BNGIowa

Networking

I think my favorite networking events are ones with food. I like door prizes and drawings too, but if I don't win, then that isn't much fun. So I would have to say food is my big attraction.

I belong to the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce and we meet once a month for what is called the AM Exchange. It is at 7:30 in the morning. There is food. Breakfast type food. One time there was "breakfast pizza." I was a little skeptical about that, but it was delicious. The format for the event is eat, network and then introduce yourself in 30 seconds. It works pretty well and has resulted in business for me.

AOL Small Business had an interesting article about networking online. I think it applies to in person networking too. My favorite quote from the article is: "You need to give something to the community before you start looking for an ROI [return on investment]," says Key of Converseon. The main points of the article were: 1. Forget the hard sell. 2. Do your homework. 3. Focus on a few contacts. 4. Listen before you speak. 5. Authenticity counts. 6. Be engaging. 7. Always follow up. 8. Think long term.

Happy Networking!

Growing Pains

I remember when I got my first pair of eyeglasses. I was one of those "growing pains" moments. I was at an awkward age anyway and adding the brown rimmed glasses didn't help. I am sure everyone has experienced growing pains at one time or another.

The Business Network Group is a little over a year old. As we grow our membership and mission, we have and will experience some growing pains. Starting this web site has been one of the pains. We have experienced some glitches in the technology so our members are not able to post to the site right now.

We will get this worked out and you can look forward to a variety of topics for discussion soon.