I’m always amazed by what happens when you put open-minded people together, especially in business. The result recently was pure poetry – literally!
Take a look below at what unexpectedly came out of an event I ran; it was heart-warming and epitomised everything about how networking can be.
I owe this blog post to one of my recent event attendees, Kate Jenkinson of Next Step HR. She came to a Colony event and a week later she came to one of the Small Business Saturday events I had organised in local libraries on behalf of LiveWire Warrington.
A lady of many words, most of them written and few spoken. Two ears and one mouth is a good attribute for a senior HR director though – and an even better practice in networking. Throughout this article are images (and audio) of what Kate produced as she listened to fellow networkers introduce themselves.

Click play for audio of ‘Success in Numbers’
My poetry experience is limited to an ‘A’ Level in English Literature and I’ll admit that I’ve never once thought about integrating poetry into business or a business event. These poems were produced in minutes upon hearing everyone’s personal introductions.
Imagine what kind of results could come with more time and what they could bring to an organisation. As a piece of marketing? As wall-art in a restaurant, hotel or office? As a learning and development tool? As a team building event activity?

Click play for audio of ‘Cunctators’ (love the word Cunctators I’ve been introduced to – a favourite of every event organiser I’m guessing!)
Click play for audio of ‘Helen Pritchard Online
Good networking should of course yield contacts and opportunities but above all it should be comfortable and supportive for all to share their talents. It should ignite your passion in business, enthuse you for the rest of the day, educate you, and make you want to follow up with attendees and pursue what you heard. That is the poetry of networking for me.
If you’re not experiencing some or all of these feelings after an event, then I urge you to contact me to find out how I could help with your business networking.

The power of networking was embodied in that event. It only takes one relationship to click, one piece of information to resonate and one introduction to open a door. It was a very unexpected but very rewarding twist in an event that united those networkers by the power of the written more than spoken word and which has already yielded business opportunities. All that from a handful of people with a common desire to succeed brought together in a room for an hour.
Thank you not only the author of these pieces – Kate Jenkinson – but also to all those who spoke during two separate events for Small Business Saturday 2017 (Sharon Charteress and Jay Allen on Day 1, and Andrew Collier and Helen Pritchard on Day 2), and to those who inspired and contributed to the events run by Colony.
By Kirsty James, Owner, Colony Networking
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Upcoming events:
Thurs 7 Dec (eve) – Colony Christmas Networking (free networking social)
Fri 19 Jan (am) – Colony Networking (mixed networking + speaker)
Wed 31 Jan (pm) – Colony Women: ‘Networking Fizz’ (ladies networking + fizz tasting)
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Kirsty James works one-to-one with small businesses on networking strategy, business development planning and signposting to suitable business support groups and local events. She also organises Colony’s mixed-gender and women’s networking events in the Warrington area and assists third parties to organise their own lead generation events.