GONE IN 300 SECONDS
Orange County Register, Business Monday, It's Your Business
Busy business professionals adapt speed-dating techniques to networking process.
A crystal bell rings persistently, so John Conners pauses for a breath, then moves one chair to his right.
"I've never done this before," he says with a smile.
Now that's saying something. Conners, a networking pro, is at the Bluewater Grill in Santa Ana for 5 Minute Networking, the business version of speed dating. Instead of looking for love matches, the participants are looking for customers, vendors and strategic alliances.
Conners is the creator of the Web site www.networkingplace .com, which lists hundreds of business meetings in Orange County. He attends many of them every month.
"It's a good idea, a lot of fun," he says.
5 Minute Networking is the brainchild of Newport Beach sisters Sonia and Melissa English, who launched their venture in September after getting more business than dates from speed-dating events, where singles rotate from table to table, spending a few minutes talking one-on-one in hopes of finding someone with whom they want to spend an entire evening.
In this time-deprived society, 5 Minute Networking is "efficient, cost-effective and enjoyable," Sonia says. A participant spends five minutes in a one-to-one conversation with another participant before moving on to another five-minute meeting each time Melissa walks from one end of the room to the other shaking a crystal bell.
Instead of dates, participants are seeking customers, suppliers and strategic alliances.
The Englishes are already organizing 5 Minute Networking groups in 10 other metropolitan areas, including New York City, Chicago and Denver. In March, the sisters will introduce software that will make the meetings more efficient.
The software, which can be configured for groups ranging from 21 to more than 400 people, will assure that participants meet people in complementary industries, not competitors. If they attend more than one 5 Minute Networking event, the software will make sure they don't keep meeting with the same people.
As the sisters build 5 Minute Networking into a national business, they rely on complementary skills. Sonia has a background in sales and owns eFlation, a Web site development firm. Melissa is the author of "Caution: Valedictorian Turned Waiter," a career-planning book for teens.
"I'm not as outgoing as Sonia," Melissa says. "I can do one-on-one (meetings) but at mixers I wind up staring at my drink."
Sonia adds, "Melissa is the detail person; I'm the mouth."
The Englishes recruit people like Kaaren Hall of Kaaren4 Mortgage.com in Irvine to host each 5 Minute Networking event and bring in more participants.
"I belong to the chamber and Kiwanis, but this is a completely different, novel idea," says Hall, who has attended several 5 Minute Networking sessions. "It's such an exciting event and I really, really did make good contacts."
Event planner Kelly Trang, owner of KDT Design in Fullerton and another frequent 5 Minute Networking participant, said the system works well for shy people like herself.
"What I like is I will have at least 20 contacts (at each event). At mixers it's harder for me to make contacts because I'm shy."
This night, about 75 percent of the participants are business owners.
The rest are executives at their companies. They are divided into two groups. The A group is assigned to a permanent seat. The B group rotates every five minutes prompted by the crystal bell.
Occasionally, a straggler remains engrossed in conversation when Melissa rings the bell. So she stands at his shoulder and continues waving the bell until he moves one chair to his right.
She jokes about electrifying the chairs to keep people moving.
With two dozen conversations going on, the room's decibel level remains just below the intensity of a jackhammer all night. As the evening wears on, participants wear down.
Valerie Ward of Pharmanex, an Orange County distributor of beauty products, sucks on a mint, sips water and coughs. "I'm getting hoarse," she says 90 minutes into the event. Her current table mate, Lindi Stolen, who is in the process of moving her publicity business from Malibu to Orange County, cups her hands behind her ears and leans forward to hear their conversation.
By the final rotation, the tinkling crystal bell is completely ineffective. No one moves. Everyone ignores the event-ending announcements.
Conners of networkingplace.com rates 5 Minute Networking effective and fun. "Usually at a networking event of 150 people I may go home with seven or eight business cards," he says. This night, he says, he had the opportunity to explain his Web site to 40 individuals.
The next 5 Minute Networking event, 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at The Clubhouse, 3333 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa, is a fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Orange County. Admission is $45. For information and registration, go to www.5minutenetworking.com.
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