Why Coffee Mornings Work & Networking Evenings Don’t

So.. I’m the last person to argue that people who like each other should not go to the pub, but when it comes to networking my experience with Likemind suggests that it’s best kept to daylight hours. One of the things we’ve resisted at Likemind is the idea of doing an evening get together. Faris & Michael have decided to organize and evening booze night which is a great thing in itself, it just won’t live up to Coffee Morning or Likemind. I left a comment on Michael’s blog my reasons why – thought I’d share:

ok, here’s my reaction: I love the idea of going out and drinking but it won’t be anything like Coffee Morning or Likemind. Alcohol destroys the social initimacy that a caffenited morning has. As soon as people start drinking they revert to their socially trained norms and get cliquey. We’ve all been to networking nights and stood their with a bottle in our hand on our own as others chat alongside us. There’s something interesting about turning up to a coffee morning at a cafe where you know no-one and you sit down and reach out your hand instinctively to the people around you and everyone chats. You just don’t get that in a bar : people may shake hands but backs are turned pretty quickly.

I do also argue that wearing name badges in a pub is rather odd.

This is not a criticism for Michael’s idea. It’s just a reaction. There are a few other reasons I could have also mentioned but I didn’t think about it until I wrote this post: such as most people don’t have things planned in the mornings (bar the gym), I’d argue that bars and pubs are more comfortable for men than women.