By Phil Spalding cambolc.co.uk, @cambolc, linkedin.com/in/philipspalding66, https://bsky.app/profile/cambolc.bsky.social

Making contact with new collaborators is often difficult for Small to Medium Enterprises. In the past I have attended Best of Haverhill meetings at the local TravelLodge hotel. This was like a lot networking events mainly about people trying to sell goods and services to other small businesses. The unfortunate truth about these types of events is that the service although it sounds impressive is also very expensive. I attended as I wanted to know more about how businesses on a local level made connections. This was in the thirteen year trialling period of Cambridge Online Learning Community. I saw the local MP give a talk and the CEO of the company developing the Haverhill Science Park. This was a lot years before Covid.

The Haverhill Science Park was a great idea but did not progress any further than one building. However that building has become the Epicentre. The first networking meeting I attended was at the National Agricultural at Stoneleigh as part of a group I had joined the Telecottage Association which was all about being connected via dial up computer modems (this was before the internet had transformed from the university and research system, Janet, if I remember the right name). The Telecottage Association did not survive as amodel for remote working basically as the technology at the time was expensive and unrelaible. Fast forward nearly two decades and I again became involved with a remote working group the TeleWork Association of which I was briefly a director. The aim of the group was the promotion of remote working. However, by this time the internet was making the idea of virtual offices ubiquitous (had to get that word in as makes people usually reach for their dictionaries) and so the Telework Association was preaching to the converted. So we became dormant but our presence resulted in a Handbook which is still relevant today.

The Epicentre in Haverhill is a great incubator space for Cambridge Online Learning Community to operate from. I had a great meeting using one of their pods in the co-working area on Tuesday regarding areas of interest, VR and AI. The cafe area is a great place to step away from the screen and have interactions with others that working from home does not provide, the food is good too. Here is where the networking event took place.

The November meeting was well attended. As a new attendee to any event like this stepping back and waiting for the conversation to come to you is always very successful. Never go to one of these meetings with the expectation that you will instantly make a sale of your goods and services. It is a chance for the owner of a small business to realise they are not alone and other people are experiencing that same climate of business as they are, a bit of wellbeing is boosted by talking with others. We are after all social animals and thrive best when we are interacting with others. So going to the event ticked more than one box as I passed my Hello App generated QR code (business card) to at least four people. So hopeful I have four more readers of my WordPress blog. Mission accomplished!