A GUIDE TO OUR EVENTS
Hundreds of north east entrepreneurs have been members of the Entrepreneurs' Forum over the past 20 years and we’ve gathered their best tips and red flags on how to make the most of your membership and what practices to avoid.
Best Practices
• Prioritise attending events
Members who attend events during the year, put them in their diaries and commit to attend, do better. That’s how you meet interesting peers and open the world of opportunity presented by our incredible network. Check out our upcoming events and select some for your first few months of membership to get you started.
• Put effort into getting to know your fellow members
Some members make lifelong mentors and friends through connections made at Forum events. Invest your time in getting to know your fellow members.
• Listen and make notes
Listen to the content of the talks and discussions, ideally making notes. Our diverse speaker line-up will challenge the way you think so use our notepads to write down your own ideas to take back to your business. Revisit your notes after the event to reflect on how the lessons shared could help you.
• Practice your introductions
We run lots of round table discussions and dinners and you may be asked to introduce yourself. Keeping it to the recommended 1-2 mins may mean you can’t always say everything there is to say about yourself but don’t worry. A short introduction is always better and appreciated by your fellow guests.
Red Flags
• Don't explicitly sell
A sales pitch may be tempting, particularly if you see a good opportunity but it’s unlikely to be well received by the recipient. That’s why we don’t recommend the business card exchange style networking and instead promote getting to know your fellow members as peers.
• Don't restrict yourself to certain event types / geographies
Whilst it can be tempting to stick to the events closest to your home and office, we recommend making time to attend the events you think you’ll get most value for, regardless of location. You might need to travel across the region but surprise yourself on how quick journey times actually are. Experiment with event formats to find the style that works for you.
• Don't let your enthusiasm for the topic dominate the conversations
Members come to our events to learn from each other and from the speakers. You may find you are very knowledgeable about a particular topic and it can be very tempting to convey your expertise. Whilst we encourage contributions, try not to dominate the discussion and allow those with less knowledge to ask questions. You won’t be seen as less of an expert by backing off – in fact you’ll probably learn more from the questions raised by other guests.
