It literally was standing room only at 4Networking Oxford this morning as 18 people crammed into a space that would have been tight for the 16 it was laid out for! Still, it was fabulous to have so many people there and everyone seemed to have a great morning. Pity poor group leader John Batch (The Flying Doctor), who had the difficult task of breaking up all those 121s … seems there was a lot of business going on!
This was my first visit to Oxford as Area Leader and, indeed, my first time there for a long while. I’ve always meant to go but the dread of the Oxford ring road first thing in the morning put me off … but in my new role I have no choice but to brave the traffic!
The 4sight slot (an insight, not a sales pitch!) today was presented by Jez Hunt of Metamorph, who talked about how we can use stories to sell our business. Beginning with one of Aesop’s fables and ending with real life examples including Apple and Volvo, this was an intriguing talk that made me think about how I can use my own story within my business.
I then had three very interesting 121 meetings. One was a catch-up with a favourite 4Networker of mine, Simon Wallace-Jones of ODM; the second was with someone I’ve seen on the 4N forum and Twitter but never met before – Clare Kiddell of Avatar Creative . Both are interested in using my alter ego The Proof Fairy for some editing and proofreading work, so watch this space and keep fingers crossed! (Incidentally Simon runs some amazing free workshops on directing traffic to your website – well worth following his link to see more details!)
The third 121 was with a visitor, Fiona Baker. I met Fiona briefly at the recent Twitter meetup at Fallowfields Hotel, so it was lovely to see her again and to find out a bit more about her. She’s a photographer, but rather than talk business we discussed motor racing and the forthcoming British Touring Car (BTCC) season!! Just goes to prove that 4Networking is as much about making friends and having fun as doing business – and, of course, having clicked with Fiona I will be looking out for potential clients for her if I know anyone getting married!
So, another 4N meeting over. It’s been a busy week – three networking breakfasts, a workshop, a three hour team training session and a client meeting – so I’m looking forward to the weekend!
Next week I’ll be going to the Faringdon Business Breakfast Club meeting on Monday, where our local MP Ed Vaizey is the speaker; followed later in the week by two 4Networking breakfasts at Faringdon and Abingdon. I’m also attending a Business Scene event at Blenheim Palace on Wednesday evening, catching up with an old friend for a curry on Tuesday, and going to a 40th birthday party on Saturday. So another busy week!
