The Dead Man Speaks

Stick around me for any time and you'll hear a lot about the importance of networking...

It's just absolutely vital for any business that the people involved in it, especially if they are the business, spend as much time and energy networking as they can.

We spent a great weekend in Coventry, at Britpack Live, doing mainly that. Yes, the speakers were enlightening and inspiring, and we learned a lot of new stuff, but it was during the breaks and especially in the evenings when much of the serious business was done. And there was some serious business being done, believe me.

A great networking event like that can be a launch pad for a new or small business.

So it follows that anyone organising any kind of get-together or function aimed at business people should do their best to encourage networking. If they don't, a lot of people won't bother to come next time.

Fast forward a week or so from Coventry to a wholly different experience: a 'networking event' where no one was welcomed or introduced, where no one wore a name badge and where the controlling clique spent the evening talking amongst themselves instead of getting to know the newcomers.

Add a couple of speeches so soporific that the liveliest person around (apart from our reporter) was a man with what she described as 'drop down dead disease', and you have a recipe for expensive failure.

It takes a bit of effort to run a successful networking event. It takes a lot more to launch a business from such a deadly launch pad as that!

If you have any part in running networking events, please remember what they're for. If you're building a business and plan to attend them, don't be put off by one bad experience - there really are some wonderful opportunities out there.

So do go - and keep going until you make the contacts you need to launch your business.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Some people don't like me using the words 'network' and 'networking' as verbs, pointing out that 'network' is actually a noun. I know. What I don't know is what 'real' verb I could possibly use in their place.

There's a moral in there somewhere about embracing change, but I'll leave you to find it :)