Wired Wessex

 

Congratulations to Wired Wessex member Brian McCausland for winning the Testimonial Drawing! His win entitles him to attend all Wired Wessex monthly networking events for free for one year! This is a cost savings of up to £110!

In September, we put out a call for testimonials to describe how Wired Wessex had made a difference in your business or life, in general. We were not inundated with responses, unfortunately, but the few that responded gave wonderful comments, including:

“I have been to a number of business networking events but Wired Wessex easily provides the best ones by far that I have attended. I am involved in a business start up situation with a creative new idea that I want to develop. I recently heard about Wired Wessex via Business Link and decided to give it a try a few months back.

First and foremost I have found that WW meetings have a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where there is a sense of looking for opportunities to exchange ideas and support – rather than being the B2B selling environment that characterises some other such gatherings. In other words it is a well-facilitated, effective networking environment that I look forward to attending each month.

Secondly, things happen at WW events! At my first meeting I enjoyed meeting a new contact who has since offered be a guinea pig for my research and development. At the next meeting I met a number of people including one who suggested that I could ask a significantly higher price for my business offering than I had previously thought. This immediately helped me in negotiating my first sale shortly afterwards!

At subsequent meetings I re-connected with my new friends and others to whom they introduced me – some of whom were interested using in my services. And I was able to offer suggestions to others in a reciprocal way. I have also connected with people from WW on LinkedIn and learned from the very worthwhile presentations given at WW events. All in all it is a great club!”

“Having attended numerous Wired Wessex events and having obtained some benefit from nearly every event there was one that has proved life changing for me.

It was the event about Mind mapping and how it could benefit business thinking and efficiency. I went along uncertain of its benefits and what it could do for me but happy to learn more. Within minutes the speaker convinced me that there was more to this than meets the eye. Later after the presentation i spoke briefly to the presenter who recommended I buy some software and a book. I did both of these things and now I mind map almost every project within my business using an ipad.

As a creative writer defining what needs to be said and putting this in context, was in the past, a bit hit and miss. I used to accept this as part of my creative process but never had any background or logic behind what i had written – just a final article. Now with mind mapping i am able not only to see whether my final texts include what I set out to do but perhaps more importantly enable me to go back and review a project and write similar articles without having to go though the laborious creative process yet again.

Now i find i can at least double my creative work out put. This not only saves me time and makes me more productive it provides me with more saleable material. Without attending the Wired Wessex event none of this would have happened and i would still be struggling with my antiquated and quaint creative ways. At last i feel my creative writing has finally embraced the digital age and for that i am very grateful. please keep up the good work.

I am looking forward to attending other enlightening events and have recommended Wired Wessex (an taken along guests) to recent meetings.”

“In 2008 I booked trade space at the South Wiltshire Business EXPO without any clear plan for how I would be presenting my business. At a Wired Wessex event in Winchester the month before the EXPO, I met Steve Bratt who, at the time, was employed by Rendili Ltd at West Wellow. Steve was very supportive and agreed to assist on the day of the EXPO in Salisbury City Hall. A photo taken by Steve on the day has even found its way onto the Salisbury Ambassador’s Website!! http://www.ambassadors-salisbury.com/expo.html

More recently, I met James Potter (www.thelinkedinman.com) at the July Wired Wessex event in the Discovery Centre Performance Hall and following a one2one meeting with him in September, he agreed to deliver a presentation at the FSB Salisbury Branch AGM in Salisbury on Wednesday, 2 November 2011.

There have also been many other instances where a connection would probably not have been made if I had not been a regular attendee at Wired Wessex Events.”

Thank you to those that participated and we look forward to continuing to provide area SMEs with excellent networking opportunitie and useful presentations!