| Drinks @ Apartment 26, Southampton |
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15th March 2005 About 6 months ago, I changed roles from Finding it a little difficult to build working relationships outside of the small circle of clients and consultants that I know well, and frankly finding a lot of the local networking events a bit strained and not necessarily very helpful, I joined NAWIC. Due to the majority of events being in London, and only a few members listed in the local area this still wasn’t very useful, but a colleague suggested that I organise something myself. I put together the mailing list from my own friends, contacts and colleagues, asked the managers in the office if they knew anyone, and used the NAWIC database.being a site based QS, to Business Development Manager for our Regional Major Works office in Bournemouth. The response was fantastic, with some replies arriving almost instantly and several asking if they could bring friends. This swiftly went from a low key possibility of getting together with 8-10 people in the corner of a bar to an actual turnout of 17 women who almost took it over! The marvellous thing was that there was no need to organise any cheesy 'networking games' to get people to mix and connect. Because we were all women, it wasn't as daunting as other events, and there was an excellent mix of clients, consultants and contractors to compare experiences with. Everyone knew what they were there for and just started talking to a stranger. Funnily, several people said they should have circulated more, but were enjoying themselves talking to particular people too much. The general consensus was that they'd talk to someone else at the next one – 'the next one?' I cry! Well I think there definitely will be one in 2-3 months time, and there are a couple of ideas bouncing around (literally) involving luminous golf balls. Could we be about to beat the boys when it comes to golf? Provided there aren’t too many injuries at the next event ... may be! |