Are you daunted by the thought of networking events?
Do networking events seem daunting to you?
I remember the first time I attended Confetti Fair being so nervous about meeting people in person who I’ve only dealt with online. The reality was a lot less scary than I had imagined – in fact it was the total opposite.
Running a business online means a lot of online networking – which is fantastic and easy for connecting us with others at any time of the day, anywhere around Australia (or the world!)
However it is also important to be able to have opportunities to network and meet in person – ESPECIALLY if you are running your own business and are working on your own.
It’s fantastic to meet others in the same industry who “get” what you do and what you love!
Business owners who are part of Life’s Little Celebrations enjoy fabulous online networking but I’m creating opportunities now for them to network and meet in person. Recently a few Melbourne based business owners met up and last month I hosted the first Sydney catch up!
Here was our bright, casual and fun setup with those gorgeous balloons and tassels from Party Splendour:
Put a bunch of party loving ladies together and you know they will never be short of conversation. The morning started off with everyone jumping right into meeting each other! Chatter was non stop as so many of them had talked online but were excited to finally meet the person behind the business name!
Lots of fun shots were taken with the fantastic Life’s Little Celebration’s Instagram photo prop created by Jo’s Signs by Design which received a lot of attention from the staff at Coco Cubano as well!:
After the meet and greet everyone settled down to enjoy an array of tapas!
30 business owners were able to attend this first Sydney meet up and here is one of the 3 tables of ladies after enjoying their lunch!:
I invited everyone at the meetup to contribute an item from their business to pop into the take home bags! Here are the bags all setup waiting for filling – loved my logo labels printed with fantastic quality by Kel’s Gift Labelling (who also created the name tags for the event)
Now all filled up and bursting with goodies!:
I popped a cute Kikki.K notebook and pen inside each bag. Loved the fun fruity theme!:
Thanks to Style Party Love for the mini brown paper bags I used for my notebook/pen:
Here is a snapshot of all the items inside the bag…there was everything from edible goodies such as chocolate coated strawberries, macarons, cookie mix bottle and tarts to party items such as gold straws and Christmas gift tags! A few close up pics below (thanks to Sweet Health for these pics of all the goodies!)
I received such positive feedback from the meetup including:
“It was an amazing opportunity to put actual faces to so many names who I’ve had dealings with on line and via phone. Thank you ladies for making this such an amazing community to be apart of ….and thank you for all the goodies – I know I have tonight’s midnight creative snacks sorted!!” – Kelly from Kel’s Gift Labelling
“Thanks so much for organising Tanya, it was a great day… such a nice group of ladies!! How awesome are these swag bags! Im not sure where to begin!?! Thanks everyone
– Elaine, Lou Lou Pie
“Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Tanya for organising today’s meetup. Although I didn’t get to chat to everyone it was so lovely to put names to faces and meet many lovely vendors that I’ve only chatted with via email/text/messages etc” – Megan, Love the Occasion
“Hello ladies!! Was a pleasure finally meeting you ladies! I enjoyed meeting everyone! I look forward to the next meet up! Thank you Tanya for organising a wonderful day. Thank you for the yummy goody bag!” – Beti, Bett’s Candy Buffets
I highly encourage anyone who is in business or a blogger reading this – to take the chance when you can to attend networking events. It can be daunting at first – but once you attend you realise everyone is just as friendly and lovely in person as they are online!
Cannot wait to organise the next meetup in Sydney and to work with my interstate vendors to create opportunities for them to connect.
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