Warning: my networking group went from 4 deals a year to 19 after we killed the weekly speaker slot | Atlanta Networking - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Warning: my networking group went from 4 deals a year to 19 after we killed the weekly speaker slot
Everyone in Atlanta networking keeps saying you need a guest speaker every week to keep people coming. I disagreed. Our group in Buckhead ran a 20 minute speaker slot every Tuesday for two years. From January 2022 to January 2024 we closed 4 deals total between all 14 members. In February 2024 we dropped the speaker and gave that time to open floor, just members saying what they need and what they can offer. By this past June we had counted 19 deals. Same members, same room, same dues. The difference was that people actually started talking to each other instead of staring at a guy with a slide deck. I think the speaker made us feel productive without any of us having to do the hard part, which is asking for help. Has anyone else seen a group get better after cutting something out?