Having heard about women’s networks in NI and looked up a few online, I soon began to feel a little confused (like some others I spoke to), due to the similarities in names.  Below, I have set out each organisation I am aware of and a little of their flavour.

Business Women’s Network

Area:  This is a joint venture, including Antrim, Londonderry, Tyrone and Down.  Individual networks are listed in order below.

Website:  www.bwnni.com

Contact:  Each individual organisation’s contact details are available by clicking a link to their website.  For full contact details, visit individual websites, or InvestNI.

Women on the Move

Area:  Ballymena

Website:  www.womenonthemove.org.uk

Contact:  Joanne Brown-Kerr

Membership: £30 (annual)

• They run monthly networking events, with invited speakers, some of whom are from among the membership.

Women in Enterprise

Area:  Londonderry

Website:  www.womeninenterprise.org.uk

Contact:  Toni Forrester

• They run networking events and supply business information.
• At the time of posting this blog, many of the menu links were not working, so it was impossible to investigate the membership, events or other information further.

Network for Enterprising Women

Area:  Fermanagh and Tyrone.

Website:  www.networkforenterprisingwomen.net

Contact:  Ruth Daly

Membership: £50 (annual)

• They run joint networking events with other NI women’s networks and deliver both training and business news, including an e-zine.
• They’ve had a nice idea of highlighting one particular business by adding a Role Models page.
• A Business Information page lists some useful business websites, together with a full listing of network members’ websites.

Enterprising Women’s Network

Area:  Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon, Down, Newry and Mourne.

Website:  www.enterprising-women.net

Contact:  Margaret Andrews

Membership: £40 (annual)

• They meet monthly and offer information sessions and training events.
• Inter-trading, Mentoring, and Confidence Building are some of their more unique services.
• They emphasize that they are men-friendly!

Women in Business

Area:  Belfast

Website:  www.womeninbusinessni.com

Contact:  Nicki Bayes

Membership: £100 (annual)

• This organisation is independent of the Business Womens Network.
• Unique features include a News and Podcasts page and online booking for events.
• Small, invitation-only lunches are held on a regular basis, to assist women to network more effectively, and to allow interested parties to find out more about the network.  I attended one recently held at the Ramada Encore.
• They also run Women Into Business, an organisation dedicated to those women who’re thinking of starting a business, but not quite there yet.

Finally, if anyone’s interested in meeting other Twitter business users, we’re having a TweetUp in Belfast, next Thursday!  Let us know you’re coming.

Last night, I attended Women on the Move‘s networking event, with Liz Weir as the speaker.  Liz delivered a fascinating talk entitled Storytelling – A Vital Business Communication Tool.  Liz is also speaking at our Storytelling, Business and Innovation event which you can read more about here.  The two concepts that captured my imagination during the talk were memory and emotions.

Memory

Liz explained how stories are incredible memory devices.  She reminded us that in our country, we have a disappearing oral tradition, where stories have been passed from generation to generation, and how yarn-spinners are great entertainers, often without knowing it.  And, we remember.  She challenged us to think of good and bad customer service experiences and how we always relate them to several friend and business contacts.  Now, that happens not only in person, but online.  It was a challenge to think what stories might competitors or customers might be telling about us.  And, encouraging, in that a good customer service story about the experience we offer to our customers could travel far.

Emotions

Liz also spoke about how stories, of all kinds, often evoke emotions.  She was adamant that if not, then either the story or the storyteller was at fault.  This set my thoughts in motion about previous sales seminars, where we are generally told that a sale is an emotional decision.  If that could be connected to a story, then perhaps people would remember and take action when they needed a certain product.  A story is connected to the emotion, and that is what is brought to the fore, when a story is told or recalled.  Fascinating stuff, when you think of the power of stories, as an essential business tool!

It was also great to catch up with other organisers and members of Women on the Move, who now have a new Facebook Page.

Listen to Allen’s radio interview about the event (11/04/08) on U105 here.

Mutual understanding between the sexes is a key for greater harmony in the home, workplace and society.  We’ll look at how psychologists have described the differences between the way the sexes see and interact with the world.  You’ll learn the secrets of: communicating with men, understanding strange male behaviour patterns, and how to handle them in conflict situations.

Following this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe the various psychological theories regarding differences between the male and female thinking and perceiving styles
• Appreciate the principles of inter-gender communication strategy
• Identify and handle interpersonal conflict situations in which gender plays a role

Venue: Queen’s University, Belfast

When: Saturday, 26/04/08

Time: 9.30 – 4.30

Cost: £23

QUB is hosting this event.  Please call the School of Education (Open Learning) on 028 9097 3539/3323 or email openlearning.education@aub.ac.uk to book your place.

The Essential Difference, Simon Baron-Cohen, Penguin Books, 2004

The sub-title blurb of this seminal book is ‘Forget Mars and Venus, and Discover the Truth About the Opposite Sex’. Baron-Cohen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Cambridge University, goes out of his way to distance his book from its famous predecessor (John Gray, Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus). This is a more scientifically researched, less anecdotally peppered book. It is Mars and Venus for an audience that is sceptical of American ‘pop psychology’ and self-help over-simplifications. The book’s central claim is that men are women are different at a neurological level. Simply put, our brains, like our bodies, are built to interact with the world in distinct ways. The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy (what we otherwise call ‘emotional intelligence’). The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems (from maps to music to maths). Baron-Cohen applies his findings to larger areas of culture (gender roles and parenting) and biology (hormones and hemispheres). As a provocative aside, he sets out his theory that autism is a form of extreme male-brain behaviour. Several useful appendices contain tests for measuring empathy and systemising quotients.

This book is the best of its kind – experimentally founded, calmly reasoned, duly nuanced. It has the power to explain much about our human behaviour that up until now has found expression in jokes and clichés. It is not a sexist book. Neither does it shy away from the realities of gender difference for the sake of perceived political correctness. What it does not attempt is an application of its findings to the realm of work, beyond merely observing statistical facts about men in engineering and woman in caring professions. I would have liked a model for how the sexes can function reciprocally in an office environment or when working on a single project, with each adding something to the other and contributing to the furtherance of the whole. But, maybe that’s for another book….

I’m due to attend yet another networking event tomorrow evening (hosted by Women on the Move).

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when fun barbecues (where it’s often easier to mix) turn to enclosed spaces in upmarket conference suites in hotels, where you are expected to speak to other entrepreneurs, sell your business or promote your idea.

It’s terrifying, I’ll admit, the first time round. But here are some surefire ways to get those butterflies flying in formation (lovely imagery, unashamedly stolen from a friend)!

My strategies:

1. Familiarise yourself with the list of attendees. Most organisations that host networking events will have a list, if not by name at least by organisation. It’s worth scanning that before you go, to help you tailor your marketing materials, select an appropriate business card, or have a pre-prepared spiel ready.
2. Dress appropriately. At most networking events I attend, 80% of people appear to have just left the workshop or got up from a computer screen and arrive crumpled and untidy. Would you do business with someone who was not prepared to pay attention to their own image? Perhaps they will pay as little attention to your business image? It’s a fact (get over it) that our society pays lots of attention to appearance.
3. If you are trying to get a conversation going with another business person, try the following openers: Tell me about your business/business idea? What is the most positive thing you have gained from these events? Have you designed your marketing materials or website yet? Can you recommend….? I met our logo designer and several venue hosts at networking meetings.
4. Your elevator speech is the greatest tool you have to start off conversations (so-called because it should be entirely repeatable in a short elevator ride). It is what you say in response to, So, what is your business? Know what you stand for and how you stand out.
5. To help promote your business, take a business card, flyer or other promotional material with you. This helps to professionalise your business (along with that smart suit!). Ensure it is made by a quality company and packaged well.
6. Finally, smile! No apologies for the cliché. Nothing encourages contact like a friendly face. If you find other attendees unwelcoming, move on to the next person. And, remember, work that room!

We can help with your networking anxieties. Contact us for some Business Coaching, or attend our next Networking workshop.

This post appeared first on LInked Business Strategists, for which Sensei Learning and Performance writes a weekly column on Business Start-up Strategies.  You can join the forum and read other similar columns and blogs, by signing up as a user.

Update 25/10/07: I met some new people tonight and made contacts which will be useful for the future, as well as listening to a very interesting talk by Hammy Tappenden.