Nearly a whole week on from my first networking event and I am already looking forward to my next one.
After getting very lost on the way there, I finally got there 20 minutes late, but still made it. This was Mingle’s first Lunch and Collaborative Networking event, hosted at the Bod Erw Hotel Restaurant in St.Asaph. The private room at the top of the stairs was ours, set out with tables to network and tea/coffee to be had before lunch.
After the havoc of getting lost and turning up late, it was exciting to be walking into a room full of business owners and entrepreneurs ready to network. There was a large congregation of people at the back of the room chatting away drinking tea/coffee. Straight away I got the camera out to capture the moments and hover around the room looking for the best angles.
Mingle for Business is all about networking and I could tell there were a lot of regular members there because they didn’t need any encouragement to start chatting.
Once everyone had arrived and had some time to grab a drink it was time to go down to have lunch. There was a choice of pork or vegetarian tart and for desert there was a choice of hot chocolate fudge cake or raspberry pavlova. There was no seating plan, you could sit wherever and by whoever you wanted. For me this was a bit daunting because I hadn’t spoken to any one so I chose to sit at the far end and let the table fill up around me. I then decided to move because there was no one to sit and network with, which at a networking event is not a good idea!
Moving was a good idea, I was now sat with many different entrepreneurs from different industries. Many different stories were bouncing around the table, each telling stories from both business life and personal life, this put me at ease. Once everyone had finished their food there was just enough time for a few short speeches. Gwenllian Owen spoke to the group about ION and Jackie Whittaker spoke about 20Twenty, also a lady called Jayne Jones from Business Wales mentioned the services they offer. Sandra then introduced me and thanked everyone for attending.
Just before the whole event was over, one of the ladies who I was sat next to passed me some information which could bring me some business. So watch this space….
