Today I had an interesting lunch event. I met Gordon Campbell, the Premiere of British Columbia, and was fortunate enough to have lunch with him and some members of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.
The topics of the event, which Gordon Campbell was keynote speaker, surrounded partnerships and progress BC has made and what steps need to be taken to continue this trend.
An interesting day, interesting people and insightful discussion.
Last night I was invited to attend the Vancouver Board of Trade’s member reception at the Vancouver Rowing Club. This was an excellent opportunity to network and after reading Darcy Rezac’s (MD of the Board of Trade) article in Make it Business magazine about positive networking, I felt I had to get out more to events like this.
There was definitely a diverse gathering and some of the people I met included:
King George International Business College
Summer Hill Promotional Products
Any many others who’s names and coordinates I didn’t collect and don’t recall.
Getting out and meeting peers and colleagues is an important part of running a business. Finding and making time for it will pay dividends with marketing, partnership opportunities, sales and obtaining opinions and business advice from those who have been there, done that.
I finally made it out to a Green Drinks event in Gastown, Vancouver yesterday.
Green Drinks is:
Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up for a beer at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.
We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you’ll be made welcome. Just say, “are you green?” and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there.It’s a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.
I found the networking fun and very relaxed. A great place to meet people from all different backgrounds and also, if you are new to networking, this is probably one of the easiest groups to get together with.
There is a good video by Fundfindr recapping the Small Business BC event. Questions are asked about business planning, do you need to write it down, and some tips… including some by me!
Peragro Media won 1st place in the Small Business BC’s annual business plan contest. Our three year strategy scooped the top prize at the event held in downtown Vancouver today.
Thanks go out to Vancity, Lawson and Company, MOSAIC and all the people who helped with the business strategy.
Small Business BC is operated by the government of British Columbia as a business startup resource.