, March 14.

The atmosphere throughout the day buzzed as exhibitors and visitors chatted animatedly and swapped business cards, whilst in the adjacent seminar rooms hundreds of delegates soaked up the free tips and advice on offer.

In the first seminar of the day, Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring, the 40 seats were filled within five minutes, leaving standing room only.

Now in its seventh year, Horsham Microbiz was officially opened by John Peel, OBE.

John, chairman and a member of Crawley's Central Sussex College, who opened the first Microbiz event in 2003, was then personally introduced to each one of the 44 exhibitors and spent several minutes chatting at each stand.

He was also responsible, with Oona Muirhead of SEEDA, for judging the best dressed exhibition stands. This was a task that proved to be far from easy.

A few weeks earlier exhibitors had attended a Microbiz exhibition skills masterclass, at which they were shown how to create a stunning exhibition stand.

The high standard of the stands on display suggested that many of the tips from that masterclass had been taken on board.

After much consideration, the award for the best dressed large exhibition stand went to Creative Vision Promotions, who were also celebrating their seventh year in business.

"This is our first Microbiz and to say we've had a brilliant response from visitors and exhibitors is an understatement," said Paul Sheldrake, managing director.

"We've been rushed off our feet all day long and winning the best dressed stand is the icing on the cake for us."

The award for best dressed small exhibition stand went to studio this & that, a Horsham based design agency.

They wowed everyone with their natty black and white theme and with their delicious handmade cupcakes which were handed out to each visitor signing up to receive their newsletter.

Both winners received a selection of handmade organic chocolate from West Grinstead's Cocoa Loco, also attending this year's event as an exhibitor.

Rory Payne, from Cocoa Loco, inspired the delegates in his seminar 'From 9 to 5 to Cocoa Loco' by sharing how their award-winning businesses had started with his wife, Sarah, selling her delicious homemade chocolate brownies on eBay.

Many of the visitors that attended this year's Microbiz event were thinking of starting a business and were coming to Microbiz for inspiration and solid advice.

The Business Link and Train to Gain stands proved to be real magnets and the start up seminar 'Don't Just Daydream Your New Business Do It' was similarly packed out.

Other visitors were existing small business owners looking to take advantage of the free seminars on networking and tax and credit management, and to discover potential new suppliers.

A special report on Microbiz will appear in the County Times supplement Business Matters, free with the paper on Friday March 27.