A new way for professionals to connect with opportunities and stay visible.

When you join your local chamber of commerce, Kiwanas, Rotary, referral groups, merchant associations, industry groups, and other membership organizations, you are likely motivated by the desire to connect with and provide value.

As important as it is to your business, it takes to engage with your groups. Working with local chambers of commerce and small business professionals for decades, I happily volunteer time and attended events and meetings regularly. I make a lot of great business connections and friends, and build valuable long-term relationships.

Because of the time it takes, though, (not to mention the energy spent getting comfortable with networking), this crucial visibility component of business success is often neglected.

Your market cannot possibly know your value if they've never heard of you. Advertising plays a role, of course, but most agree that face-to-face connections have better rates of success at forming valuable business relationships. As a stand-out tool for staying visible in your market, networking needs some more flexible and effective mediums that take less time, and are more consistently available to include in your marketing plans.

Enter Hour of Power Speed Networking, the new, fast, fun, face-to-face events that are open to anyone, regardless of your group affiliation or position, take just one hour, and are available monthly in multiple locations.

Partnering with local organizations to offer member discounts, with local independently owned restaurants to exchange space (and coffee!) for promotion, and with local professionals to lead, sponsor and attend events, Collaborative Marketing Services is now offering regular, monthly power networking events that take just one hour, from 9 AM – 10 AM, at a growing number of locations in Stark, Summit and Portage counties, with expected growth in 2017 throughout Northeast Ohio.

Even if you are fully engaged with the events and activities of your member organizations, you can easily include HOP events in your annual marketing plan. And if you aren't engaged...because of time or just a preference for being an introvert, you likely get to meet many fellow members at a HOP, and become so comfortable with introducing yourself that standing up at the next chamber luncheon will be a breeze.

Information can be found at hopnetworking.com.