What You Should Expect From a Good Business Networking Seminar

Business networking seminars and workshops are big business and with so many organizations getting in on the act it's important to understand what to expect so that you don't waste your money.

Perhaps you are considering attending a business networking seminar – maybe you want to lean more about how to network effectively, maybe you want to develop your business networking skills and confidence or perhaps you see it as a great opportunity simply to network with others.

All of these are great reasons to attend a seminar and I know that whenever I have attended business networking workshops, talks or seminars I have always got something from them. However there plenty of people now who provide such training, and some are clearly less good than others, so if you have a choice think carefully what you should expect to be covered and how they are run.

If you are going to take the time out to actually travel to and attend a course you should be expecting more than a few hints and tips that you can get from a good website. The whole point of face to face to courses it that they provide the opportunity to practice business networking skills (and even better get feedback) and also to network face to face with others who too are interested in networking. So if the seminar is literally a talk with little interaction you may question whether it is worth your time and money…there is plenty here on the web. Just type in business networking advice and you will come across a whole host of useful websites.

I remember when I first attended business networking seminars there were interactive exercises right from the beginning to get us feeling relaxed, talk to the other participants and practice the skills we were being introduced to. I also remember the seminar was highly entertaining and one of its main strengths was the fact that it was being lead by a charismatic figure who knew his stuff.

So, find out about the provider of the training or seminar - what track record do they have in networking - have they run networking groups, have they built up their own business from networking and when you contact them are they demonstrating the basic skills of networking i.e. showing a genuine interest in you and what you do, or are they straight into a sales pitch…if they are I would question whether they are a credible provider of networking training.

Find out too who else will be attending the seminar. After all if you have a choice of several program all appearing to offer similar content and one stands out as being attended by a whole host of contacts who could be useful to you, then this might influence your decision.

If you a part of a larger organization there may be a number of you who need to network as part of your role so a more cost effective option may be to have an in-house program which is tailored to not only your needs as a networker but also the organization. A good tailor-made program should take into account the current skill and confidence level of you and the other participants, where you currently network and what you would want to get from the program