Networking

Meet new people and connect with other businesses at the numerous networking events held each year through the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.

• Coffee Club
• Afternoon Mixers
• Speed Networking

Coffee Club

Wake up to new business contacts at Coffee Clubs held the last Thursday of each month from 7:45 until 9:00 am. These events are held at either the sponsor’s location or at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce office. Coffees are designed to offer our members the opportunity to build business relationships with other members and to gain exposure for their business or organization in an “open house” setting. Invitations are sent to members each month advising them of the time and location. Sponsorship fees for these events are: $150 if the coffee is held on the Chamber site and the Chamber provides refreshments, or $125 if held at the sponsor’s site with the sponsor responsible for refreshments. Coffees are open to anyone associated with a Chamber member business. Participation is not reserved to the representative(s) listed on the Chamber membership. Contact Linda Lambert llambert@blountchamber.com for more information on Coffee Club sponsorship.

Afternoon Mixers

Get out of the office after work and unwind with these quarterly Afternoon Mixers held at the sponsor’s location, or at the Chamber. The format, intent and cost of sponsorships for afternoon mixers are the same as the morning coffees but are held quarterly from 4:00 until 5:30 pm. Participation is not reserved to the representative(s) listed on the Chamber membership. Contact Linda Lambert, llambert@blountchamber.com for more information on Afternoon Mixer sponsorship.

The mixers will be held in January, April, July and October.

Check the Chamber Calendar for more details.


 

Speed Networking Events

Join the action and the fun of getting to know other pros and chamber members during these “everyone participate” roundtables to expose your business, find suppliers, or create awareness for your product or organization. Speed networking events are held quarterly from 11:30 until 1:00 (or beyond) at the Airport Hilton.

How’s it work?
Attendees are seated at six tables of six people. The first networking session begins with each person taking three minutes to tell the other five people at their table about their product, service or organization. When all six at a table have completed their presentations everyone moves to another table with five new people and repeats the process. This rotation is then repeated a third time. At the end of the session the attendees have had the opportunity to network with 15 people. After the speed networking session has finished guests are encouraged to stay for an informal networking among the group. There is no fee associated with this event, however, should you sign up and cancel within 24 hours you will be charged a $25 fee. This is necessary due to the importance of having the correct number of attendees.

Who Should Attend?
Anybody with an interest in growing their business, increasing networking potential, furthering their career prospects, seeking suppliers or investors should attend.

How do I prepare for a speed networking event?
In order to get the maximum value from speed networking, we recommend that you prepare a short pitch about yourself, your company and what you are looking to get out of the event. Some people refer to this as an “elevator speech”. Beforehand, make sure that your speech is approximately three minutes long. Also, bring brochures, pamphlets, certificates, hand outs and lots of business cards.

Speed Networking Sponsorship:
For $50 a Chamber member may sponsor a speed networking event. For more information contact Julia Kyle at jkyle@blountchamber.com. Due to the logistics of this event, lunch is not served.