Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Friend or Foe

In the past week or so, I've been to several networking events.

Let me give you the contrast.

At one, I was welcomed, chatted up and general made to feel like it was a great thing that I graced everyone with my presence.

At another one, I signed my name at a personless table and that was it. No one welcomed me. Each was too busy conversing with someone they knew.

We've all done it. Friends are usually a lot more fun to talk to than unknown people.

What does your group do to make visitors feel welcome AND want to come back.

Do you have certain people who are there to be the link to the rest of the group?

Does your group view an outsider as an OUTSIDER, or do they see an opportunity?

Think about it.

In my opinion three groups that have done a wonderful job recently are WEN (The Women's Entrepreneurial Network), BNI and GreaterFindlayInc's morning Fresh Brewed event.

Tell us about yours.

2 comments:

Angie Weid said...

NOGA (Northwest Ohio Gerontological Association)is growing like crazy. Well over the majority of our membership has been attending our monthly meetings plus many guests. Lately we have 60-70 people at our meetings. It's great to see this organization growing!

Debby said...

Wonderful, Angie! What are some of the steps they take to make visitors feel welcome?