A new linked-in group has been set up for businesses and residents based in the Crystal Palace area.
Don't know what Linked-in is?... It's a bit like facebook but for businesses. Your connections are less likley to be friends and family and much more likely to be people you've had some previous business dealings with. It really helps you to connect to people who share common business interests.
Like facebook, not only can you connect up with other individuals on the site you can also join groups that have a common interest. There are groups that join business men and women on all sorts of topics from what football team they support to some of the strangest outposts of industry. It's entirely free to join and you might make new connections and frinds in the process.
The Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood group has been set up in response to another group the South and South East London Netwroking Group where it became apparent jsut how many businesses in CP were on linked-in. The South and South East London Netwroking Group are currently organising a networking evening that will be on rotation around South East London but the first stop looks likely to be good ol' CP.
Free-U
A suggested format for the evening is Free-U. I can't take credit for Free-U personally. It was an idea proposed in an edition of The Idler written by those clever bods at QI; the people behind the TV programme.
Here's how it works:
You take two sets of post-it notes; one set yellow and one set blue.
On the yellow notes you stick things that you would like to learn and on the blue notes you put things that you feel you can teach or perhaps have some experience in. They can be absolutely anything.
So on the yellow notes you might put:
- I need to make a will
- help I need a bridal make-up artist
- Hints and tips for traveling across North America.
- I'm trying to learn Sage
- my cat keeps throwing up
- how can I back up our most important work
and on the blue notes you might put:
- Google goodness
- Noded working and collaborative bidding for small businesses
- Virtual learning environments
- how to make the best cup of tea
- comic books
- speaking french
- visual identity manuals
Everyone then sticks their notes to a wall or board and you see what takes your fancy. A good ice breaker and an excellent way to find out what others are passionate about or keen to learn. You may even find that your blue or yellow matches with someone else and so you have an opportunity to learn from each other.
I think it would be great to mix up the business with hobbies/interests and it's suprising how often our interests/passions lead to great business opportunities.
That's the Free-U idea!
BTW - Free-U comes from Free University; hopefully an excellent way to share ideas and knowledge and all for the cost of a beer.
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