Networking in Surrey News – week beginning 2 January 2012

Tonight is Twelfth Night – so the holiday season is now officially over, the Christmas decorations are back in the loft, and it’s time to put your networking shoes on and get back out there... and post your blogs, events and offers on Networking in Surrey!

You’ll find hundreds of events on NiS in the EVENTS and Regular Group Meetings sections, and many more on our sister site - Networking in Berkshire.

Networking in Surrey is a powerful tool to help local businesses to network more effectively and cost-effectively. We like to think it’s the most user-friendly and informative listing of business networking events in Surrey – and among the best in the UK. In fact, we’re sometimes better at listing events than the organisers themselves! Lots of Members are saying great things about us, like Jane Hardy: "Happy New Year Keith! Thanks for NiS - please keep being great.. ." It's lovely to be appreciated (cheque's in the post, Jane!)

We start 2012 having just passed the 800-Member milestone (fanfare!) – meet the newest Members here. Visitor numbers held up well during December, with just under 1200 unique visitors, despite the inevitable lull over the Christmas period. That’s great news for our advertisers, who sponsor the site and help keep it free for the whole world to use. Check them out by clicking on the ads which appear on every page.

I mentioned before Christmas that we’d be launching an optional enhanced ‘NiS Plus’ paid Membership in the New Year, and our plans are nearing fruition. Without giving too much away, NiS Plus will offer exclusive benefits based around strategic group networking, including a monthly meeting in boardroom/mastermind style, along with webinars on business issues, and expert training in networking skills - and much, much more...

I’ve been predicting for a while now that the next trend in networking will be value-added groups, and now I’m about to put my theory into practice. Naturally, existing NiS Members will be offered the best deal to join NiS Plus, so please watch this space!

Diary of a Networker...

My diary is already filling up with great events for the New Year. Is yours? The new season will really get into full swing from next week, but I kick-started the year with a Business Biscotti session at the NY Bar in Cobham on Tuesday. We had a great meeting despite the appalling weather, and I wished a Happy New Year to NiS Members Gayle Joubert, Sonia Duggan, Chris Towndrow, David Burge (who took this lovely seasonal photo!) and Jeremy Webb, among others. No sign of Tessa Hood though – she’d wisely delayed her homecoming to wind-and-rain-swept Cobham, by extending her stay in sunny Cuba. Tough at the top...