Warning! The following post contains an element of old fashioned self interest.
I love the networked life. I love that social media grants me so many opportunities to connect with so many people. I love the possibilities.
I love it when people take the time to organise meet ups so we can take the conversation into real life. Absolutely love it.
I don’t love it when so many of these events are set up to recur on the same day, each and every time. ‘Come to our networking event – third Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Whateverday of the month’. When you organise a regular event, the minute you decide to schedule it for the same day, you exclude a bunch of people who have other commitments. So if you’re interested in attracting a more diverse group (and if you aren’t then why are you bothering to run networking events in the first place?), why not try mixing up the day of the week when it comes to scheduling your events.
Here’s the selfish, old fashioned bit. Carole works on a Thursday afternoon and evening during school term times, and one of my favourite things about that is I get to pick Keira up from school on a Thursday. I love my family more than anything, they are the core of my network. They trump your networking event, every time. If I may, I’d like to finish with some dodgy maths.
Diversity + Mixing it up x Possibilities = Networking
Predictable + Narrow – Creativity = Notworking
Footnote: Huge thanks to Julia Briggs for scheduling her next Interimity event on a Wednesday.
