What is a business breakfast?
Breakfast is booming
The business breakfast is booming.
Business people have been attending breakfast meetings for many years now. In recent times the number and variety of these meetings has increased dramatically and ‘networking’ has become the new buzzword in business. In many respects it has come to redefine the way we market our businesses.
It's about networking, isn't it?
With any new trend comes confusion. We become confused about why we do something, what we want to achieve and how we will get there. Sometimes we are not even sure what our objectives are in the first place. Ask many people about ‘networking’ and they assume it is all about generating sales. Ask others and they may even enquire whether you are referring to connecting computers or telephone systems!
What is networking anyway?
It is important to have a clear definition of ‘networking’ before you start, as this underpins everything we have the potential to achieve from running our own business breakfast meetings. The networking of computer equipment provides a strong model and excellent metaphor. Think of your desktop PC and what it was able to achieve when you first took it out of the box. Not much, was it? Then you plugged it in, added some software and were in business. But what happened when you started to network it to other devices?
You may have added a printer to get a hard copy of your work, then perhaps a scanner, an external drive and more devices still. And the more you added the more you were then able to use it for more purposes, adding further information and software as you went. The more you added the further you enhanced the value of your PC.
If you work in an office you may have connected your computer with the other PCs, so you could share information with your colleagues. The more connected you were the more information could be stored and be available to you all. Finally, by connecting your computer to a modem and a telephone line, you could access the Internet and share information with computers across the world.
This example illustrates how networking helps an individual to enhance his potential by sharing resources and experiences with others. And it’s just the same for people as it is for machines. By connecting ourselves to others and benefiting from their connections, their knowledge and their experience, we can achieve much more than if we were left to our own devices.
It is important to remember that this connectivity only works if it becomes a ‘two way street’ and is of mutual benefit. It is no coincidence that the Internet works on a network known as the ‘world-wide web’. A web consists of many different strands connecting to create a mass greater than the whole. Should one strand break then the web is not likely to function as effectively.
Strength from diverse skills
It is the combined forces of all of the strands that give the web its strength. Networking is about sharing our individual resources. This is what makes the business networking format so successful – groups of business skills are brought together for the benefit of all.
Members are expected to give to the g
