We’ve tried to anticpate as many of your questions as possible and store the answers here. If we’ve missed anything let us know!
Your Meeting
You can find the dates for your meeting in your group page on this portal. Don’t forget to put them in your diary. You’ll also find a useful list of all of your member only dates for the year too.
Yes you’ll find an iCalendar link on your Group page on this Member Portal.
The Zoom link is provided with your meeting dates on your group page on the Member Portal.
The Learning Point is a useful piece of information that one of our members shares at the end of our networking meetings. It can be on any topic and should be no longer than 5 minutes in length. Ideally it is something interesting or practical that people can take away and it helps us to end the meeting on a high. It should NOT be another pitch about your business. If you want to use it to show your knowledge then use the Learning Point to share some industry information or tip that demonstrates your ability. e.g. 3 ways to improve your blog post; debunk industry myths or answer the last question your customer asked you.
Ultimately, this is just another opportunity for you to be seen beyond your one minute pitch and the contributions so use it well!
The Member showcase is a 10 minute presentation which comes after the one minute pitches in our networking meeting. Each member of the group gets to do a showcase in rotation. it is up to you how you use your 10 minutes but a great way to build credibility and share the way you do business is to do it in the form of a customer journey presentation. Have a look at our guide for some hints and tips. You might also enjoy reading our blog.
Guests book onto our meetings via the booking links on our website. The quickest way to guide them there is to copy the URL for your group page and send it to them. you will also find a copy of this on your group page on this Member Portal. Or you can direct them to the Our Meetings tab on The Growth Community website and they can choose the meeting they want to go to themselves.
You’ll find a copy of the meeting script on your group page on this member portal. You can also ask your Group Leader for a copy.
Yes we recommend that you bring your own laptop to the meeting so you can plug it in directly. We don’t recommend the use of USB sticks as they can pass on viruses. If you would prefer not to bring your own laptop then liaise with your Group Leader who will arrange for your presentation to be sent to someone else in the group who is bringing a laptop. Make sure though that you give yourself enough time to organise this.
If you know in advance that you won’t be able to attend your NETWORKING meeting, we highly recommend that you arrange someone to come along and represent you. It doesn’t matter who they are. Their job is to fill your seat, read out your pitch and contributions and report back to you about who was at the meeting. They don’t need to be a business owner. If you let the people down in your group and appear to have made no effort to replace you, then it is likely that people will be irritated by that and it could affect your ability to get recommendations in the future.
If you have a last minute emergency then you absolutely need to deal with that as a priority.
If it is possible to leave your contributions in the group WhatsApp and arrange for someone to read out your pitch then do that as at least you are visible in the meeting and seen to be being proactive – even if you are not there.
You do not have to replace yourself for Member Only meetings. But you may like to send something to be read out.
We use a system called Try Booking to process all of our meeting bookings. We provide each group leader with a Producer ID and Password for their meeting so that they can see who has booked on. This information is shared with anyone in the group who is responsible for administrating the meeting. We will be looking into a more transparent system for this during early 2023. But in the meantime your Group Leader can share who is booked on with you.
Delivering a professional Contributions in our networking meetings is a massive part of building trust with the other members of your group. Members who demonstrate that they are proactive and helpful will gain more credibility than those who don’t.
We recommend that you keep to a simple formula during what we believe to be the most important part of the networking meeting.
First of all, say your thank yous for any support you’ve been given, great 121s, introductions etc. Also, if there is someone in the meeting who you like or have had previous experience of then it’s often good to say something nice about them too; maybe give a testimonial or something like that.
Secondly, if you have any introductions or recommendations to make then mention those at this point. Don’t worry if you don’t.
Lastly, say who in the meeting you’d like to follow up.
After the networking meeting we send out the contacts sheet which contains the email addresses of members and guest attendees.
Speak to your Group Leader who can share a training video with you.
At The Growth Community our hashtag is #WorkingTogether so we love our meetings to feel like a team effort. There is something that everyone can do to help run the meeting, no matter what confidence levels you have. Many members enjoy some personal development opportunities by getting more involved. Your Group Leader is there to support the success of the group, but there is an expectation that members will help too. Speak to your Group Leader about how you can help in whatever way you feel comfortable.
Presenters – each meeting we ask two members to run the meeting. There is a script to follow if you prefer to but if you want to add your own personality to it you can as long as all the important points are covered off. You’ll find a copy of the script on your group page on this Member Portal.
Guest Support – helps the Group Leader by updating the contact sheet for each meeting (this take about 10 minutes) and may help with signing people in at the meeting.
Inviting guests – everyone can help make our meetings buzz by keeping a flow of interesting people attending our meetings. Make sure you are talking about the meeting all the time.
Foundation Training
Every member of The Growth Community is expected to complete our induction workshop. This is not a ‘how to network’ training course, it is an introduction to The Growth Community which highlights how you can get the most of our membership. A community can only be successful if there is a consistency of knowledge and expectation across all of its members. The session is online for 1.5 hours. Please ensure that you sign up for a session in your first 3 months of membership and if you haven’t completed the course, you should do so as soon as possible.
This course is not designed to teach people how to network. It is an induction to The Growth Community and everybody who attends, regardless of how long they’ve been networking, always takes some useful things away to make the most of their membership.
The session is 1.5 hours long. We keep it very focused and always finish on time.
We run the session on Zoom. When you book on you will be sent a zoom link automatically, but we’ll also send you a reminder nearer to the date.
When you book your session you will receive an email with a zoom link and a link to a workbook. You will need to ensure that you have either printed or downloaded the workbook onto another device as we will be writing in it throughout the session.
You can find the upcoming dates here.
If you can no longer attend your session, send an email to fiona@thegrowthcommunity.co.uk and then book yourself on for the next session.
At The Growth Community we keep things pretty light on rules and regulations. We allow you to make your own choices based on our guidance – as we want you to get the most out of being here. However, we are a community and in order for us to work together effectively, it is essential that everyone in it has the same level of expectations and knowledge; otherwise it won’t be successful. Our Foundation Training is about providing this guidance and expectation so that every member can have the best opportunities to get a great return from their membership. Foundation training is the only thing we demand of our members.
Accessing the Community
Follow this link to ask to be admitted to our member Facebook group.
You will find a link to download a copy of our Member Directory in the Community page on this Member Portal. The Directory is updated monthly so make sure you go back regularly to review it.
In the future we’ll add a member section to our Portal but for now our directory is just a spreadsheet. In order to avoid the temptation for someone to upload the list to their marketing databases we don’t provide contact information. You are welcome to look people up on LinkedIn and connect with them and if you would like a proper introduction to a member either speak to their Group Leader or ask Nicky to make an introduction for you.
No, you can attend as many other groups as you like. You are only permitted to attend networking meetings though. If you find another group that you’d like to be more involved with speak to Nicky about having a second group.
Yes absolutely! Just ask either a member of the group they are in (if you know someone in there) or ask Nicky to make an introduction. We are always happy to help.
You can post anything you like in the Facebook Group as long as it is not offensive or selling. From time to time we put up a post to allow people to sell more aggresively! Other than that, share things that you’ve been up to across the community, share your knowledge, recommend things that have helped you in business and some fun stuff too! Anything really that you think other members would find entertaining, inspiring or just useful!
We see your membership as way more than just a networking group. The members that take advantage of the whole community are the ones who see the greatest return on investment. You can choose how you want to interact in the community and do some or all of the activities open to you.
You can visit other groups (as long as your category isn’t taken); find people through the Member Directory; request an introduction or hang out in the Facebook group. Find out more on our Community page.
We are always growing and changing! To view our other meeting just visit the locations page of our website.
Find the group you want to visit on our website and book yourself on like a guest. Don’t forget to tell the group you are visiting that you are a member of another group!
Member Only Meetings
Member Only meetings are an opportunity to develop stronger relationships with the people in our group and to communicate the goals we are working towards so that we all know how to help you and give you the support that you need.
You can find out more in this blog.
We recommend that members set some goals for their membership so that they can see that progress is being made. If you don’t know what you are trying to achieve, how will you know that you’ve achieved it? The goals you set are entirely up to you. But we think it’s important to see networking as a marketing activity and put some measures in place to measure the return on the investment of your time, money and energy. If you’ve like some help with planning your goals have a look at our hints and tips.
Before you’re next member only meeting take a few minutes to review the goals you communicated last time. Have they changed? What progress has been made? What further support do you need from your fellow members? Bring that along to share with the group.
Yes you can. Some groups like to have a social meeting every 3rd or 4th member only meeting in the cycle. It’s important to ensure that you are working towards your business goals, but nothing replaces social environments for bolstering relationships. So feel free to organise a meeting at coffee shop, pub, restaurant or maybe even go for a walk?
If you feel that you are not getting the support from your team there are a few things you should ask yourself.
Do the team fully understand what you are trying to achieve? Do you need to explain it better or arrange some 121s with key people?
Have you been a reliable member recently? Are you team motivated to want to help you?
Do you feel you feel that you have built good enough relationships with the people in your group?
If you feel that people are just not pulling their weight in your group then speak to your Group Leader or escalate it to Nicky.
You may wish to move to another group, or it may be time for the group to have some additional training to get it back on track.
Whatever the reason, if you feel that you are not getting what you need from your membership always speak to Nicky about it and we will find a solution together.
You are not expected to send anyone in your place to a member only meeting. If you have a business partner that you work closely with you may decide it is relevant to send them in your place. It’s often great to meet another face in a business.
Rather than miss the meeting altogether though, why not send a short report on where you are at with your goals and what help you need. Otherwise, you will have gone 12 weeks without discussing them with your team.
The goals you set for your membership are entirely up to you. They can be big stretch goals or just simple ones. They can be for your business or for your own personal development. You might want to choose something that you have on your business 90 day plan.
The main thing is that you get to measure the effectiveness of your time with The Growth Community and can see that it is delivering some success for you. You could measure the leads you get, the connections you make or the knowledge you gain. Or whatever is relevant and satisfactory for you.
You’ll find some useful hints and tips in this document but chat to other members, your Group Leader or Nicky if you want some help.
Member only meetings occur every THIRD meeting so they come around every 6 weeks. This is to align them with the practice of setting a 90 day plan (12 weeks).
121 Meetings
After every networking meeting you should have at least one 121 meeting, either with someone new, or to get to know someone you already know, better.
A 121 is literally a chat – either face to face, over the phone or online – where two people learn something about each other. You may talk about your business but often it is more about getting to know ‘the person’ so the conversation could flow just about anywhere!
The outcome of the conversation is to see if there is an opportunity to continue conversations to develop a relationship and to see how you can help each other in the future.
This blog talks more about what should happen in a 121 meeting.
If you don’t have onward conversations with people you will only ever meet some new faces. You won’t have the opportunity to explore ways to help each other and get some return on the time you’ve put into attending a networking meeting. Networking is not a quick win. If you want sustainable, recommended business you need to put time into getting to know people, helping them and building quality, proactive relationships.
Most people tend to put an hour in their diary for a 121, but if it is a first chat you might want to limit it to 30 minutes and book another one if you think there is more to talk about. You’ll need to have more than one meeting with someone if you want to work together in the future! You don’t get married after just one date!
A good way to break an hour down is to allow 20 minutes each to tell each other something about yourself. Then use the other 20 minutes to discuss ways you could help each other – connect on social media, suggest introductions that could be useful, invite each other along to other networking events or expos.
Entirely up to you! One the phone, online or face to face. Be creative. Go for a walk, meet at an expo, have a coffee, go for lunch… whatever you enjoy and works for you.
Inviting Guests
Anyone who would like to meet with other professional people. Doesn’t matter who they are or what they do. They all KNOW people that could be useful to the people in your group.
Send them the URL for your group page on our website or send them to the locations page. There is also a useful leaflet about what to expect in our meetings that you can share with them too.
Yes we have a useful leaflet that explains what The Growth Community is all about an what to expect from our meetings. You can download a copy here.
Guests are permitted to visit The Growth Community SIX times per calendar year. If they want to come again they can either join as a member or they can become a Representative for another member.
If a guest is interested in membership then tell them about your experience. It’s always good to hear about real life examples to help them make a decision. If they want to take it further you can direct them to the membership page on our website and also let your Group Leader know too.
Yes absolutely. The people you meet networking elsewhere could be great new conversations for the people in your group. We don’t ‘sell’ memberships to our guests so you can rest assured that we aren’t trying to poach people from other groups. And most people are members of multiple networking organisations too so they may like to know more about The Growth Community for future reference.
Remember that inviting guests helps people in your group to meet new people and open up new conversations and opportunities. The guest could get some work out of it too!
At group level we offer a single category policy to ensure that our meetings are productive for everyone who attends (we do not actively lock people out and encourage people from similar business categories to collaborate at community level).
If you have a guest who is the same category as someone in your group then signpost them to other Growth Community meetings on our website. But it is worth letting the member of your group know about the person you’ve met. They may actually like to meet them.
Member of the Month / Member Communication
Member of the Month is a recognition scheme that we run each calendar month to acknowledge the people in our community who are going above and beyond for other members and demonstrating our values of #WorkingTogether and acting with integrity.
We publish a link each month on our Facebook Group, in the whatsapp groups and in our weekly roundup email. Just fill in the name of the person you are nominating and why? We judge the winner based on what their nominee says about them so make sure you are clear why you want them to win.
We email you every Friday afternoon with a quick roundup to keep you up to date which includes key dates for your diaries. You can also keep up to date by visiting the Facebook group regularly. Group Leaders are also responsible for cascading updates via the whatsapp groups too.
Your group WhatsApp is a place where members can communicate in between meetings, ask for help, ask questions etc. Some members put links to important social media posts that they need some extra engagement for in their group. You can promote things that you are up to, ask if people want to accompany you to another event – whatever really. Your Group Leader will post useful info in there including reminders for upcoming meetings etc.
Every group has a group email address. This can be used to send an email to all members of your group in one go. We use it primarily for sending out the contact sheet after a meeting so that you don’t have to type every members’ name.
You will find your email address in your group page on this Member Portal. But if is usually the name of your group in front of @thegrowthcommunity.co.uk.
For example: doncasterthursday@thegrowthcommunity.co.uk
You are permitted to use the email address if you need to send an email to your entire group. But please be mindful of sending only emails that are relevant.
Getting Help & Support
If you have any questions or concerns you should talk to your Group Leader in the first instance. They will be able to help you with most things. Your Group Leader is always eager to help you get the most out of your membership so chat to them as much as you need.
Sometimes life gets in the way and it can feel very overwhelming. If you are struggling to get to your meeting, or struggling in your business, arrange a conversation with Nicky as soon as possible.
We are very committed to supporting our members and if necessary give them some time off if they need it without losing their seat in the group.
This is at Nicky’s discretion but we do always do whatever we can to support our members through difficult periods. So please always arrange a chat with us and we will help in whatever way we can.
We also have a huge amount of connections and may have people who can help you with whatever is going on in your life.
If you find that you have an issue with someone in your group you can either speak to your Group Leader about it, or if you feel that is a conflict of interest in any way, please escalate it as soon as possible to Nicky. These situations often fester if they are not dealt with quickly and we want to make sure that you are able to enjoy your meeting.
All issues will be dealt with in absolute confidence.
We will listen, observe and help make a decision with you as to the way forward.
We cover these topics in our Foundation training, but if you feel you need some more assistance please get in touch with Nicky who will be happy to support you in any way you need. You can also speak to other members and your Group Leader.
We have a useful hints and tips sheet and a goal setting workbook that are useful tools for setting goals. Your group will also support you in nailing some things down to work towards. If you want some more 121 help then speak to Nicky and arrange a call to discuss in more detail.
Don’t worry if you don’t get this spot on first time. It often takes a few goes to grasp it. Start small and work up!
Yes. If you move house or location we will do our best to accommodate you more locally. If you are unhappy with your group and wish to move, speak to Nicky.
If you love The Growth Community so much that you’d like to be involved with another group we are happy to accommodate this as long as you understand that you must give equal priority to both groups.
We offer a 30% discount on the second group.
We don’t recommend that you have more than two groups though.
If you don’t want to commit to more than one group remember that you can visit other groups as much as you like without the obligation.
Yes you can. Just book a session in via her calendly link.
You can find our full terms and conditions and privacy policy by clicking here.
