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

i4detail | 0845 621 1171 | Exeter | Devon | Dorset | South West | UK Nationwide

“I stared at the man sitting opposite me as he studied the sheets of paper I’d pushed towards him. In his late 50s perhaps, pale and podgy from a life lived in an overheated office under the glare of “environmentally friendly” fluorescent lights. I was trying to see if the index finger of his right hand was distended or over-developed after a lifetime of stabbing at a calculator keypad, but I couldn’t quite see. He shuffled the papers, staring at the neat rows of figures, colourful pie charts and graphs.

He sat back in his chair, a black mock leather swivelly chair set a few inches higher than mine. He looked at home and comfortable in his surroundings. I was not comfortable; my chair was small and grey and hard. A “can’t wait till I get out of here” chair.

Eventually, he looked up, a voice just slightly tremulous, saying “Where did you get these?” with just an echo in his voice of a feeling that he had just handled something slightly illegal. As I looked back at him across his desk, I realised … read more…

Not unusually for Bristol the venue was half-full before the official opening time of 6pm.  What is it about Bristol and after-work drinking?!  This set the tone for the evening, with the out-of-bounds areas being opened to accommodate the throng.

Those involved

At 7pm attendees were welcomed to the occasion and introduced to sponsors and event partners, which included: Carol Mann, director of website strategy & planning company, Smart|WP; Mark Thornton, owner of CV writing service, Platinum CVs; and Suzie Sharpe, career coach and owner of corporate personnel development company, Key Change Training. 

 Also amidst the crowd were Nick Wilkins, representative from Cambridge Marketing College and Jane Silk, regional chair of CIM.  Great to see such prestigious organisations spreading their good word. 

The South West is home to some fantastic marketing recruitment agencies and this event was lucky enough to attract the lovely Melanie Scoobie from Xchangeteam and the wonderfully enigmatic girls from Fishtank.  If you are seeking marketing jobs in the South West, you should be contacting these companies. 

Contact-making

 Of course, the purpose of networking is to make new contacts; but some people are better at this than others.  So to encourage relationship development the Link-up events are now supported by networking guru and owner of Advancement Careers, Lloyd Dalton-Brown, who inspires people to meet other people, with verve and purpose.  This was a change to the first Bristol event in February and attendees took to it naturally, thoroughly embracing the seven quick-fire speed introduction sessions.  Speed networking, power networking: call it what you will, but it works.  New business contacts, guaranteed. 

Spirit & sparkle

Despite the constant rain(!) Bristol remains a happy place, where people tend to go about their lives with a spring in their step.  This event was evidence of an invigorated community where networking is not just done, it thrives.  It was amazing to see so many attendees embracing the power of face-to-face interaction, and going about it with passion and vigour.  Nice work, Bristol.  

Bubbles & blushes

In a first for the Link-ups, the recruitment-agency sponsored champagne draw was won by a competitor.  As amused hush descended on the venue, it was the dubious honour of Fishtank’s Julia Rees to hand a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to local horn-locker and new recruitment buddy, Jules Haynes, from Marketing Mix.  The photo of the champagne exchange is priceless.  Testament to Bristol’s recruitment community, though, that it was smiles all the way. 

Join the Bristol community

Bristol is a thriving hub for marketing and advertising professionals.  They really ‘get’ networking and make the most of it, whether online or face-to-face.  If you would like to connect with attendees of this event you can view the registration list and join them in the South West sub-group of the UK Marketing Lounge, which is home to 17,000 UK marketing professionals.  Why not join the Twitter conversation, too. 

View photos of the evening and join the Facebook community.

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Thanks to our magnificent event sponsors…

Hand-picked sponsors delivering you utmost relevance and benefit from their involvement: 

And our wonderful event partners…

An integral part of the OMJ event entourage: 

Did you attend the Bristol Link-up II?  We’d love your feedback on the event.  Please comment below.

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs
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i4detail | 0845 621 1171 | Exeter | Devon | Dorset | South West | UK Nationwide

The video was a bit of a last minute thought by the team and was captured on a Samsung GT-M8910 12 mgpixel camera phone but produced a 2-part video presentation suitable for the restrictive demands of online video and allowing it to appear on YouTube. We also created a slideshow of the stills taken on the night which allows for better quality images to be used online.
Catwalk Video Part 1

The Catwalk Show Finale

Music track “Camino Fuente” by Peter John Ross of Sonnyboo.com

http://www.i4detail.eu/?p=1  
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We offer a portfolio of marketing services; a virtual cabinet full of individual options including web design or refresh, graphic design, search engine marketing, copywriting or promotional materials  - to be designed uniquely for you and your business. 

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