The Daily Networker

“Little by little, one travels far” JRR Tolkien

If you tire easily, or prefer my destinations to come as a bit of a surprise, please look away now.

Right. It is Friday night, and tonight I fly to Sydney, arriving on Sunday morning. 

On Monday, Speednetworking Australia begins, at a location I think you’re going to like.  Later that same afternoon, I leave for Singapore, hosting an event the following morning, on the Tuesday. 

No sooner has the last whistle sounded, than I’ll be leaving to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur, ready to blow the first whistle the very next day. 

By the end of Wednesday, I’ll have hosted three Speednetworking events.  Time for a break perhaps?  Certainly time for a new paragraph.

A coach will take me back to Singapore, so that I can fly to Hong Kong the following morning.  On Friday morning, the end of the week, I’ll be welcoming guests to whistlestop number eight, in the Kowloon Tong area of Hong Kong.  

In a parallel universe, the weekend is then clear to relax.  Except that I’ll be departing for my next destination on Saturday afternoon.  For where that will be and what happens between now and then, you’ll have to stay tuned… 

Everybody back in the room?  Excellent - there’s a plane to catch! 

Can it really be ten days since Speednetworking in Toronto? Time certainly flies when you’re on a whistlestop tour! 

I’ve been catching up with Sarah Katyal of Impact (pictured, left), who hosted the Canadian event;

OB:  Hi Sarah! Can you remind us, briefly, what Impact does?
 
SK: Our mission is to create the next generation of entrepreneurs and help young entrepreneurs realize their true potential.  Impact connects people, knowledge and ideas, recognizing success and providing inspiration to leaders at every stage of their development.

The Impact Entrepreneurship Group is Canada’s largest non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit amongst youth in Canada and becoming a starting point and catalyst for youth interested in entrepreneurship and leadership. Since 2004, Impact has developed programs both at the national and local level that reach over 10 000 young people each year. Consisting of over 100 student volunteers nationwide, Impact is dedicated to driving the entrepreneurial spirit.

OB:  Tell me, how are plans shaping up for Global Entrepreneurship Week?  What have you got planned and who are you working with?

SK: Planning for Global Entrepreneurship Week Canada (or Entrepreneurship Week Canada as we call it) has been going great! Our partners span from coast-to-coast all the way from British Columbia to Newfoundland. We’re working with all sorts of partners, ranging from large corporations, universities, colleges as well as several non-profit organizations. As host, we are also hosting the Impact National Conference and Leadership Summit, both very large scale events taking place during the week. To find out more about what’s going on in Canada, please visit www.eweekcanada.com!
 
OB:  Tell us about your Whistlestop event?  How was it?  What sort of people came?  What was the feedback like?
 
SK: This event was fantastic! You did a great job in captivating the audience and bringing a fun and exciting twist to networking. The event brought together partners as well as advocates of Global Entrepreneurship mostly from the Toronto area where the event was held. Everyone had a great time and left the event with a great experience to share and new contacts. We loved this event so much we are looking to incorporate Speednetworking into our very own activities during the week.

OB:  That’s excellent news! How can people get involved with what you’re doing in Global Entrepreneurship Week?
 
SK: Of course we are always welcoming new partners to host events during the week. With only two months left until the kick-off of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we need everyone’s help in spreading the word. Tell everyone in Canada about what is going on (if they don’t already know) and to visit the website to find out about the events happening in their very own backyard!
 
OB:  Thanks Sarah!  Any final messages for the reader of this blog?
 
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a company. It’s a mindset, its personality, its a way of life.  Impact encourages the youth of Canada to get involved and take a step into the realm of entrepreneurship whether it is through academics, professionally or for personal reasons. Watch out for Entrepreneursip Week Canada!
 

I’ve been catching up with Rebeca Hwang of YouNoodle, who masterminded last week’s San Francisco event, with a quick few questions;

OB:  Hi Rebeca, can you  tell our reader, briefly, what YouNoodle does?

RH: YouNoodle develops innovative ways to bring together the information, people and technology that help startups succeed.

We provide a platform for so far 50 of the world’s top university entrepreneurship clubs and competitions, serving tens of thousands of members and thousands of startups. Our tools help to effectively manage business competitions, events, mailing lists and community development.

Startup Predictor is the first in a series of decision-making tools YouNoodle plans to introduce for the startup industry. Our development team studied thousands of current and past startups, using both publicly available and proprietary data, to determine patterns of predictive factors for early-stage companies’ success.

YouNoodle is based in San Francisco, California.

OB:  Excellent! And how are plans for your involvement shaping up for Global Entrepreneurship Week?  What have you got planned and who are you working with?

RH: We are official partners for Global EW. We will be handling the management of a number of events and we will also be helping to get the word out. Moreover, YouNoodle and Global EW are partnering to organize a contest – you will have more details soon!
 
OB;  Tell us about the Whistlestop event?  How was it?  What sort of people came?  What was the feedback like?
 
It was an intimate and effective event that gathered group leaders and people interested in partnering with Global EW.

OB:  And how can people get involved with what you’re doing in general or in Global Entrepreneurship Week?

RH: We would love to talk to other entrepreneurship groups since we have a number of very valuable services we can offer them to assist with the logistics of Global EW events they are organizing around the globe.
 
OB:  Excellent!  And finally,  any final messages for our reader?

RH: Yes! Come learn about us at www.younoodle.com/tour

It should have been obvious.  In much the same way as a diver should have known he was going to get wet, I should have seen it coming.  I was demonstrating Speednetworking in the world’s second largest city, the capital of Mexico.  Therefore there was only one way of doing things. Only one real conclusion; I was going to have to speak Spanish. 

The good news for followers of my Curriculum Vitae is that I already speak Spanish.  The rather more amusing news, for followers of my life, is that I don’t.  That is to say, I have forgotten almost every single word once taught me.  Well, they say that the best way to learn a language is to spend some time there.  Although, I’m not sure that the time frame they had in mind was two days.  So I mastered ‘whistle’ (silbato) and I managed ‘three rules’ (tres reglas).  Beyond that, you will (if you really want a laugh at my expense), have to try your best to decipher as you go along.

Thanks to the team at Impulsa, the event itself recovered from my mysterious introduction.  Mysterious, given that the guests were almost certainly left unsure as to what was to follow.  Actually, it’s a good job that Speednetworking is simple, otherwise there might have been a riot.  As it turned out, the assembled group, in the food court of Latin America’s tallest building, entered into the spirit of things magnificently.  I reckon they had been sent the rules beforehand in Spanish.

Please forgive the poor quality of the video (just as well) and of course my Spanish (if you can call it that).  My own least favourite moment comes about ten seconds in when I have (sort of) explained that my Spanish is very bad and that I need to practice.  At that point, the word for ‘sorry’ completely escapes me, and so, feebly, I resort to my (embarrassed) mother tongue in a style not unlike Basil Fawlty, saying “er, Sorry about That”.  Fluent! My Spanish teacher would be so proud.

The especially eagle-eared of you might also be able to make out my wonderful assistant (on the camera) prompting me at key moments of forgetfulness.  What a pro! Fortunately, several English-speaking countries await.  But not until I have flown to Chile’s capital city, Santiago.  First language; Spanish.  Wish me, er, Good Luck.

OK, OK, the ‘video’ is over here.

“You’re five pounds over weight”, said the bag lady.  Call me ungentlemanly for using this moniker (or whatever her name was), but technically, she had just called me a fatty.  As I began blaming the burrito (I am still recovering), it transpired that it was my rather large suitcase which was causing the trouble.  As Monica back-pedalled, she began urging me to offload some of suitcase A into holdall B, to save myself the fifty dollar fine.  Fifty dollars if you please!  Just imagine how many burritos that buys!  Sucking my cheeks in, I lamented that holdall B was already full to bursting, and that any attempt to juggle the contents would end in disaster.  She looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and confusion as, defeated, I hobbled off up the aisle.

Facing a hefty fine, I glanced at my watch to see that I was also facing a hefty missing of flight.  Swivelling my head around and about, I caught the bag man’s eye (calm down, wait til you hear what he told me).  “Excuse me, will I be OK for the nine forty to LA?”  “Probably not”, he replied, and wandered off.  Wandered off if you please!  In my hurry through check in, I almost forgot to pay the fine.  Well actually I completely forgot.  Because, actually, they completely forgot to mention it.  I must have looked like I needed the extra pounds. 

From the outset of this adventure, I had expected to have to keep my chin up. Quite how literally this would turn out, I had not forseen. For amongst the numerous attractions in the YouNoodle offices (including a piano, a large crash mat and a ping pong table) there sits none other than a chin up bar. Or is it a chin-up machine? I’m not sure. In fact, my unfamiliarity with all equipment chin-up-like was about to be underlined once and for all, as business development director Kirill (yet another super-smart Brit out on the West Coast) gestured towards the league table on the white board.

In a parallel universe, I was about to be asked to see how quickly I could cook an omelette. In another, I was putting on a crash helmet, ready to see if I could drive faster than Jools Holland round a racetrack. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, I was rolling my sleeves up, and assuming the gym-like position. After a drink, I might add. For, sympathetic reader, this endeavour followed, rather than preceded the speednetworking of earlier. Crucially, it followed the celebratory bar visit. Which might well qualify this escapade (billed as a return to the office to ‘pick up my bags’), as entrapment.

By now, Make Your Mark’s Scott Cain will be itching to know whether my name slid above his on that fateful leader-board, beating his frankly impressive tally of nine. Well Scott, as if the thought of me sitting on a plane for the majority of three weeks was not enough to have you smiling into your cornflakes, here’s another bonus; Eight. But that was after a small tipple. And, more importantly, after a speednetwork which, as we all know, can be frankly exhausting. And I’m not bitter about it. Chin up, as they say.