Leverage your network!

This autumn, b2b Events is bringing retail and the food processing industry together. The
‘Retail meets food industry’ event will be held on 29 September 2015 (that’s right, it has been rescheduled ). The starting point: ‘How can we work together to improve the quality of the in-store offering?’

Putting together a programme for this event wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. Our roots and contacts lie in the food industry, so that part was sorted in no time. But how could we make inroads into the retail sector? How could we access retailers who would be willing to share their views and contribute to an inspiring programme? And how should we communicate to the retail sector to attract as many retail participants as possible?

It didn’t appear to be easy at first, but the solution was relatively simple…leverage your network! Everyone knows how it works: your connections can provide openings to their contacts. Usually, you merely have to ask.

Anyway, to cut a long story short: we’ve made contact with countless different people by networking. We’ve entered into all kinds of collaborative partnerships, including with other publications in the retail sector. We can optimally reach the other part of the target group for our event – the retailers, at all levels of the organisation – through their channels, both in print and online.

Just some of the retailers we’ve found via our ‘new’ network include speakers from Albert Heijn, NS Retail and Jumbo; they are all enthusiastic about this initiative and are happy to be part of it! Which presents us with a new problem (albeit a luxury one): does an afternoon programme allow enough time for all this knowledge and experience to be shared?
This once again emphasises the importance of networking: it’s not just what you know, but also who you know.

Saskia Stender