Networking, Networking and Networking!!

Wow I cant believe how fast the last fews have gone, the semester is nearly coming to an end! I haven't posted for a while so here is an update of the last few weeks. It has been very busy for Via Appia Networking WA, as there has been a few events every week for the past few weeks. I have been really enjoying them and improved on my networking skills and increasing my confidence and commuincation skills. I can't wait to tell you about the events I have been attending.. So here we go... Firstly, I went to an event called True Local, held at Black Toms in West Perth. It was a fun event, based around Social Media. NetworkingWA had invited their members and business people of Perth to come and socialize and mingle the night away with yummy food and drinks. Since the topic for the event was based around Social Media, the director and other employees at NetworkingWA had decided to set up foursquare for the event. So when people arrived, they had to check in, and then they are put into a draw to win a prize. ( I thought this was a great way to get people to come) It was an interesting night for myself, as I was made to network and scope out the room. It was a little scary at first, but it all got very easy as the night went along. I even got to meet the other intern who is working for them, and she is really nice. They even had a great speaker come from Sydney to talk about Social Media and the effects of it across Australia. The night was a success and I even managed to score some business cards, which I was pretty excited about. The second event that I went to was a promotional event for a bar called 'On the Terrace' in Claremont, it was much more laid back and fun. There was some delicious food served and free drink on arrival with some acoustic tunes, what more could you ask for! I even invited a couple of friends a long. This event was more about trying to appeal to a younger crowd, as they atract an older crowd most the time. It really showed me how hard it would be to advertise a bar these days, as social media is so heavily relied on and I feel it isn't as accurate as everyone thinks it is. So many people utilise facebook and twitter to promote their events, but who actually comes along to them? So you have to have the inspiration and creativity to really appeal to people when informing them on facebook! I learnt that it must be very hard to get the word out there and stand out from your competitors. So the last few weeks have been very busy for Via Appia Networking WA and I now know that it is very important to have a lot of confidence and skill when communicating with anyone. I have learnt how to properly network and interacted and met some really interesting people. It excites me for the future and opened my eyes to what jobs are out there. There is so much more to learn, that's all I can say. Thats all for now..I will post again soon :) Katherine G