Do networking events really work?

[CarmaCreative]

Hey all,

Sorry, I know this isn't strictly a design question but still would value all your thoughts. And this is for anyone who has tried business networking events as a graphic designer.

Do they work? Are they worth the sometimes sizable joining fee? I would love to hear from anyone who has tried business networking events from our industry.

Many thanks,

 

[Levi]

Thought we already had a thread on this somewhere but in my experience they didn't, I was spending more time and money travelling to them than the money coming from people met there.

I will say it does depend on where you go and it's entirely possible that the ones I went to weren't really suited to design but even so I didn't think they were that good as often as not it got in to little 'groups' and so half the time you missed a good portion of the people there - in my view a quick speed dating style at the beginning would have more effective than the just mingle approach.

 

[Tom Sound]

Hi Phil,

I would say if you can go along and get the feel for it yourself it's worth doing to see. The thing is, every group is in a different area, with a different group of people so you may find you get lucky at one meeting but not at another.

There are a couple of threads on here though......

http://www.designforums.co.uk/runni...ncing/3816-good-evil-business-networking.html

:up:

 

[mrp2049]

I have found that business networking is different for everyone, a designated event kinda scares me, but there are some awesome design related events that could be far more fruitful.

 

[CarmaCreative]

Thanks guys and yes checked the previous post on this. It may well be a case of being in the right place at the right time. And of course finding a dynamic group that suits you.

Since going to Business Link seminars and local Chamber of Commerce I have got small amounts of business from both. I am thinking of joining one of the bigger subscription groups now. Will give it a little more thought I reckon.

Thanks again,

 

[Tom Sound]

You have to equate the time and money spent at these gigs against how much work you will get out of them. Some people said to me, what else are you doing at 6am? well, sleeping actually, and I need all the beauty sleep I can get. I think this is the wrong way to look at it though. If you get up early to go to a business breakfast it's still time spent working its just earlier than normal, so you get up, go for breakfast, chat with other people all pitching themselves rather than really listening to you for an hour, and to work for 9. That's 3 hours at £x per hour you've just spent working. Plus the cost of annual membership, plus £10 a week or whatever it costs. I came to the conclusion that my time was better spent sleeping at no extra charge, channelling any spare money into more directed local sales rather than bacon rolls. Also the bunch we looked at had rules where if you missed 6 or something meetings in a year you would get a warning letter then kicked out with no refunds so it just didn't fit into our sporadic working hours.

There's a business card thread on here somewhere where I think it was Berry made a point about having exactly what you do on your business card. I got loads of cards at some of the big networking meetings and when you get back and look through them, if they're not clear who and what they do/are, they just go in the recycling bin.

:up: Good Luck!