1 Business Networking

Business Result Intermediate Unit 1 | Classroom DVD Worksheets © Oxford University Press
Starting point
1 Have you ever been to a networking event? If not, would you like to? If you have,
what was it like?

2 Have you made any useful business connections at a networking event? Who did
you meet? What kind of business did you do?

Video comprehension
3 video Watch the video and answer the questions.
1 Would your business use a company like Network Central limited? Why / Why not?
2 Would you attend an event such as the exhibition in Plymouth?
3 What do you think of speed networking?

4 videoRead the notes. Work with a partner. Discuss what might go in each gap – a
number? a noun, verb or adjective? Watch the video again and complete the notes.

Network Central Limited:

•  Usually works with 1 businesses that work from 2 as well
as medium companies of up to 3
.
•  Holds large events e.g. the event in Plymouth University was attended by 4 .
•  Believes in ‘coopertition’, which is 5 and 6 together.
•  Events are organized around the Ikea principle, which means people cannot
7
.
•  8
speakers at the events mean that people have the chance to
learn something.
•  Speed 9 allows people to meet others one to one. Each ‘meeting’ lasts
10
.
•  An example of a success story is ‘Fruity Bouquets’ who sold 11 worth of
produce at an event and then another 12
after.

Compare your answers with your partner. Watch the video again if necessary.

» For more exercises on this video, go to the DVD-ROM.

Speaking
5 Your boss has asked you and your colleagues to plan a networking event.
a What kind of event you will hold? c What types of companies will you invite?
e.g. speed, exhibition d How will you advertise the event?
b Where will you hold the event?

6 Work with a partner to discuss your ideas. Look at the notes you made in exercise 4
and consider how what Rod says will affect your event. Make some notes to help
you. Once everyone is ready, have a meeting to decide on the best type of event.
Video script
I am Rod Major from Network Central Limited.
We’re an exhibition type company that does
networking events throughout the UK. We started
in 2008 in Exeter and that’s where our main office is
right now.
The type of businesses that we’re looking and
seeing these days are very small business that are
working from home; they’re called ‘sohos’ if you
like, ‘small office home office’, OK, right through to
the SME, and the SMEs are – sort of bad description
– small to medium enterprise, can go up to 500
employees. But in the main, they are the people who
are either working from home or they’re working
from a small, shared office.
Tell us about the first business event that
you ran.
That was down in Plymouth in 2008. We teamed
up with Marjon University, and the target there was
to attract 250 business people from Plymouth. We
marketed the event and when the event went off
we were amazed and astonished, if you like, by the
numbers that turned up. In fact it was double the
targeted 250 businesses, which was amazing for the
university and amazing for us. But unfortunately
we weren’t prepared for it so in every area of that
exhibition we were so full it was unbelievable, but
that obviously set the scene for the Network Central
Limited business to be set up, so if you like that was
our pilot, and it was very, very successful.
Why do businesses attend your events?
The main advantages for businesses that attend
something like Network Central, and there are
other exhibitions and other events that are put on
throughout the country by many, many different
organizations. Where we differ, and where they
benefit, if you like, from our service is that we bring
together all the other groups and organizations. So
that starts with the Chamber of Commerce right the
way through to lunch time, evening and breakfast
meetings, so we bring all the organizations together.
There’s a new word that we’ve actually brought to
the dictionary, if you like, and it’s ‘coopertition’, so
Business Result Intermediate Unit 1 | Classroom DVD Worksheets © Oxford University Press
that’s cooperation and competition together.
The other thing is that the way they go around
our event is very Ikea. Now all that means is
they cannot go out half way through, they have
to follow the path to the end and it means that
all our exhibitors, and they are the people after
all that pay our bills, get a fair opportunity to see
everybody that comes to the exhibition, so that
makes them very satisfied. Coupled up with that,
we bring in some very professional speakers, so
there’s an opportunity to learn something. And also,
everybody’s favourite … they love to do the speed
networking.
The majority of businesses absolutely love speed
networking. It’s not challenging, it’s quite easy to
do, it’s what everybody does when they’re talking
to another person, it’s a one-to-one. The one-to-
ones that we did recently were for 40 seconds, so
each person gets 20 seconds to explain what they’re
doing, what they … what their business is called,
who they are in the business, how they add value
and so on and so forth. And then you swap over and
then, of course, you move on.
Tell us about a success story that came out of
one of your events.
We did an event recently in Cardiff, and we ran
into a business there called ‘Jan’s Fruity Bouquets’.
Now, in case you don’t know, in hospitals today
you can’t take a bunch of flower in, ah sorry a
bunch of flowers in for your relatives – don’t allow
it any more. So, Jan came up with a new business
where she would turn fruit into a bouquet, so hence
‘Fruity Bouquets’. And while she was at the Network
Central exhibition or event, she sold £2,000 worth of
her produce, the Fruity Bouquets, and subsequently
has emailed me to say that she’s even done another
couple of thousand pounds worth of business from
follow-ups after the event and wants to know when
we’re going to do the next one in Cardiff.
Worksheet answer key
1 Answers will vary.
2 Answers will vary.

Business Result Intermediate Unit 1 | Classroom DVD Worksheets © Oxford University Press
3 Answers will vary but ensure students refer
to what they have seen in order to justify their
answers.
4 1 small
2 home
3 500 employees
4 250 people
5 cooperation
6 competition
7 go out half way through (they have to follow
the path to the end)
8 professional
9 networking
10 40 seconds
11 £2,000
12 couple of thousand (£2,000)