Bristol Link-Up III

No outciders when South West goes social

The Bristol Link-up III: review of recent marketer networking event

10th March 2011

If you want to see local networking at its best, head to Bristol. They love it. The third Only Marketing Jobs South West networking event attracted 160 marketers of all shapes and sizes, galvanising a community entrenched in offline engagement.
From graduates to business owners, the Bristol marketing fraternity was well represented and it was fantastic to witness such palpably natural engagement. In fact, such was the smoothness of interaction, one feels the hosts could have headed home halfway through and nobody would have noticed!

Digital moves

The premise of these networking events is to fuse online social interaction with offline – the traditional (and best!) way to meet people and build relationships. With most attendees connected through the UK Marketing Lounge on LinkedIn, there was synergy from the start.

The use of Twitter amongst Bristol marketers was also obvious, with 60% of the attendees having an account – up 40% from the last event, six months ago. It was great to see headline sponsors, Henry Nicholas, using it not only to promote the event but engage with attendees in the build-up to it. Cracking use of Twitter by a recruitment agency.

The ‘dating’ bit…

Unfazed by the speed-networking session, attendees quickly made the most of meeting five new contacts inside half-an-hour. First-time networkers made invaluable introductions; hirers met potential employees; and marketing peers (there was a notable number of copywriters?) exchanged thoughts and shared opinions in a tremendous display of altruistic passion – social engagement defined!

Prize draws

Immediately after the structured networking the sponsored draws took place, with local premier marketing recruiters, Henry Nicholas and Fishtank, kindly gifting a meal for two and bottle of champagne, respectively. The meal was won by marketing entrepreneur Danny Maddocks; whilst the bubbles went to PR executive, Natalia Peremiquel. Congratulations to both.

Bristol…revisited?

Only Marketing Jobs is committed to running networking events in Bristol as often as time allows. If they aren’t as frequent as you’d like and you would like to help us attract more local marketers to events like this on a regular basis, please get in touch by emailing simon@onlymarketingjobs.com

Things to do now:

1.Check out the event photos via our Facebook page
2.Read the #brizzleLU Twitter transcript and see what was said pre, during and post-event
3.Remind yourself of who attended the Bristol Link-up and connect with them via LinkedIn
4.Follow Only Marketing Jobs on Twitter
 

Thanks again to our event partners

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

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