I was lucky to take this photo of some cool people at Parramatta Chamber. Including the awesome Francois, Michelle and Juliana!
When it comes to business, success, entrepreneurship and the like – for almost everyone, attending events is a core part of it.
This may be anything from business networking, to say your Coaching Mastermind, right through to events of personal interest / professional development.
In this area itself, I look back with my own losses and wins in this area. I used to attend the ‘opening of an envelope’ which was great at the time and as I succeeded and learned the streets of Sydney I worked out the top places to go.
One massive error / mistake I made (that I don’t want you to make awesome friends) is going to low value events all the time. One great example of this were the smaller breakfasts where people were more busy selling stuff to each other rather than working together on ideas and thinking.
I used to run many of these breakfasts and they were awesome at the start (and I recommend them for those early in their business journey), however over time I outgrew the place and wore out my welcome.
As I learned and found the really high value places in town, it got me thinking as to what constitutes the ‘right’ type of environment for networking. Some key points I use for consideration include:
– Focus: It’s got the right agenda, e.g. everyone winning / helping each other.
– The People: It’s got people that are likely to be customers or key influencers to getting customers (if that is your agenda).
– Professional Development / Ideas: It’s great learning new things that juts work.
– Fun / Acceptance: You are welcome just the way you are. It’s really important that you are ‘accepted’ and not ‘tolerated’.
– Reputation: Can you been seen in this place? Will that help improve your image / damage your image with the community?
In short, I have found several environments to be just fantastic for me. This includes Parramatta Chamber, NSW Business Chamber and also British Chamber (including a few honourable mentions such as BBAS, Bizruption etc).
My advice / thinking? ‘Right’ is very subjective and think carefully about the best type of environments that suit you. This can change overtime as well (as it has for me) based on your reputation, wins, experiences and politics.
Get out there, explore, do it your way and win!
Love your work, thanks for the read and stay awesome!
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