An Online Elbow Room Group Enquiry, Discussion and interchange of views and information around what is happening in our working world and what and where are the Networking opportunities, rules, tools and approaches we ought to be adopting for our businesses and ourselves.

Monday 29 January 2024 -12.30 pm to 1.30pm.

This Event is free. But there is an optional fee of £15+VAT for your personal copy of the post Event Review Paper which will contain names and email addresses of those who have elected to contribute their contact details for sharing. (Name and email address.) You’ll be able to see who they are on screen during the Event.

This Event will be presented by Working Free.

Working Free supports the Senior Executive considering or embarking on a new career as an independent profession . Working Free is part of Devonshire House. www.WorkingFree.co.uk.

The Working Free Programme consists of about 25 MasterClasses and Workshops , offered in OnDemand, OnLine and OnSite Formats.

About this Event and Format

This will be a personal on-screen Event with numbers limited – looking for a balance between too few that might limit the range of views and creativity and too many that would inhibit discussion.

It’s all about what has changed in the last few years – and which affect how we handle all this change – how we interact with others – how we Network. It’s about how we – and/or our businesses – can best be successful from now on in a changing world through our Networking. All in 60 minutes!

Agenda and Timings

12.30pm – Welcome and Intro from Charles Russam, Managing Director of Devonshire House and Working Free. An introduction to The Working Free MasterClass – Networking Overview on Networking.

Charles will talk about selected contents of this MasterClass which starts by taking an overall view of Networking, leaving specifics to be covered by our other MasterClasses and Workshops. We look at the various Definitions that are available – important as context for the specific activities in which you’ll be getting involved – enabling you to work out from a broad spectrum what will actually work for you. We look at some networking activities that look nothing like Networking – what the trends are and what we can see in the future. And we look at practical steps for your Back Office which will enable you to keep on top of those you want to keep on top with!

12.35pm – Judith Perle of Management Advantage introduces her Networking Workshop “What comes after the Handshake online workshop

The difference between a MasterClass and a Workshop is that a Workshop delivers Working Free’s Specialist Delivery Partners own material – material jointly compiled with Working Free – and dovetailing into our other MasterClasses. We are delighted to welcome Judith Perle as our specialist Delivery Partner. Judith co- authored one of the original books on Networking,. It’s a classic. “The Network Effect” is a key contribution to Networking. The fundamentals never change. But many things around it change.

Judith Perle also says that Face-to-Face really ought to be done Face-to-Face.! Quite right, we say! So, this is what Working Free has organised with Judith. More information available here.

The Onsite/ LIVE Networking Workshop (Two Hours) from Judith Perle.

12.45pm – Discussion and Debate – led by Charles Russam and Judith Perle.

1.15pm – Summing Up

1.30pm – Close

Please watch the intro video from Judith Perle recorded at a past event.

Who is this Event aimed at?

All senior Executives ! (More specifically, those with profit responsibilities with or without customer facing roles.)

Also, those included in the above but who sense that they may need – or want – to change jobs at any time in the future. As you become more senior, the more you realise that creating pull – as opposed to push – is what is more likely to give you the edge.

Senior Executives who may or want – now or at some time in the future – to operate on an independent basis. Working Free contend that this is the growth market.

Why you should attend this timely Event

Whoever you are and whatever you do – on payroll or off payroll – creating a personal edge through networking has to be a great idea – for your company as well as for you personally.

We will make available to those attending, the post Event Review Paper and recording of the Event. We suppose that those studying this Review Paper will benefit by absorbing selected action points into their own Networking Plans.

Don’t forget that as important as the direct commercial benefits of networking are the things you learn from other people. Although, this Event is online, you will see them, hear them and can make notes about it………………

…………….. and you can even tick the box when you reserve your place to authorise Devonshire House to pool your name and email address with others who do the same – and then get in touch with them after the Event. Through the Elbow Room Networking Pool.

Personal Networking – Key Questions

Working Free aims cover these Key Questions in their MasterClasses aimed at Senior Professionals taking a hard look at transitioning from the Corporate Payroll to Independent working.

….. questions that are NOT usually answered by formal books, online tutorials or even most seminars.

• Professional Associations, what are you a member of or thinking about Joining?
• What are your views on the CBI, the IoD and Chambers?
• What are your views on Free Webinars – The FT, KPMG; (What others can you mention?)
• Any good ideas about follow ups to Free Webinars?
• Paid-For Events – Can you recommend any?
• Can you recommend any networking groups / organisations? Do you have to pay/ join/ etc?
• Are they in person or online. How do you weigh up the cost in time and travel?
• How do you assess others attending? – do they need to be senior levels?
• Do you collect names and email addresses from attendee Lists and do you follow up?
• How do you use social media to help with networking and keeping in touch?
• Why should a senior Executive – doing well and happy where they are – want to Network?
• Should Directors and similar level Professionals promote themselves through the Media?
• Should Partners in Professional Practices leave it all to the Marketing Dept?
• What are your three favourite ways of securing a conversation.
• What do you have to do to prepare the ground for a meeting?
• Name your three best ways of keeping in touch with people you know and on your list?
• Give One example of an accidental windfall piece of work – and what you learnt from it.
• Tips on leveraging attendance at live actual conferences and seminars.
• What are your two best Keeping-in-touch Questions? Does it vary between those you have met and those you haven’t?
• Should you promote your business interests through Friends and Social Contacts?

About Devonshire House

Devonshire House is a people-focused membership club for Director-level professionals in leadership roles who have an instinctive focus on the human side of enterprise. Our purpose is to create, for our members, thinking time and space for key business issues and where people make the difference. At the heart of Devonshire House are senior decision makers keen to discover and explore original thinking and information generated from all the Events we promote.

Delivered primarily through our broad range of high-level Speaker Events, Forums, Panel Debates/ Discussions, Information dissemination and peer-to-peer networking and – notwithstanding Covid and the after-years, those attending discover more about organisations and how the effectiveness of their people can be nurtured and grown. Read more at – www.DevonshireHouseNetwork.co.uk.

Working Free supports the Senior Executive considering or embarking on a new career as an independent professional.

We work with Individuals directly and with Organisations as part of restructuring, redundancy, outplacement, career development or other mid-career transitioning arrangements and where independent working at senior levels is seen as an attractive way forward.

An excellent description of our Market can be found on the CIPD website – Atypical Working – A Guide for Employers. https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/atypical-working-guide/