The return of real-life networking
It’s hard to believe that 15 months have passed since LA23NET was last held in real life. Organisers Janett and Soph last pulled up a pop-up and popped the fizz at the beginning of March 2020 when LA23NETers whizzed down the TreetopTreks zipline at Brockhole. Little did anyone know then what was about to unfold.
As the first Lockdown bit, LA23NET immediately switched online, gathering Cumbrian business leaders as they navigated the tumultuous times. Speakers from ITV, CLEP, Cumbria Tourism, Brewery Arts, Lakeland, Eden River Brew Co, Herdy and even South Lakeland District Council and Tim Farron MP have taken themselves off mute and delivered uplifting and informative evenings time and again. Beers, mugs, cinema tickets, gin (quite a lot actually) and even eco-friendly kitchenware landed through letterboxes as LA23NET married the virtual and real world together and brought people closer to local businesses and each other. At Christmas people threw off the suits and competed in Cumbria’s answer to The Generation Game, battling as they built play-do snowmen, cracked on creating crackers and busting to beats in a dance off. LA23NET zooms were zany, seeing into a CEO’s spare room, even zanier.
Our resident photographer Victoria Sedgwick
Digital networking was the order of the day from April 2020 until just this week when a small but merry band of thirty intrepid networkers reconnected in person atop Orrest Head Windermere.
Armed with a personal bottle of celebratory fizz to mark the moment they hiked up and quite literally flew the flag for face-to-face networking. Despite no hugging and no handshakes, connections were made, laughter rang out, people knew when to talk and when not to, and everyone had their cameras out rather than ‘on’. The very act of being together was magical, the next LA23NET season starts in September, and after that taste of togetherness the hope is that networking stays in non-fiction!
Being able to deliver networking whether online or offline wouldn’t have happened without the support of Cumbrian business leaders and the LA23NET sponsors; The Cumberland, Edwin Thompson and NXT Recruitment. Organisers Janett and Sophia of Flock Events & PR said;
We’re not going to lie, when the restrictions started we watched as our event calendar emptied practically overnight, it was terrifying. Immediately though, our sponsors let us know that they were going to stick by LA23NET through the pandemic. It was a huge relief and meant that we could continue to do what we love, connecting Cumbria. Whilst Zoom has been a godsend, getting people together in real life is what comes naturally to us and this week as we cheers-ed at the top we did make a wish, let’s hope it comes true.
All good photo credits to Victoria Sedgwick
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