Our
October meeting was a repeat of our successful SpeedNetwork100
formula - another high-energy SBC ‘spectacular’
at the University of Surrey, Guildford. The event
was attended by fifty local businesses, half of them
members - and the rest, potential members! A full
report follows below.
Click
for slideshow
The evening started
with informal networking over the excellent buffet –
including vegetarian options, a huge bowl of fresh fruit,
and a dazzling array of sandwiches, open sandwiches,
goujons and satays and other exotic stuff – delicious!
Noisy but fun!
The event began in earnest with the first speed networking
session, with participants arranged in pairs facing
each other in a huge circle. Each side had a minute
and a half to present their business and indicate what
kind of customers and contacts would be of most use
to them. Then the outer circle all moved round one place
to face a new partner – a bit like a barn dance,
really, and a great way to meet fellow businesses!
The ‘professional development’
bit…
At the end of the forty-minute session we re-arranged
our chairs for a stimulating and fun presentation from
professional trainer, coach and NLP practitioner Heather
Nichols. Heather took us through Charles Handy’s
‘colour’ system, which classifies the social,
communication and interaction styles of three main types
of individuals, with lots of real world examples.
There was a great deal of audience participation, with
the usual SBC mixture of light-hearted banter and serious
comment, and Heather demonstrated her ability to entertain
and inform in equal measure.
Returning to the fray…
After Heather’s brilliant presentation, we had
another stab at the buffet before everybody threw themselves
enthusiastically back into speed networking for another
half hour or so. The feedback on the evening as a whole
was overwhelmingly positive – check out the pictures
to get an idea of the great atmosphere throughout the
event.
For those who weren’t able to join
us, you can get an idea how the colours thing works
by downloading Heather’s explanatory handout here.
Suffice to say, it prompted a huge amount of discussion
- along the lines of ‘I’m mainly red with
a bit of green’ - both at the end of the meeting
and in the pub afterwards, where we did get a few strange
looks!
Note: The pictures in the slideshow
were taken by our official photographer, Peter Searight
of of The Remarkable Studio. If you are interested in
high quality prints or would like to contact Peter,
his details are as follows:
Tel: 01428 725067
Email: peter@TheRemarkableStudio.com
Web: www.TheRemarkableStudio.com
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