While the idea might be taboo, mixing business and pleasure is the foundation of The Board Meeting.
The group recently formed a North Shore chapter to attract local professionals and business owners to casually network every Friday night.
Leanne Woodward, a local real estate agent and co-organizer of The Board Meeting, says this group is not entirely about networking, businesstalk or being social, but incorporating a piece of all three and letting the rest of the chips fall where they may.
"I attend formal networking meetings, and they are good, but with this one you come in, you have a cocktail and meet other business owners," she says. "It's a little less intimidating, because you're not really there to sell yourself."
Woodward says the group has been organizing meetings on the North Shore for about three months now, and each time she's been able to make at least one new connection without the tension of a business environment and without any false modesty.
"It's a good time because it's at the end of the work day and it's just two hours," she says.
The weekly meetings officially run from 4 to 6 p.m., but interested parties can arrive and leave as they please.
Lara Regan, Woodward's co-worker and co-organizer of the group, agrees.
"Consistently, weekly we have about 15 to 25 people," Regan said. "We get every kind of business."
Off the top of her head she says there's a professional voice actor, stagers, professional organizers, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, health practitioners and naturopaths, lawyers, computer experts - and the list goes on.
"It's a real diverse group of people," Regan says. "And the whole point of a casual setting is yes, you can talk about business, but what you can find is you can have a more personal relationship with other people there."
Since starting the group a few months ago Regan has seen her business receive a boost from referrals.
"You want to support local business because we're all in it together," Regan says. "It's a good way to do that."
Depending on the week, a meeting can attract anywhere from 15 to 100 business owners.
Building a business is about networking and building a relationship with the community around you, and the more you get your face out there the more people will remember you, according to Woodward.
"In my job in particular, from the time someone starts to think about buying or selling a house to actually doing it, it can be between six months to a year," she says. "To me, this is a long-term thing."
Woodward, Regan, and fellow organizers Michael Thorne and Patrick von Pander's weekly meetings change every Friday. To find out where they will be next email [email protected] or [email protected].
