Monday, February 02, 2009

'The Path to Networking Nirvana' leads to Faringdon Business Breakfast Club

The roads may have been beset with more than a dusting of snow, but 'The Path to Networking Nirvana' was shown to be a sunny route to excellence by Morgan PR at this morning's meeting of the Faringdon Business Breakfast Club.

More manageably known as the FBBC (which isn't Daily Mail slang for Auntie Beeb), this thriving networking group meets monthly and on this cold day we were in the hot seat, delivering a talk on good practice when you're networking - not least among the tips was practice!

We turned the format on its head and kicked off with the presentation as some were still munching their sausage and bacon butties, not least because the presentation would end with a bite-sized course in how to deliver a knockout one minute.

It was rewarding to see the calibre of one minutes - only a couple spilled beyond the 60 second mark and many were beautifully succinct, punchy and memorable - everything that one minute pitches should be.

The path is a simple one and should be seen as common sense for anyone who stops for a moment and thinks about why they go networking and what they want to achieve. Yet all too often we meet supposedly committed networkers who are pretty aimless.

Not so the newly minted minute experts at FBBC who had newfound focus as they broke for networking after the presentation.


Pictured above are FBBC chairman Paul Brame from Morgan Cole Solicitors and Martin Davies, himself a consumate networker from NRG. Pictured below is yours truly with Nick Burroughs from the Vale of the White Horse District Council - we are all swapping business cards!


These photographs were all taken by commercial photographer Graham Light of Abbey Studios, who is a member of FBBC. He also shares his expertise and runs The Abbey Studios Photography Centre & School of Photography which offers first class training whether you are a beginner or more experienced photographer.

I should add that any marvelling at the ease of journey to Faringdon during the lightly snow sprinkled countryside pre-dawn was countered by some dicey conditions heading back to the office - it involved an abandoned photo shoot and much slip sliding away!

1 comment:

Julian Wellings said...

Great presentaton Nigel.

For those of use who network a lot, that one minute round is key and it's so easy to lose sight of getting across the important facts that will encourage others to find out more.

The presentation certainly helped me to focus on this and on the best way to structure one's one minute!