East Midlands business networking club, the Connections Club is celebrating its first birthday on 5 March. The club has been immensely successful growing to 27 members in its first 12 months.
The club is popular no doubt due to its unique and innovative format. Barbara Hodgson, Owner of Your Business Matters, set up the Connections Club to create “the most productive and rewarding go-to group for business owners in the area offering practical, professional and profitable networking”. Barbara Hodgson astutely saw a gap in the market for a networking event that not only provided the region’s leading businesses with an opportunity to meet other like-minded businesses but to also build a supportive business community. The club format ensures that members always leave with a valuable skill, learning or insight too.
At the meetings members share challenges, offer knowledge and expertise and discuss the business landscape. Elements like the ‘hot seat’ challenge where members discuss issues and receive feedback from peers is very popular. One of the most valued aspects is the opportunity to hear from successful business owners and experts in the ‘spotlight speaker’ and ‘skills’ sessions. These experts offer insightful advice from their own personal stories and challenges. In this first year alone, there has been a raft of local high-profile experts sharing their journeys like Paul McManus, MD of the McManus Pub Group, Gavin Loftus, head of brand at Weetabix, Richard Evans, group director at The Back and Body Clinic and Phil Saxby, owner of Saxby’s Cider.
Angela Clay, Hr:4UK, a Connections Club members states “the Connections Club stands out from any other networking group. You learn from others in an open forum developing both personally and professionally. I particularly enjoy learning about other businesses’ journeys and identifying with their pain points and how they overcame these. Every meeting I take away something new that I can implement into my own business”.
The club takes place 12-2pm on the first Tuesday of every month at Collingtree Golf Club, Northants. Members are carefully selected to ensure the meetings are filled with decision makers, with limited slots per profession. For more information contact Barbara Hodgson on 01933 652884.
