“I can’t stand networking. It’s just the same people wasting your time. You think there’ll be people who are looking to grow their business or need a service – and there just isn’t.”

Agency networking is a bit like buying a TV licencse: everyone knows you should probably do it, but it still feels like the resource is better spent elsewhere.

For example, say you go to an in-person event to meet new people and pick up some leads. There are all sorts of things that could go wrong:

• The person you’ve been spying on doesn’t show up.
• You end up sitting in your coat all day because the heating doesn’t work.
• You could spend X amount of time travelling, only for there to be no brews available – so you couldn’t talk to anyone even if you wanted to. 

Often, you end up leaving networking events wondering how on earth they came up with that ticket price.

What you need is someone to take the risk out of it. An event that won’t steal too much time out of your calendar, but is still just as valuable in terms of connections. Something that you could do from the comfort of your crusty home office.

We wanted to be the people to deliver that. So in February’s marketing and new biz mastermind, we’re trying something new: speed networking.

Here’s how it works:

• During the hour session, there will be four series of breakouts.
• In each group, there will be four people. You’ll have 15 minutes to introduce yourself, your agency, and what you’re hoping to get from the session (or who). 
• You can share advice, swap email addresses and make intros. But once your time is up, you’ll be straight into your next group of four. 
• By the end of the hour-long Zoom session, each individual should have come away with at least 12 new contacts (and hopefully at least a few of those will be meaningful).

For our first trial of this, it will be completely random. If it goes well, we’ll look to repeat the session with a more curated matching process. 

All you have to do is sign up, and we’ll handle the rest. But it won’t work if you’re not actively engaged. So bring a notepad!