Effective July 16th, 2010 we will be meeting at the Boston Gourmet Coffeehouse in Waterford Commons on Waterford Lakes Parkway.

Meeting times remain Friday mornings at 8:45 am

Since our meetup site is so successful, we will be using it to disseminate information from now on. Please go register at Laid Back Meetup.

Thanks!

We’ve been really happy with our Meetup.com site. Many new members came from this excellent social networking tool.

In fact, it’s a lot easier to update than this blog! I’ve been lazy and need to do more over here.

In the next few weeks we are going to be working on personal glimpses - sharing stories and experiences to get to know one another better.

It will help to build trust in relationships, which is what networking is all about.

The February 6th meeting will be about referrals, giving and getting.

This is an important topic in networking so plan on being at this one.

While Boston Coffeehouse is an excellent location, there are some “logistical difficulites” involved in moving a 40+ group there. We know we can do it, maybe we will again in the future.

In the meantime, we are going to restructure the tables at Toojay’s to make more room.

So join us at Toojay’s to discuss “Who knows YOU”

Don’t go to Toojay’s on Friday the 16th, we will be going to Boston Coffeehouse for one week only.

It’s located across from Firkin & Kegler, in a strip mall known as Waterford Commons. It’s on Waterford Lakes Parkway. Good coffee and pretty good food. Not quite as good as Toojay’s but it is quieter and there is more room.

It does not look like it will be a permanent move, as they already have two other groups that are planning on going there Fridays, so we will be back to Toojay’s next week.

Since it’s a new year, we will embark on a new series. Well actually we’re doing one we did last year, but this time we’ll do it right.

The name of the series is “Networking 101″

The first week will be Finding Your Niche, to develop your 30 second intro.

The following weeks will be discussing other important parts of networking:
* Who knows YOU
* The rule of 250
* Proper referral techniques
* Introductions, or “How to Tee Someone Up”
* Internet Networking
* Stop Selling and Start Networking

We really want to thank Suzanne LaFata for doing her “beta” testing on us with her “Business Etiquette” classes. Suzanne and her staff gave us a great insight into proper manners and behavior during business meals.

The group is still growing. 35 were present on Dec 5 for her class, and it was some great networking before, during and after.

On December 12th we will be discussing “Business New Year’s Resolutions.”

December 19th will be our last meeting of the year and we will be doing “Networking Greatest Hits - a Year in Review.” Everyone will be asked to relate their favorite networking moment of 2008, whether with this group or another.

31 networkers, students and business people stormed Toojay’s for breakfast this morning as we discussed “Cross Marketing” - studying what industries would work well in partnership with our own.

Many leads were exchanged and a lot of great information was shared. And it was a lot of fun too.

We’re looking in to some themes for the next few weeks of our meetings.

Next week we will discuss Holiday strategies, since we are coming in to that season.

The following week we will try to discuss “tag lines”

Coming up soon, we plan to do a series on motivation.