For those who want to know about the updates:
I) Who joined: 11 people: David Newman, Kim Dong, Truong Dong, Fabien Jacob, Johnathan Nichols, Julien Godard, Reece Wallis, Thu Dinh, Tsvyatko Kabahchiyski, Huy Nguyen and me.
II) What we shared:
We shared about our background, our work, the challenges in our work, our projects/ideas, what are we looking for and also why we are here in Hanoi.
For example: there are two people in the group are working on their homestay projects (with different purpose), two people are looking for Vietnamese assistant/building a Vietnamese team to work with them.
We also received questions/advice/comment/feedback from each other.
III) Future of the group:
1) Purpose of the group: networking, collaboration, sharing, building relationship, recommend people to each other for people who work or do business in Hanoi or want to.
2) Meet-up:
+ Host: we will rotate host as much as possible, everyone will have a chance to lead the meet up the way they find it’s best (with some agreed principals). The host will decide about where to meet, when to meet, what to discuss.
For now we will try to meet once or twice per month.
So far we have:
- Johnathan Nichols will host the next meet up at Apini pub 236/7 Au Co.
- Thu said she can host the event at her homestay project at Long Bien (April onwards)
- David suggested to host sometime at a co-working place.
+ Location: location is decided by host and we will meet at multiple locations to keep it fresh. Host will visit the location and make arrangements with manager of the venue in advance.
+ Time: the meet up will be organized in evenings and weekends. We may change to different times to check which one work best for people, and make chances for different people to join depend on their availability.
+ Content/schedule:
Our meet up will consist some basic parts as follow:
- Welcome & Introduction (30 minutes – an hour)
- Host presents a topic in around 15 minutes.
- Host will lead discussion based on the topic.
- Revise about the group.
With breaks in the middle.
Depend on purpose/situation, host also can include ice-breaking game/site visit tour (for example if we visit your homestay project).
Depend on how big the group is, the discussion part can be in one whole group or divide into smaller groups.
At the end of each meet up, we will spend around 10-15 minutes to revised about our group:
- Is there anything we should do with our group? Anything we should change/update/be aware of? Any opportunity for us as a group? Anything we need to make clear with each other?
- We also can share about any collaboration happened in the group or from the group.
- We will also identify who will/want to host the next meet ups. So be ready with your ideas if you want to host in future. You also can email me/share with the group in advance.
Each meet up should last around 2-2.5 hours but not more than that. If we would like to, some of us can go for drink/meal afterward but the actual meet up shouldn’t last longer.
3) Online platforms:
I’ve created a Facebook group and a LinkedIn group, message me if you want to join because I can't post links here.
Online platforms are where we announce next meet up, discuss, share information …
We encourage each member joining the page(s) to contribute your profile to build a directory. You can share about: who you are, what do you do, what can you offer and what are you looking for in your business, your website/profile (if any), your contact info (if you would like to, otherwise, people can message you); also what you think you can contribute to build the group.
You also can invite/introduce other people to join, only note that this group is for business/working people, not for students/people who want to practice English/looking for a job.
I encourage you to join online platform to receive update about next event. It will make things faster/easier than email.
4) Experiences about the first meet up: (from my own experiences and from what I’ve heard from people):
+ This is a good set up because anyone can discuss and share in the circle and can feel belong, unlike some other networking events, mostly 2-3 people speak with each other.
+ The discussion here is more useful.
+ From my observation, this was my first networking event that there wasn’t any business card was exchanged/given.
5) The next meet up:
The next meet up will be hosted by Jonathan at 6pm Sunday March 11th at Apini pub, no. 234/7 Au Co street. Jonathan will announce the topic later and he (or I) will post the event onto Facebook/LinkedIn.
Please register in advance if you come! (We still welcome you if you have last minute decision, but registration in advance will help us to arrange better). Feel free to share about the even to anyone you find suitable.
Again, thank everyone for joining, contributing ideas/suggestions and those interested in the group but wasn’t able to join! The group may still morph and change and develop, so all your contributions and ideas are appreciated, though I/we may not able to implement everything.
Best,
Khuyen
