Networking - North and West Wilts FSB Style

It's a very long time since I attended a local branch meeting of the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses), not for any particular reason except that there haven't been all that many truly local to me, and that those that have been held have clashed with my diary which has got much busier over the years. But it happened to be a networking night tonight, following on after the AGM, so I popped along to Corsham.

It's interesting to compare networking approaches. There's the "free for all, mingle" which I find very difficult - and I think others do too. There's the speed network approach which we've taken so successfully in the past (and are doing again on 16th January) in which you meet everyone, but really for just a brief time and you need to follow up later. And there's the approach the FSB took, where everyone does a 20 second introduction (some rather significantly more than 20 seconds!) and they arrange for you 1, 2 and 3 meetings with three others. Bit of a scramble in the setup, bit of an imbalance - but it generally worked quite well.

Outcome? I came to realise just what a lot of us are in "business to business" trades. I guess they're the natural ones for such events anyway, but I found the evening reminding me that each pound of VAT is collected and refunded between 6 and 7 times such is the amount of times that products and service swill around before ending up with their end user. And I got to thinking about wording, English and clarity on my blog, computer and physical security and backups, and the cost of services such as gas and electricity - things I don't think about on a day by day basis. I'm relieved to report that I came out of that feeling reasonably happy with our position ... but still reminded to be aware of some issues. Nothing earth shattering, but a worthwhile evening. It's good to see the local FSB branch making some gentle comeback steps, even if not quite yet local to Melksham ...
(written 2011-11-15, updated 2011-11-27)

Associated topics are indexed under

Z401 - Federation of Small Businesses
  [3214] Melksham Campus - any last minute inputs from Melksham businesses? - (2011-03-26)
  [3032] Coincidence, or Conspiracy - a wrong email address - (2010-11-06)
  [2524] An update on legal changes from the FSB? - (2009-12-03)
  [2517] Blogging accuracy - open invitation for any corrections - (2009-11-29)
  [1937] Getting hold of the wrong end of the stick - (2008-12-12)
  [1880] Melksham Chamber of Commerce, or the FSB - (2008-11-12)
  [1855] Volunteer v Employee - a skewed balance? (FSB) - (2008-10-25)
  [1823] FSB - an update. - (2008-10-07)
  [1654] The old sayings are the best (FSB) - (2008-05-26)
  [1544] FSB, EGM, AGM. - (2008-02-18)
  [1515] Keeping staff up to date on hotel room status - (2008-01-22)
  [1512] Summer Ball at Bowood - Saturday 12th July 2008 - (2008-01-19)
  [1479] FSB leaves its members feeling like mushrooms - (2007-12-20)
  [1350] FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) Western Region - (2007-09-13)
  [1286] A wasted evening? - (2007-08-01)
  [1284] An update on the West Wilts show ... - (2007-07-30)
  [1278] West Wilts Show - (2007-07-26)
  [1249] Is this how to run a business for businesses? - (2007-06-27)
  [1246] An oddball day. Strange experiences! - (2007-06-27)
  [1157] Speed Networking - a great evening and how we arranged it - (2007-04-21)
  [1133] B-2-B Networking, 20th April. Useful for YOUR business? - (2007-04-03)
  [1097] Train and business balls all in the air! - (2007-03-02)
  [1078] Wiltshire - multicultural community - (2007-02-13)

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