Less people probably know what Speed Networking is, similar to Speed Dating a bunch of people get together this time representing businesses to found out who else in the room they might like to do business with and to build up their database of contacts.
Most people tend to approach speed networking as away of looking for more clients and here in lies the problem, nobody is there to buy!

So here is a thought,  what if like Speed Dating the business representatives were actually looking to find out more about the businesses in the room and even better find out more about the people in the room. This helps gain a better understanding of who they might know that  could be your future clients.

If your look at  rooms as 50 clients, the most you can get is 50 clients,  if you looks at a rooms as connections, friends and advocates and each person has 50-100 connections that is 2,500-5,000 possible clients?

Getting to know people on a personal level is how you get access to those connections. When the know you, like you and trust you they want to know what they can buy from you before they even know what you have to offer.

Some food for thought.

Attending 2-3 networking events a week, there is ample opportunity to meet up with people. I decided it might be good if people knew where I was going to be and provide some information about other local networking events they may like to try out. Also please let me know about any events you recommend.

Events with a tick I am attending.
Alternatively check out my schedule and propose a time for us to meet.

Wednesday 12th October 8am – 4Networking Breakfast, Hatfield

Business Networking Breakfast
Some open networking with a cup of coffee
40 seconds to tell the room about your business
3 x 10 appointments10 minute presentation from Bridget Cox on  ”Understanding your customer’s buying signals”

All this for £10 and a chance to make new friends. Book here.

Thursday 13th October 8am – 4Networking Breakfast, St Albans

Business Networking Breakfast

Some open networking with a cup of coffee
40 seconds to tell the room about your business
3 x 10 appointments10 minute presentation from Nick Hill (Mr Presenter) on improving you presentations entitled “Gone in 60 Seconds”
All this for £10 and a chance to make new friends. Book here.

Thursday 13th October 11am – Speed Networking, Herts SME expo 

Business speed networking sponsored by the Business Club
During the Herts SME expo in Welwyn Garden City.

Book for the Speed Networking – Free Entry
Book for the expo – Free Entry 

Tuesday 18th October 6pm – West Herts Business Club, Harpenden

Business networking and education
IS YOUR NETWORKING 1 MINUTE PITCH WORKING?

DO PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU DO AND WHY YOU ARE DIFFERENT?

Never find the time to practise and perfect your networking pitch?

Taking a light-hearted yet informative approach, Dee Clayton will take you through a simple 4 step approach to a great networking pitch that will work every time.

If you haven’t been to Business Club before click here to attend as a guest.

Attending 2-3 networking events a week, there is ample opportunity to meet up with people. I decided it might be good if people knew where I was going to be and provide some information about other local networking events they may like to try out. Also please let me know about any events you recommend.

Events with a tick I am attending.
Alternatively check out my schedule and propose a time for us to meet.

Wednesday 5th October 8am – 4Networking Breakfast, Stevenage

Business Networking Breakfast
Some open networking with a cup of coffee
40 seconds to tell the room about your business
3 x 10 appointments10 minute presentation from Debbie Huxton on  ”Get the results you deserve”

All this for £10 and a chance to make new friends. Book here.

Wednesday 5th October 12pm – Viva Business Networking, St Albans

Business Networking Lunch
Come along and promote your business in St Albans, meet other business owners who can help spread the word on your business. Gain quality referrals and great contacts for you and your business.

Guest speaker Laura Matthew talking about Power of attorney and wills. Book in here.

Wednesday 5th October 6pm – West Herts Business Club, Harpenden

Business networking and education

Stuart Cross from  MORGAN CROSS CONSULTING will be speaking about innovation

• Specific sources of innovation for you to take back and use in your business
• Real-world case studies to provide practice and discussion
• Why you have no choice but to innovate and how you can beat the big companies
• The characteristics of effective innovators

If you haven’t been to Business Club before click here to attend as a guest.

Thursday 7th October 6:45am – Business For Breakfast in St Albans

Business Networking Breakfast

UK-wide referral networking organisation – Book here to attend as a guest.

Thursday 7th October 8am – 4Networking Breakfast, Watford

Business Networking Breakfast
Some open networking with a cup of coffee
40 seconds to tell the room about your business
3 x 10 appointments

10 minute presentation from Keith Hubert – “Winning the race against time”

Right from hunting woolly mammoths, it has been part of the human endeavour to make each process we are involved in simpler and more efficient. Keith has examples of how we all work to improve the processes in our lives, and how we can make more of the computers we all use today.

All this for £10 and a chance to make new friends. Book here.

Friday 8th October 8am – 4Networking Breakfast, Hemel Hempstead

Business Networking Breakfast

Some open networking with a cup of coffee
40 seconds to tell the room about your business
3 x 10 appointments

10 minute presentation from Lesley Morrissey (Inside News Ltd)

All this for £10 and a chance to make new friends. Book here.

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got”

Running a business does take some hard work especially in the early days, by meeting and getting to know people through business networking we can make our way a bit easier.

“Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot”

Business networking can partly be social so we can take a break from our day to day work. Sometimes you can get a different perspective on a problem or issues just by discussing it with someone.
The other great thing is although we are taking a break we still know we are still benefiting the business we’re in.

“Wouldn’t you like to get away?”

Sometimes it is good to get away from the office or home if that is where you work, with business networking  you can do this on the premise you are still working.

“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name”

If you network regularly then people do know your name, it is a great feeling walking into a room of people you know.
Even if they don’t know your name they have your badge or place card to work from.

“And they are always glad you came”

After numerous breakfasts, lunches and buffet teas etc  I can very easily say that I am glad of everyone I have met through business networking, especially those that have become friends.

“You want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same”

We all have similar business problems and challenges, by sharing these through networking we can find solutions and ideas.

The thing is I continued to dream , as a child I had a dream about performing on stage in a play, since April 2009 I have been in a play at Southwark Cathedral, and performed twice with the St Albans Operatic Society at the Alban Arena in St Albans. now rehearsing for the next one show Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Another dream was to work with deaf children or those with special needs, I now spend part of my time as a Mad Scientist and guess what?  This involves teaching kids about science. Through Mad Science I will also have the opportunity to work with children with special needs.

What blows my mind is that I didn’t plan any of this, it happened because I continued day dreaming. Now I realise that day dreaming is very powerful and will help me achieve even more of my goals and ambitions, the list is quite big as you might imagine.

I had a dream of being a husband and a father, now I am  I still continue to dream about being the best husband and father that I can be.

What did you dream about as a kid, maybe you thought you had given up on that dream, I think you will find you still believe you can, dream about it a bit more and you will get it.

As well as achieving my own dreams, I love to help other achieve their dreams in St Albans through http://www.embraceyourdream.com, below are some people I would love you to help if you can.

My mate Jimi and is excellent band need your support, they do sound good check them out – http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Genies-to-record-with-world-renowned-producer

Chris Ogle of SME7 has a dream about building a better Britain, as individuals we can make some difference as a group of individuals collaborating we can do more – http://www.sme7.com/sme/

Michael Gordon has a dream of helping people through using alternative medicine – http://www.ogenki.co.uk

Zahur Chowdhry wants to help at least 1% of the country to receive the retirement income they feel they deserve – http://www.zahurchowdhry.com/

I support these people because I truly believe  in what they want to achieve and that their motivation is to help others.

If you or someone you know needs help with a dream, get in touch or post a comment.

So Jen, how did you first get involved in costume making?
I have been a massive film and theatre fanatic since I was little and always really loved the costumes in them. I remember watching the film of The King and I and being completely blown away by the costumes in that, particularly Deborah Kerr’s satin ballgown! I costumed my first production in upper sixth form, which was Jesus Christ Superstar, for which I made several “The Matrix”-style duster coats out of leatherette and PVC. I enjoyed doing it so much that I realised that this was what I wanted to do as a profession and went to university to train specifically for this type of work. I got a 2:1 degree in Costume for the Stage and Screen at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth where I specialised in Men’s tailoring. Since then I have done further courses in Womenswear Drapery at Central St.Martins and two courses in Eveningwear at the London College of Fashion, the latest of which I am currently studying. Amongst other projects I made costumes, and was the sole dresser, for an award-winning production of The Secret Garden at the Brighton Fringe last year, which was a site-specific, immersive theatrical production in an Edwardian townhouse basement. The Hot Mikado is my first major theatrical production and my first as Head of Wardrobe, the experience of which I am loving!

I love the soldier outfits the dancers have, I understand some of their outfits were imported?
The dancers outfits have been an interesting challenge to make. The soldier shirts were originally plain white blouses that I then dyed and attached army badges to and the oriental dresses were bought from China and all had to be altered – a bit timeconsuming but very worth it! I’ve had to import quite a few of the costumes as we Brits are a little reserved in our dress sense and many of the items needed for the show were not available anywhere in the UK!!! Have you ever seen mustard yellow or bright blue suits sold, or even worn, in England?!?! Thankfully the Americans aren’t so reserved, so I managed to find some from there. Scarily the same company sell very, very bright coloured Zoot suits as well, which is rather worrying! (Do people actually still wear them?!?!?)

Which costume in the show is your favourite?
My favourite costume in the show has to be Kathy’s Strictly Come Dancing dress. It had originally arrived as a plain blue pleated dress, which I then customised with some trimming and over 700 diamantés! It took a lot of hard work and many, many hours to make but I love the way it sparkles in the stage lights.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not involved in a show?
When not doing Hot Mikado stuff I work as a seamstress at The Wedding Centre in Hemel Hempstead altering wedding dresses, bridemaids and prom dresses. I love going to the cinema, reading and generally doing craft things like intricate cross-stitches, drawing and making sock monkeys for my cousins. My greatest passion though would have to be going to watch my favourite rugby team, Saracens, play their matches. I’ve been going to see them play since I was 11 years old and have had a season ticket for several years. I pretty much go to every single home match and find it a great way to relax and enjoy myself…. it’s the only time I ever get really loud and usually end up screaming and shouting myself hoarse from cheering the guys on!

If you could make costumes for any musical, what would it be and why?
I think the musical I would most have liked to costume would be the film of High Society starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. I watched a lot of musicals with my family as I was growing up and this was one of our family favourites because the story and the songs are so fantastic! The costumes designed by Helen Rose for this film are exquisite. I was lucky enough to see Grace Kelly’s dusky rose and blue chiffon embroidered dress that she wears when she dances the rumba with Frank Sinatra by the swimming pool at an exhibition at the V&A earlier this year – I got completely awestruck! I really love the style of the 1950s, so to make all of those dresses would be a dream come true and the men’s tailoring in that film is incredible too. There is nothing quite like a man wearing a really well tailored suit, and for an actor the transformation it allows them to undergo is magical!

I am developing a kind of portfolio online at http://snowiusowlus.deviantart.com/

In the many years that I have watched shows presented by the St Albans Operatic Society I have never found one which I would consider a “must see”.
But the production of Hot Mikado at the Alban Arena this week is just that – a witty, slightly raunchy, really good fun show which ticks all the right boxes.

Although I have seen Hot Mikado on two or three previous occasions I have never really noticed any significant difference from the Gilbert and Sullivan original.
But director Ian Rowe’s take on the whole thing certainly is different and the fact that he has brought the action into the 20th Century has allowed him to give the classic a really fantastic make- over.

Although the G and S influence is maintained throughout the show with some excellent performances of the finer songs such as Louisa Stevens’ exquisite rendition of The Sun and I, others including Three Little Maids From School have been given a sizzling facelift.
Louisa is a tremendous Yum-Yum, the girl at the heart of the trouble, while Pedro Lloyd Gardiner as the deeply in love Nanki-Poo really gets the show rocking.
Adding the right amount of comedy is Graham Jackson as the unwilling Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko, and Matthew Gregory as Pooh-Bah.
Also adding to the splendid apparent chaos were Kerry Lee and Penny Joyner as Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo, the other two “little maids”

Robert Milner produced a very with- it Mikado and Katisha, who might be labelled the villain of the piece, was revealed in an amazing, almost show- stopping, new light by Charlotte Gregory.
But in spite of the inspired performances, the show would have been nothing without the outstanding choreography by Chris Cuming and really hot music directed by Graham Thomson.

The result is a really outstanding, swinging, modern, semi-rock musical which takes St Albans Operatic Society to new heights.
The show runs until Saturday (May 14) and tickets can be obtained from the Arena box office on 01727 844488 or email booking@saos.org.uk. Performances are at 7.45pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm as well.

JOHN MANNING

Today we focus on the coolest man in Titipu, Pooh Bah, played by Matthew Gregory.

Matthew Gregory

How did you first get involved in musicals?
My first musical was at the age of 9 when I played God in the story of Noah’s Ark. I had sit at the top of a step ladder with my classmates giving them the odd nudge to keep me on my toes. Not sure health and safety would allow it now.

How would you describe your character in Hot Mikado?
I think my character is a bit of a cross between Arthur Daly and Billy Mitchell from Eastenders. That might not be how it comes across but that’s what’s in my head.

Like Pooh Bah are you coolest man in the St Albans Operatic Society
Ha ha! Nowhere near…..but I am the tallest, if that helps.

It must be great being able to work with your wife Charlotte in a show, what show would you love to do as a family?
You’re right, and doing shows together generally determines which shows we do.
To be honest our voices mean that there are very few shows where we can play opposite each other so it tends to get driven by one of us really liking a show and the other falling in behind.

If you could be any character from a musical, who would it be and why?
There are so many to choose from. Emile de beque from south pacific would be pretty cool. He lived in a beautiful mansion over looking the sea, great weather and an outrageous French accent. That wouldn’t be a bad life (once the war had finished)
If you mean what part would I like to play, rather than actually be, then, like alot of people, I can’t wait until the amateur release of Les Miserables. I’ve loved it since it came out 25 years ago and would absolutely love to play Javert.

So it seems only fitting that we get introduced to Robert Milner who is playing the Mikado, the title role.

Robert Milner

So Rob, how did you first get involved in musicals?
I started singing in a church choir when I was six and continued until Uni when I joined the G&S society. My first musical was Kismet where I played the evil Wazir and died on stage every night. Some would say I’ve done that in every show since.

So after Hot Mikado, you will only need to play Koko to have played all the Mikado male roles, what next, directing Mikado?
Don’t mention Ko-Ko. I’ve auditioned 3 times for that blasted role and always ended up with another. I think I’ll have a rest from The Mikado for a while now having done it twice in 2 years!

Use five words to describe yourself as a actor?
Sophisticated, intelligent, understated, debonair, handsome.
Others might say short, fat, camp, hammy, and leave it at that!

Give us a 15 words synopsis of our production of Hot Mikado, in the style of the Mikado.
That geezer Ko-Ko tries to kill me son but can’t and ends up marrying an old tart.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not involved in a show.
I run a kids choir at St Michael’s church and a taxi service for my kids at the weekend.

If you could be any character from a musical, who would it be and why?
My favourite role I’ve played to date is Higgins in My Fair Lady – only problem was I couldn’t stop correcting everyone’s English for months afterwards. I’m desperate to play the baker in Sondheim’s Into the Woods before I get too old to do so – a great part in possibly my favourite show!

Today we find out more Graham Jackson who is playing Koko,
(this seemed a good idea at the time).

How did you first get involved in musicals?
How did i first get involved in musicals? well quite simply i was singing tenor with a choir and a member of the bass section said his society were looking for tenors(young!) to join the chorus of Brigadoon-the rest is history…..

I understand you have played Koko before how does your current role compare?
How does this current role of Koko compare with others i have done? It doesn’t-it can’t. This is a fantastic role with so much scope it is unbelievable. I have played him traditionally but i have also played him as Darth Vader in another fantastic production-Plug for Harlington Performs. It is also difficult to compare as each time there has been a different director all with unique ideas. however i can say that each role has been terrific fun-if not quite so energetic as this one.

Is this the first time anyone has let you play with a samurai sword in a show before?
Samurai swords? And guns and a knife! Never used a samurai sword before but have used other dangerous implements….if they only knew!

Give us a 15 words synopsis of our production of Hot Mikado, in the style of Koko.
Synopsis? I’d like to say but i would then have to kill you….mission impossible.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not involved in a show.
When not involved in a show( not sure when that is) i enjoy real ale, real ale, and also i enjoy real ale-is there a pattern emerging. I enjoy other activities but they cannot be discussed over the internet or i may be arrested!

If you could be any character from a musical, who would it be and why?
Any character from a musical? I’d jump( but not very high at my age) at the chance to do the emcee in Cabaret, I’d love a go at Tevye in fiddler but if i wanted to be a character from a musical i’d like to be Mary Poppins because i could then stop dick van dyke using that appalling accent by inserting my umbrella…………..