Palm Springs is a very unique area. It is very close to Riverside and San Bernardino and only a few hours from Los Angeles. Yet, we are not as networking saavy as those areas. Palm Springs is full of entrepreneurs but they seem to be unaware of the purpose of networking. I am not saying all people are like this, I know quite a few people that live in Palm Springs and they contribute much of their success to networking events. Palm Springs has their local Chamber of Commerse, Several Chapters of BNI, ABWA, Rotary, and many charity organizations. The newest networking group in the area is The Joy of Connecting This group focuses on Women business owners that are looking to connect with one another. It is set in the hosts home and has a light dinner and then focused networking. When the women leave they feel like they really know the person they just met which falls in line with the quote from Michael S. Clouse who says people do business with people they know, like and trust.  The founder of The Joy of Connecting is Bonnie Ross Parker. If you are interested in attending or starting one of your own Joy of Connecting events, look up the next event at The Joy of Connecting

I would be interested in hearing your feedback on what you look for in a networking group. (i.e. Time of Day, Day of Week, Location, Price etc)

I have been networking for 14 years since I owned my first business. I belonged to BNI a breakfast group, 3 Chambers, and a Wedding Assoc network group. I received many leads and enjoyed the contacts I made. I still speak to many of those same people today even though I am in a different business as I sold my Florist when I had my daughter 6 years ago. I have recently became the licensee of my own network group called www.thejoyofconnecting.com but I also belong to the American Business Womens Association, and go to many seminars that train on the art of networking. I truly believe it’s an art. When I first started networking 14 years ago, I used to think, what can I get out of this? Now after many years I have learned its about what you can give back to others. A great book on this is by Bob Burg called Endless Referrals. My life has changed dramatically for the better in the last 14 years, with many things attributing to that. When I go to a networking event, I try to connect with someone and give them ideas for them to reach more customers and then during the next few weeks until I see them again, I am looking for people that I can refer them to. A perfect example is last week, I met a lady that has a childrens newspaper. We sat for 30 minutes and brainstormed on all the people that could help her. It’s a blast helping others. Remember, you don’t have to network in groups, the key is learning how to do it where-ever your at.

Any thoughts or comments on how you network and what works for you is appreciated.

I went to my first speed networking event this week. I have been attending this monthly group for a few months, but this was more one on one. I had a great time and learned a lot about peoples professions, but more on how people go about networking and the things they tell about themselves or their company. There was a little confusion on how to set this up as far as making sure everyone talked to each other. We did miss a few people. I would like to hear if anyone has some imput if they had done this before. I think its a great idea. We had one minute to talk to each person and then they got to talk to me. It was a little noisy so we had to pay close attention to each other.  I may try to implement this sometime into my own networking group I host, called www.thejoyofconnecting.com