Growth Community meetings are either at 10am or in the evening (5pm or 5.30pm)

Many of our meetings are in person, but we also offer online networking meetings for those that find it more convenient. You can find out more and book on via our Meetings page. 

We have a selection of online networking meetings every week as well as in person meetings. You can find out more and book on via our Meetings page.

Our friendly meetings are very relaxed and fun so everyone who comes along – whether in person or online – always enjoy it. You can see some of our five star reviews here.

You can read more about our four step meeting agenda here.  

Whether you arrive online or in person we always offer visitors the option to chat  before the main part of the meeting kicks off. If you are online you will be put in a breakout room with two other people. If you are in a room you are welcome to just open network until we sit down together. 

The ‘formal’ part of the meeting includes a one minute pitch round; a 10 minute member showcase presentation; the contributions section where we say thank you, set up our follow up 121 meetings and mention any introductions or opportunities we’ve spotted for attendees; We end the meeting with a quick 5 minute learning point provided by one of our members.

There is no pressure to make introductions or referrals,  but we do encourage you to leave with at least one person to follow up with. 

Visit the meetings area of this site for more information. 

It’s always good to be as organised as you can for a networking meeting, but don’t worry our meetings are very relaxed and we’re all just interested to learn more about you. So, prior to the meeting, have a think about what you are going to say in your one minute pitch and bring some business cards or flyers with you if you have them. Other than that, just turn up as your authentic ‘you’ and enjoy it!

Yes. Everybody is asked to introduce themselves and tell us in one minute how they help their customers. The clearer you are in this part of the meeting the more likely you are to get other attendees wanting to set up a 121 with you and get to know you better. Don’t be nervous about it. Our meetings are very friendly. Just tell us how you help people and that is enough. If you need to write it down and read it out then that is ok too.

We give each attendee 60 seconds to do their pitch. We don’t have clocks or alarms to put you off, but we do ask that you help us to keep it fair by staying roughly within your one minute. 

A one minute pitch is where you introduce yourself to the room. Tell us your name, business and how you help your customers. If you want you could also give us a testimonial of someone you’ve helped, share a useful statistic or anything else you want to cover. 

The purpose of the pitch is to get people to want to find out more about you in a follow up – so think about that outcome when you are planning it.  If you aren’t confident in doing your pitch it is ok to read it out from a script.

Tell us who you are, what your business is and how you help your customers. You might want to tell us what kind of businesses you are looking to meet too. 

The contributions part of the meeting is how we keep our networking meetings productive and show gratitude to people who have helped us. 

In this section of the meeting you get to say who you would like to follow up with. It’s also where our members say their thank yous and positive things about each other – especially if they’ve been helped by someone in the meeting. 

Sometimes people talk about introductions and referrals at this stage of the meeting too.  If it’s your first visit you probably won’t have a lot to say as you haven’t got to know anyone yet… but if you have a good 121 with someone you can thank them when you visit the next time.

The most important part of the Contributions is to set up a follow up 121 conversation with someone from the meeting.

You can learn more about our meeting agenda here.

If this is your first meeting then you won’t be able to plan ahead. But while you’re listening to the one minute pitches make a note of anyone that you think would make a good onward conversation for you and ask for a 121 during the Contributions.

If you’ve attended a Growth Community meeting before then it’s a good idea to plan ahead and bring along your thank yous and anything you’ve done to help anyone since your last visit. You might also have a list of people that you met last time that you now want a 121 with.  

We allow visitors to come along to our meetings up to 6 times per calendar year. Not everyone is in a position to join our community so we want to ensure that we can keep good conversations going with people even if they are not a member. 

You can use your six visits at six different meetings or you can use them all at the same one. It’s your choice. 

You are welcome to use your visits up at online and/or in person events. You’ll find the format of our online and face to face meetings very similar so you might like to try them both out. 

We open our meetings 10-15 minutes before the advertised time so that people can enjoy some extra open networking. Online meetings open 10 minutes before and all attendees are added to a breakout room with a couple of other people. At an in person event you can arrive early, grab a coffee and chat to whoever is there. 

Our online meetings are advertised at 1hour 15 minutes, but they generally last an hour. In person meetings are 1.5 hours long. 

Our meetings are in person and online. You can view and book on to them from our Locations page. 

Most of our meetings are free to attend. However, if the venue charge us for the room hire then we pass that on in the form of a small fee to visitors. When you book on it will clearly tell you that there is a fee to visit (usually under £5).

If you are attending one of our venues that don’t charge us then we ask that you support them in return by purchasing a drink from them. Or why not meet before or after your meeting for a 121? Some of our members also stay for lunch afterwards too. It’s a great way to get to know each other better.

We keep our group level meetings single category. Not because we want to ‘lock people out’ but to keep them productive. We are however a very collaborative organisation and we actively encourage similar businesses to work together at community level.

 If you book onto a meeting where your category is already taken we may suggest that you visit a different meeting where there isn’t already a very well established member doing what you do. Often though, our members welcome people in as a guest even if they are a very similar business. But it is at the member’s discretion.

The easiest way to check is to visit the location page of the group on our website and you will see all the members listed. If you aren’t sure if you overlap with a member then feel free to email admin@thegrowthcommunity.co.uk and we’ll put you in touch with the group leader.

In our small structured groups we only sell one seat per type of business. This helps to keep the meeting productive and makes it easier for people to make introductions and pass referrals. If someone in the group is already a well established member in your business category, we usually suggest that you visit a meeting where your seat isn’t taken so that you get good use of your networking time. 

If we think that you won’t get the most out of attending one of our meetings we will signpost you to another. Often though, our members like meeting people who do similar things to them, so if you are still keen to go along they will often be very open to getting to know you. But as we do offer a single category policy we leave it up to the member to make the final decision. 

Yes we send out names and email address of all members and guests within a few hours of the meeting ending. But feel free to share business cards and other marketing materials if you are at an in person event or in the chat at an online meeting. 

No! It’s up to you what you wear. Don’t feel you need to dress up for our meetings, but if you are usually a suit wearer then that is fine too. We want you to be your authentic ‘you’ so wear what you feel is appropriate. 

Growth Community meetings attract a diverse variety of businesses so you never know who is going to be there. We are very inclusive and invite anyone who would like to network with us. We believe that it isn’t necessarily the people in the room that are our target. It’s the people THEY know. So, you never know where a connection will take you! 

If you are new to networking please let us know – either drop us an email beforehand to admin@thegrowthcommunity.co.uk or tell whoever welcomes you when you arrive. We pride ourselves on being welcoming and friendly so we’ll make sure you have someone to talk to and we’ll give you whatever support you need during the meeting. We meet loads of people on their first ever networking meeting and they always give us great feedback on how much they enjoyed the experience. 

Don’t worry. You’d be surprised how many people are nervous at networking meetings – even the people who don’t seem it! If you aren’t confident starting a conversation then we can help you. If you are nervous about speaking in front of people then it’s a good idea to write down your one minute pitch as it will help you if you go blank! The important thing is to get out of your comfort zone and give it a whirl. You’ll be very glad that you did! And we are here to  help you if you want us to. 

We don’t generally provide refreshments unless the venue doesn’t have anywhere to purchase a drink. Most of our venues have somewhere you can purchase a drink (or food) and we actively encourage you to support them as most of them offer their facilities free of charge to us. You can of course bring your own drink with you. Your meeting confirmation will tell you if tea and coffee is provided. The day before your meeting you’ll get an email with full details from the group leader. 

The Growth Community uses a structured format. That means we sit around a table and follow a structured format including one minute pitches, a 10 minute member showcase presentation, contributions and a short learning point. We do offer some time to do some open networking though at the start of our meetings and again at the end if you are in person. 

Yes. If you are online you will get some time in a break out room with a couple of other people at the start of the meeting. If you are in person there is time at the start and at the end of the meeting for open chatting. 

Absolutely. If you are new to business you’ll definitely want to make some new business friends, find useful suppliers, start developing relationships with synergistic businesses and learn more about ways to grow your business. You get all that and more from getting out and networking with your business community. There is likely to be things you can do for them too. It’s never to early to start networking! 

Even if you haven’t started your business yet getting out networking will be incredibly useful. Being around people who have been through the highs and lows will really support you in developing your ideas and you’ll learn a lot too. Come along, we’d love to hear what you are planning! 

You can get so many things from a networking meeting. You will get to connect (or reconnect) with people in your business community. You’ll probably learn something from listening to the pitches and presentations and you will be able to set up some follow up conversations with useful people too. You can find suppliers and you can also get a great feeling from helping other people too. 

If you can’t make your meeting just email admin@thegrowthcomunity.co.uk or if you locate your booking confirmation email you can return your ticket via the link. 

To rebook just visit the group page you want to rebook and choose a new date. You can find out more on the locations page. 

To find a meeting visit our locations page.

If there isn’t an in person meeting in your area why not try out one of our online meetings? Have a look at our locations page to book on.