We know that times are hard for businesses, there are less clients and less budget for marketing. This means that networking needs to work harder for you to generate clients and business contacts
In order to make Women in Business work better for our members we want to:
1. Make our meetings more organised and give formal opportunities for networking and self-promotion
2. Help new members get to know existing members in appropriate industry sectors
3. Ensure that the formal networking is finished by 4pm at the very latest to allow members to get back to the office and attend to family commitments
4. Offer the website and blog as a promotional medium for the members
How are we going to do this?
1. We want to split the meetings into two parts, free networking away from the tables to allow mingling with many people at the beginning of the meeting followed by networking at the tables
2. At the beginning of each meeting there will be a 5 minute slot where 5 members have the opportunity to introduce themselves for one minute to the group. This will be organised alphabetically and we will go through the list of members to give everyone the opportunity to speak.
3. There will also be an opportunity for members to make short announcements during the meal, when you sign in please tell us if you would like to make an announcement.
4. The committee will be responsible for introducing you to people that you would like to meet. Please use us to meet new people and come and ask us at the desk or during the meeting if there’s any type of person/company that you would like to connect with.
5. We will try some different approaches for mixing people during the meeting such as speed networking and moving around during courses
We can’t make this networking group work well without you! Please help us by:
1. Making a big effort to talk to new people and not use these meetings simply as an opportunity to talk to old friends. This will allow every one of you to get more from the meeting and also make the group more welcoming to new members
2. Try to sit at a table with new people as well as the old faces and try to make it your goal to introduce yourself to anyone on your table that you don’t know and find out about their business.
3. Think about how you can sum up your business in one minute, this will help you introduce yourself to new people and give the one minute introductions at the beginning of the meetings
4. Make full use of the website and blog. This is a resource for you, so please send us company news, event information and at the very least send us your profile so we can list you on the website –
click here for more information5. Think of this group as your business club and do your best to learn about the fellow members’ businesses so you can refer them to your colleagues and friends
6. Let us have your ideas and suggestions for how we can improve things and make it work better for you
7. Please use the committee and ask them to introduce you to people. We all know lots of people, so please use us to help. The committee members are:
Caroline Bowley, Marbella Art Fair
Louise Cook, Media Machine and Marbellas.com
Susan Hunter, Susan Hunter consultancy
Kate Gooding, Talk Radio Europe
Susana Serrano-Davey, Rose & Clavel Chartered Accountants
Julie Perryman, Herbal Life
Georgina Shaw, Shaw Marketing Services
We hope that these steps will make Women in Business a powerful networking force for your business.
