AS K T H E E X PE RT
Emma Mills-Sheffield Mindsetup Ltd T: 07775 947 818 E: emma@mindsetup.co.uk
James Dempster, Managing Director Cobb Digital T: 01273 208 913 E: James@cobbdigital.com
Lisa Seymour, Managing Director Made By Spoken T: 01273 964044 E: lisa@madebyspoken.co.uk
Ask the expert
How to build meaningful relationships online. Ask the expert
Since running our Three at Three
sessions, one thing has been made
abundantly clear
– there is the need for a space that
enables real conversations and real
connections. Every week we’re blown away by the honesty and clarity that
people speak with. We’ve heard real war stories, redundancies, directors taking second jobs and people considering
downsizing their homes...These are not the normal conversations you would have pre COVID-19 in a networking
group. It could be argued that the time we’re in has hugely contributed to the
level of honesty, but we also think that
what we’ve created is special. So, what have we learnt and what will we bring into the post COVID-19 world? Frame sessions
One of the things we started to do from the outset was a detailed intro at the
66 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk
beginning of each session. We don’t
mean “Hi, I’m John and I sell AI solutions. Contact me for your exclusive 15% off,” we mean setting out what the session is
about at the beginning, establishing rules and expectations. So at the beginning of each of our sessions we remind people
that nothing gets repeated outside of the
session, the questions that we’re framing the session around (for example, how to create a cult following) and how people can interact (as simple as reminding
people that they can physically raise their
hand, press the “raise hand” button or just politely interject.) This may seem obvious, but people like to know what’s expected
of them. It sets the scene and means that everyone can relax and take part.
Don’t worry if topics veer away from your intended discussion
Emma and Lisa are brilliant at thinking of topics and researching them before the discussion. James is not. Often
the discussion will meander away from
the intended direction, but that’s ok.
It’s this space that creates some of the best discussion that we’ve seen (for
instance, have you had a think about
how many sick days your teams have recorded since lockdown? Compare
that to 2019 for the same time period. You’re welcome.)
Key discussion pieces so far
Adapting to change is how we’ll
succeed — it’s not about being the
strongest or most intellectual (Darwin was covered on one of our early
sessions for those who missed it).
For us it means that how we respond to our audience, or client needs, and adapt to solve their problems will
stand us in a stronger position than being too concerned about what
our competitors are doing. They’re adapting quickly too, after all.
Accepting where you are right now is a positive point — things aren’t normal,
