On August 29, 2019 we partnered to create a networking event in Pitt County for agency representatives. The event was successful, with calls for future events (we’ll start planning soon!) and for replicating it in other areas and with more partners. Below you will find links to various documents used in the planning and presentation of this event. This information is simply a guide for you to build upon, and we would love to hear about any modifications you make in your area. We feel that networking among agency representatives in our local area can only lead to greater outcomes for the community we serve, and we want to share ideas with one another to further our common goals.
We highly suggest that you build a small but resourceful planning team. Our team included four people from different agencies, helping to broaden our perspective when planning and choosing whom to invite. One of our planning team members had two staff people who helped with making copies, setting up food and helping with food during the event. Choose who to invite. We started with our WIOA Advisory Board group that meets monthly and includes around 50 agencies. We also shared with another local group that has members from many different local agencies. See below for the press release we shared with local media. A local news reporter had planned to attend but we weren’t clear on location, so we didn’t get news coverage. But it’s a fun event which might draw them out, so it’s worth a shot. Also, it helps if you can get sponsors to offer food. We had Panera for breakfast during sign-in and Chic-fil-a boxes for lunch during the event, one sponsored by the community college foundation and the other by the local workforce board.
Edited Press Release – Networking Redesigned
When you invite partner agencies, ask them to bring at least two staff members. You’ll need a space big enough to hold everyone. We had round tables that seated 8 people each, plus food tables and resource tables (for brochures, business cards) in the back of the room. Click below to see the email invitation we sent to our target group and to see the survey mentioned in the email. This is how we registered attendees, and then we assigned tables (tables were numbered) to each attendee in order to seat them with people they probably wouldn’t know well.
Since we were at Pitt Community College, we were able to get the Vice President of Academic Affairs to welcome our group. We opted to have agencies send one or two slides as a quick introduction instead of giving each agency time to speak, in order to save time. But some of the feedback we received showed interest in having each agency do an introduction, so we will continue to think about ways to do that efficiently. During lunch we showed videos of local success stories who had worked with some of our agencies, and a tutorial from Auntbertha.com. You can see examples of the agency introductions and the videos in the PPT below.
For the scavenger hunt, we divided each 8-person table into two teams of four (we put different color stars on the agendas at each table) to work together during the scavenger hunt. An assortment of scavenger hunt props were supplied for each table, and each attendee was asked to choose and don one item. We provided a tablet (so they could read the QR codes, link to free QR code maker in follow-up email) and asked for someone in each group to take photos with their phone, and someone else to record information in the grid (see below). The top 3 photos from each group were emailed to a specific address and incorporated into a slideshow which was shown at the end of the event. It took about 45 minutes for the 15 teams to rotate through 14 clues. We allowed too much time for this activity and ended up finishing our day about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
For the case study activity, we gave scenarios (see below) to each table and asked them to work together to think about how they might help this person, considering the people they met and what they learned about the agencies they connected with at the event. Then we went around and had them read it and share their thoughts, opening it up the rest of the group. There was a lot of good information that came out of these discussions. We tried to customize the scenarios so that each of our represented agencies would be mentioned at least once.
After the event, we sent a follow up email which included names and contact information for everyone who attended the event, as well as an updated PPT.
Networking Redesigned follow-up email
There are many improvements that can be made to this model, and we’d love to hear how you do it. Stay tuned for future Networking Redesigned events.
Have questions or need more information? Contact:
Brandi Bragg brandi.bragg@nencpathways.org or Laurie Weston lweston@email.pittcc.edu