It is amazing what a few networking events can do for your confidence.
I attended a Dublin city enterprise networking event yesterday evening in the Mont Clare Hotel in Pearse St.
The event was the Annual summer event and the guest keynote speaker was non other than Fred Caballero of Channelship web agency who talked about the importance of using Twitter as a business tool. The event was only open to members of the DCEB Twitter and Link'd in network as well as Dublin City Enterprise for women and Link! Business Network.
This event had a very different structure and feel to the other Networking events that I have attended including my own Northside Open Coffee Dublin.
The O.C event is more an informal atmosphere with lots of chairs and tables to sit around while this event I attended was a lot more crowded and harder to identify interesting contacts as there was not enough time for presentations.
Luckily I bumped into a close friend of mine, Christian Kortenhorst of CK Computer Solutions, who gave me some much needed tips and advice on my own project on this blog.
Christian is a very good person for any PC or software related problems to tlak to. I also got to network with Michael K. Spratt of RapidBusinessGrowth.ie, Ann Kelsey of Econatural.ie and Fintan Smyth of Paradise Lane.ie who specializes in niche household items such asart, boutique furniture, tea and antiquities.
More specific to my business, I met Ken O'Connor of 'Map my business Ltd' who works closely with the Fingal community in Malahide where his Business is based and he takes quite an active community resident role. I talked to Ken about the role of mapping in social media as a tool for users to connect online, to find each others location and as a real time search news and broadcast tool for mobiles. I plan to use Google Wave, Latitude and or Maps as a extension tools for community reporting for my site in the future and as I plan to expand into the Fingal region in the future.
Finally, I met Brendan O'Neill of 'T-Shirt King Ireland' at the door of the actual event as I registered. Brendan is quite impressive as i Later discovered when I met him in that he has found a niche in the college as a graduate student market to sell branded clothes as a competitor to the main college merchandise supplier themseves by offering a better price. Talk about efficient market economies!That young student has a bright future ahead of himself as he looks to China to import bulk supplies at a cheaper cost.
There IS a big difference between meeting a potential connection or business contact online in social networks and in person through these networking events. It is good to have a healthy balance of two for maximum effect.
