Newbury Business Group guest breakfast a great success
Tuesday 4 October, 2011
Newbury Business Group held a guest day at the Donnington Valley Hotel recently and 50 members and guests mingled over a hearty breakfast that brought together entrepreneurs, professionals and tradespeople.
West Berkshire’s foremost independent networking organisation normally meets up the road at the Donnington Valley Golf Club, but such was the interest from guests it made sense to hold it at the hotel – even then we did not anticipate our numbers swelling to 50!
There is always a great buzz in the room when people who have not yet met one another meet and the relaxed approach of NBG always encourages animated conversation over breakfast, neatly captured here in a photograph by Mike Samuels Photography.
That said, the extra guests meant one of two of the members did miss out on breakfast after operating a stoic policy of ‘FHB’ – well at least that was what it was called growing up when unexpected guests would turn up at meal time. ‘Family Hold Back’ ensured there was enough to go around!
There was no skimping on the one-minute presentations that are so essential to networking and under the guidance of chairman Mark Arrowsmith everyone, guests and members, were able to deliver a quick presentation on their business and approach.
At the end, together with Nigel Morgan and Caroline Billington, the assembled guests discovered how the NBG approach differs from other networking groups.
For a start, we do not lock out competition, but seek to find ways members with similar or overlapping services can collaborate to attract more business for them both, nor do we charge guests for breakfast - visitors can come up to three times, never paying and can then decide if they would like to join the group.
Newbury Business Group is not for profit and charges £100 to join and then £100 per quarter, which pays for members’ breakfasts, their guests’ breakfasts and the Christmas party too.
Would you like to visit the Newbury Business Group? It meets every Friday morning at Donnington Valley Golf Club from 7.30am to 9.00am. Call 01635 812006, the booking hotline sponsored by members Verbatim, to book your seat at the NBG table today. Or discover more on the group's website, designed and maintained by Companion Computers.