My networking journey

Let me tell you about last Friday! I consider myself fairly new to networking. I have been doing it seriously for a couple of years at most. You might think wait a minute Greg that's not new but it is to me.

I started networking online with the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce?and loved meeting new people and hearing about their businesses. The more events that I went to the more I enjoyed it.

I also wanted to learn and craft my skills. I guess everyone knows that you need to be out of your comfort zone to do this. Sounds cliched when I write that down but I know its true.

Some people can stand up in front of a roomful of people and speak naturally. Some are shy and struggle to do that but know put on the spot they will give it a go. Others are in between like me honing their skills.

The thing I have realised it that each of those 3 types of people always provide something I can learn from. The naturals always have a way of making you think I must do better, the shy people that are passionate about their business can give you a phrase that you think I could use that and the inbetweeners drop golden nuggets here and there that you can add to your own recipe.

When I got the opportunity to become chair of my Glasgow Network B2B group I jumped at the chance and absolutely love it. The group decided that we would do some F2F meetings and see if we could invite other networkers to our events to build and grow. I came up with the idea of taking some of the things I really enjoy when networking to make it a success.

1. The 60 second pitch. Stand up and tell us about your business. The 3 types of networkers appear in this! Everyone gets a chance to listen and learn.

2. Speed networking - why do I like this? I sometimes found that if I was not in the zone at a networking meeting I would struggle to get round the room. I also found that I would sometimes "hide" with someone I knew and speak to them while the room passed me by. Speed networking took this away. I have to speak to everyone no matter what.

So since February I have been hosting networking events and have teamed up with the remarkable Lynne H. . Lynne was running networking events before the pandemic with her brand Scottish National Network . We joined forces and along with Tom Scally ACIM CMktr decided we were going to have a go at running some events in Edinburgh. Alex Wilson had the perfect venue in the fantastic Murrayfield Stadium !

So onto last Friday! I left the house early which I always have to do given my location but if you know me that's no problemo! I got to the venue nice and early and sorted the layout to my own OCD standards! Lynne got their and asked what time I got out of bed at ha ha!

We waited for the guests to arrive and Alex opened up the doors out to the pitch so as soon as you came in you could see the light shining through and everyone went straight up to have a look. The pitch is in amazing shape having just been reseeded ready for the up coming games.

The bacon/eggs/sausages (3 types!) filled the room with a tantalising aroma to get our Friday started.

I got things underway by introducing myself and the team along with the format of the day. This is probably my favourite part of our events. I love getting the energy levels up in the room and having a bit of banter with our guests. I think it always sets the mood for the day and puts people at ease.

We went through the 60 second pitches and everyone did really well. A quick break for further refreshments and we went on to the speed networking. With military precision I pulled it off!

The buzz in the room was brilliant. A tour of the function rooms say some guests stay on while the rest of us made our way out to the weekend.

The feedback on Linkedin and DMs I have received shows that we have a great package. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel but just bring our personalities to the table.

I love what we do and hope that others can enjoy it as well. Its a journey and I want to share it with as many people as I can.

Hopefully I will see you along the way and we can learn together and have some banter too.