Your words on traditional networking were very interesting to me.

I’m 3 months into my new post at a Web design and development company. Traditional Networking events were never part of my marketing mix before, but I’ve been to numerous networking events over the past 3 months, and I mostly agree with you about them being a waste of time.

I’ve so far avoided the big, pushy networking groups- you know who I mean! as the way people approach me about joining them puts me off. Pushy is not my business approach, or my company’s, so why choose that route?

I’ve found the local Chamber of Commerce events a little more successful, so I am keeping those, at least for the moment – local business is important to us and we do a lot of work with start-ups and SME’s.

I’ve also enjoyed one event that was an industry event, and think that ties in with your Joint Venture idea – we may see some partnerships arising from that, in due course.

3 months is a little early to ditch them all, but I have already backed out of some, and I’m bearing your words in mind, and will chop out any others that don’t provide value.

Thanks for sharing your ideas, Jim!