4Networking in Newbury

Another day another network breakfast! Well not quite daily, but after the Faringdon Business Breakfast Club on Monday and with Newbury Business Group on Friday, it feels a little like that! Not least as I was asked to act as a sub at BNI Kennet tomorrow, but have a prior appointment. Back to today I was at the Hilton Newbury North for 4Networking Newbury to see how this flourishing group worked.

Readers with long memories may recall I was at the original launch of a 4Networking group in Newbury in May 2007 where I was quite enamoured with the group - read all about it here - however that group crashed and burned over some internal problem.

Version 2.0 however is thriving and as I have said before the 4Networking model is an appealing one. The obligatory 'one minute presentation' is actually 40 seconds and the killer app is the three one-to-one meetings you can have. Each lasting 10 minutes it effectively turbo charges the part of networking so easily glossed over that involves actually understanding what it is that person does.

My first such meeting was with Julian Wellings from Expertise on Tap. He had given the informative 'foursight' 10 minute presentation on email newsletters, highlighting good practice and warning of the dire consequences of amateurish attempts at this affordable marketing tool. Our meeting gave us the opportunity to explore where the synergy could be between Morgan PR and Expertise on Tap, which for me is as important in networking as the referrals that it can bring.

Next I chatted with David Whittingham from Media Fusion a full service agency in Newbury. Once again it was about the value we could add to one another clients.

Finally I spent 10 minutes chatting with Philippa Syme, Development Manager at The Corn Exchange & New Greenham Arts and was fascinated to discover how affordable and relatively unique the opportunities are for promotions at the Corn Exchange and to its diverse audience.

So as you can tell, a very busy morning indeed. Some things did grate. It is held within the main restaurant of the hotel which while providing easy access to the buffet breakfast, it was shared with other guests and quite noisy, which meant it was difficult to hear people and it was also an odd L shaped table which made it tricky to enjoy eye contact with some members, however there was a good atmosphere and I would go again when the Morgan PR diary allows.