October 6th, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Do you know where you are going to be at about 5:00 pm on Thursday October 10th? You might want to be at the Business Week – Social Fusion Networking & Trade Show and mix with some 500 odd avid networkers at the Performing Arts Centre.
Who will you have the opportunity to meet with? Small business people, trades and services people for the most part. There are the regulars who use the occasion to keep in touch with a large group of people at one location. There isn’t a bar in town where you are going to be able to network with hundreds – and all of them sober.
Social Fusion Network’s first trade show and meet up at the performing Arts Centre – well attended.
Run by James Burchill, the Social Fusion Networking group is for people and businesses doing business in Burlington Ontario. SFN Burlington (aka BiB – Business in Burlington) is not the Chamber of Commerce. There are no memberships, no fees, no agenda – just show up and you’re in.
Burchill, a shameless promoter, defines himself as Marketing Strategist • Author • Trainer • Speaker. He has done what a lot of independent people set out to do and that is find a niche he can work and grow. On occasion he has had a flashy red Ferrari parked outside the location he is using; some lucky person will get a chance to drive the thing.
Burchill – regularly in the Gazette
Burchill also writes a column for the Gazette where he tends to assuage his technical bent. Type the word Mojo into the search box – and you get to see everything the man has written for us. His take on Tweet going public was interesting and his background on wearable devices are both worth a read.
For the Business Week event the marketing angle is a cool $500 cash gift. You have to be in the room to personally take that cash home.
Many people wonder – are these events worth the time? There are just under 2000 people who have registered with the Network and show up on an infrequent basis. Originally held at the Waterfront Hotel Burchill had to find a venue with more room and is now at the Ivy Kitchen and Bar on the South Service Road.
Burchill probably has the best collection of relevant business cards in the city.
Finding the metric that tells if the event worked or not isn’t as simple as counting the number of people who came through the door. There is nothing for people to actually buy – other than a drink at one of the most impressive bars in the city, so there are no sales numbers. How any people return – something in the range of 250 – 350 each month; on occasion it climbs higher.
One of the indicators that says a lot is the number of people who commented on the event on the web site – there were 321 feedbacks for the first trade show. I didn’t see anything negative when I scrolled through.
This “trade show” is the second Burchill has held. The take up on this event has been better than that of the first – so he is on to something. The Gazette met a woman at one of the MeetUps who now writes a regular column for us – and we didn’t even have to buy a ticket to get in. So for us, networking clearly works.
Burchill has taken to calling his operation the Social Fusion Network – it works and the five $100 bills he is waving in the air may turn out to be the enticement that moves his numbers up.
Is the event worth the time – yeah it is something you want to take in. Don’t break a great dinner date opportunity to get there but if you’re looking for a place to relax a bit and have a cool one as James would say – drop in. Starts just after 5 pm – runs till 7:30. Bring your wallet – you might need a place to stash the cash.
