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Europe
BNI HAPPENINGS — United Kingdom Edinburgh's best says: "Give up my BNI seat? You must be joking!"
That's exactly how it is with Office Personnel, Edinburgh's most successful independent office and sales staff recruitment consultancy, much of whose record growth stems directly from its senior consultants who are active members in all four of the city's BNI chapters. Managing director Kathryn Gardner is happy to acknowledge that the day she was invited to visit the Edinburgh West chapter two years ago was the day her already growing recruitment business really started to take off: "I was impressed with BNI from that first visit and immediately joined the Edinburgh South chapter where I have just completed a stint as secretary/treasurer. One of my senior consultant colleagues, Leanne Newell joined the city's Pentlands chapter of which she has been director for the past six months, while another of our consultants, Kate Lewis, has just completed six months as education coordinator of Edinburgh Central chapter. A fourth member of our team, Joanne Currie, has been the membership coordinator of Edinburgh West chapter over the past six months. "Obviously with our participation in four different chapters, BNI is a big time and energy commitment, but I would never relinquish my seat to a competitor, and I know my fellow consultants feel the same way. BNI has been of huge benefit to our company and, apart from the substantial business it brings us, we all enjoy the expanding network of business contacts that we've made through our chapters." Trans-Continental Networking I am a BNI member of the Potomac lunch group. Before a recent trip to England, I asked my director to help me locate a chapter to visit. I am pleased to say that I was successful. I went to visit a chapter in Stockport, England. Stockport is in the middle to north of England. They were very welcoming and gave me a three to four minute time slot. I have already heard from one member of the group via e-mail. While there, I had the opportunity to meet with the area director, Alistair Macdonald. He met my friend and me for a pint (or two) at a local pub. He was very charming and helpful. This visit for me was a true testimonial to BNI and the power of networking. It was a pleasure to meet Michelle, and it was great for my Stockport Hatters chapter to discover that BNI really does exist on the other side of the pond! She did a special education spot, which was very much appreciated by chapter members. If members from any of your chapters are ever in my South Pennines region—which runs from Greater Manchester up into West Yorkshire—they will always be warmly received (as indeed I have been in the States). Like Michelle, they might also receive the added benefits of a couple of pints of real ale at a local pub—though I'm not sure this is in any BNI manual. BNI HAPPENINGS — The Netherlands Networking the Netherlands We are in the process of starting up BNI in the Netherlands. During a networking event, I ran into a RE/MAX realtor here who had never heard of BNI, nor could he believe that what we do works. I decided to look up some chapters in Houston, Texas, where I used to live, for help. I found two BNI members, Lyn Pate and Jack Maxwell, who were RE/MAX professionals and were willing to give testimonials about BNI. With their testimonials I went back to my contact here in the Netherlands. I am in contact now with the RE/MAX head office in the Netherlands to give them a presentation about BNI. If they could endorse the program and recommend membership to each and every one of their offices, splendid!
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