Networking in Phoenix

We had another great week of networking and social schmoozing. Keep an eye on our  Calendar, so you can meet us around the Valley.

On Wednesday 9/26 we attended two events, Young Executive Series and Fuerza Local. Young Executive Series (YES) is headed by Paige Gruner, Marketing Specialist for the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. YES is a part of the Chandler Commerce, but you don’t have to be a member of the Commerce to attend their free monthly events. YES was created as an effort to incorporate younger professionals into the chamber. If you have networked at all in this part of the Valley, then I’m sure you’ll run into some familiar faces here.

For this event, attendees were asked to create their own QR code to share their business information. Everyone walked around with their smart phones clicking away at pixilated black squares. I found it a great way to introduce yourself instead of traditional card swapping, which may only last a second or two. If you’re in Central Phoenix we recommend you get out of your networking comfort zone and head out to Chandler for their next event.

For more information about YES you can contact Paige Gruner: paige@chandlerchambers.com.

After leaving YES we headed straight for Fuerza Local, the Spanish language preferred group from Local First Arizona. This event was held at Poblano’s, which provided us with some tasty salsa and chips to nom on. Fuerza Local is aimed at uniting Spanish-speaking business owners to promote community building and offer support for each other. We’ve attended these mixers for the last few months and we’re excited to report that the attendance at each event has grown! There was a wonderful frenzy of energy. Lots of business owners spoke adamantly about this group’s objectives and goals.

Carlos Velasco, who heads the group, reminded the members that this group is about a local focus, empowering the small businesses of our community, and encouraging others to do the same. He was later joined by Kimber Lanning, Local First Founder, who added her own words about “leveraging your localness”. If you are interested in seeing what Fuerza Local is about talk to us, we’d love to have you as our guest at the next event.

On Thursday we attended the Internations monthly night out. This month the event was held at J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician, which boasts an incredible view of Phoenix. Internations is a social media site that builds ex-pat communities worldwide. It’s free to join and free to attend. The Phoenix chapter has only been up and running for a few months, but already has close to a hundred people attending their events. This has quickly become one of our favorite networking events. We’ve met dozens of friends and are constantly telling others about it. If you have an international background or are just globally minded, join up! You must be invited to the group to join, so If you are interested you can ask us about membership and we’ll happily send you an invite.

Finally, on Saturday we attended the Phxmix hosted by Phoenix Design Week.  Many of our clients work in the creative industry. We value the many aspects of art and creativity that exist in business and feel it is a wonderful industry and community to be a part of. In fact, I worked for the Salvador Dali Society as a project manager for many years and still dabble in the art world.
The event started with a light mixer. People trickled in from many of the day’s panels and activities. We were treated to a talk by Sam Harrison about creativity and choices. He touched on how to expand and share ideas and grow them, and make the choices that make those two happen. The most interesting part of the night was when he asked us to take a sheet of paper and write down something that inspires us and then write our names down. Next, he asked us to fold that sheet into a paper airplane.

We then all stood up and faced opposite sides of the room and let’em fly. Everyone then picked up a plane and we were encouraged to get in touch with the person whose plane we had! This was a super fun and creative way to connect with others. Sam…we may have to steal this idea from you.

We hope to see you around the Valley. Let us know if you want to be our guest at a mixer and we will gladly oblige.

- Salvador