This is something I heard someone say at a networking meeting last month. We had eaten lunch and were then given the chance to stand up for about a minute, to tell the rest of the attendees about what we do. Some of the people at the meeting were regulars who I had seen before; some of them were first or second time visitors. Not everyone knew everyone else; most of them had probably not met up outside the meeting, so there would all sorts of things they didn?t know about each other.

If you think that everyone at the networking meeting knows what you do and you?re not sure what else to say, here are some ideas for you:

1. Give us the basics. There will be people at the meeting who don?t know anything about what you do and need to hear it; others who have heard you speak before might need to be reminded, so there?s no problem with saying the same thing again.
2. What are you working on? Tell us something that you?ve been working on this week. Give us an example of what you do by telling us about one of your clients or one of your projects.
3. Ideal clients. Who do you really want to work with? The more specific you can be, the easier it will be for other people to network for you. Tell us about the type of business or type of people you?re looking for.
4. Tell us something new. All businesses change and develop. Tell us what?s new in your business. Do you have new products? New services? New members of staff? New clients?

At Networking Lunch in Oxford we spend time working with our members, helping them to get their message across and helping them think up different things to say. If you?d like to come to a lunch where you actually get help with your networking, then click here to see our next dates and book online.