First BNI Meeting
August 21, 2003
Yesterday I attended my first BNI meeting. BNI is like an uber networking group where they make no bones about the fact that people are there to swap business contacts, and not talk about the weather. The chapter I visited is the oldest in Dublin and the largest – BNI Airport.
At 7am, I arrived bleary eyed and a little tired to see how proceedings went. My situation wasn’t helped by the fact that TG4 had shown “Boogie Nights’ until 1am the previous night and I had stayed up to watch it.
Proceedings begin with a circuit of the table where everyone gets to speak about their business for 1 minute. The idea is that if you attend every week and listen, soon you’ll be fully aware of what everyone else does and so you’ll be able to recommend their services to people who need them. Each week one person gets to speak for 8 minutes. After that is the official swapping of leads and contacts.
There were 82 referrals at the session I attended yesterday! That’s pretty good – averages about 2 per person.
What a good concept – to have 39 excellent networkers and smart business people out marketing your business on your behalf!
Downsides? Commitment to attend every week at 7am. I was starting to flag yesterday at around 3pm, it felt like late at night! Also, you do have to pay €600 to join, which is the most out of all such networking groups in this city. However, if it generates business like I imagine it does, that would be paid for in the first job.
I can attend 2 more sessions as a visitor and I will before I make my decision of whether to join. But in the meantime, if anyone needs a good painter/printer/copy writer/designer/accountant/lawyer…just let me know I can refer you to some of Dublin’s finest!