On in 60 seconds

Virtuzone organised its very first speed networking evening in April at Hilton Hotel, Jumeirah Beach Residences. SME Advisor partnered with this event where participants had the chance to pitch their business to others in under a minute.

 
So what was the idea behind organising a speed networking event?

 

There were close to 100 people at the event. We walked into a bustling crowd of business owners and the pitching started well before the speed networking kicked off. Some of the participants were old friends we’d met at previous SME Advisor events but we also saw many new faces and heard about some pretty interesting business ideas. Thankfully, all sponsors, including us, got just 60 seconds for their speech.

The format was such that one set of attendees stayed put while the second set sat across the table and moved from one person to the other. They got 30 seconds to talk about their business to the person they sat facing, and then it was the other person’s turn to pitch for 30 seconds. James Khoury, Head of Business Partnerships, Virtuzone, kept time zealously and whistled them on to the next chair – and so it began all over again.

After the whirlwind speed networking, attendees got a chance to catch their breath over drinks and canapés and follow up with businesses they found interesting. The feedback was very positive and attendees were appreciative of the platform. We made a few useful contacts, too, and you’ll hear about them in the coming months.

In all, it was an interesting and fruitful evening and we’re happy to note that Virtuzone plans to conduct such events every quarter. For more information, visit www.vz.ae.