February 2011 by New North B2B

February 2011

NETWORKING

Submitted photos

Above, recent THRIVE event at Bazil’s in Downtown Appleton, and at right, another event at Wild Truffle in Appleton.

26 l NEW NORTH B2B l FEBRUARY 2011

Laid back approach

Branching out

Its very “structure,” if you will, is believed to be a big reason for its success. THRIVE events have no formal program and remain simple so that participants can come and go as they please. Nor are there any formal membership or attendance requirements. You don’t even need an invitation to attend and no attendees need to make a speech. They just hand out business cards to others as they see fit. There are no dues or membership fees to “join,” or other hidden strings. There are no expectations and the organization doesn’t have staff, formal bylaws, exclusivity clauses, obligations or a formal board of directors. All one has to do is show up for lunch and support the restaurant. And if an attendee can’t stay long, they might order something to go and visit with others while their meal is prepared. The only expense is the cost of a meal, said Schneider. “Some people just show up for the networking, and that’s great too,” she said. There’s no hard requirement for the restaurants either. No special menu is required as the group orders off the menu, nor do they have to rearrange tables to accommodate a large group. The restaurant just has to be able to accommodate perhaps as many as 45 people trickling in between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for lunch, seating them at tables close to one another, and providing individual checks for each person.

Rick Steeber, the member development associate with the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce, attended some of the Fox Cities chapter lunches, but couldn’t always make the event. So he decided to help start a chapter in Green Bay and De Pere. That way, too, he thought, their group could give the same kind of exposure to area restaurants that weren’t perhaps as well known. “It’s more of a relationship-building networking kind of thing than anything else. It’s not like a BNI or chamber group. I’m not putting those down, but they do require certain things, which we don’t in THRIVE,” he said. “We just meet with people we know and many we don’t know, have lunch, and chat with each other. It’s an easier way to meet people and kind of build up a little rapport without having to listen to speeches and so forth at every meeting or whatever.” Krista Williams, a relocation consultant for Schroeder Moving Systems, Inc. in Appleton and an organizer of the Fond du Lac chapter of THRIVE agreed, indicating it’s not just about connecting with each other, but helping others connect with each other, too. “It’s real common for a business owner to come to THRIVE and say ‘Hey, I’m having an issue with such and such,’ or ‘Do you guys know how to handle such and such,’ whatever it may be, and this gives them a place to bounce ideas off