My networking group went from 5 people to 50 in six months because of one dumb rule

We used to meet at a coffee shop and it was just a few of us. Then we made a rule that you had to bring someone new to every meeting, or you had to buy the first round. Now it's a huge, loud mess at the library meeting room every month. Anyone else have a simple trick that blew up their local group?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_pat24d ago

Seriously? So the rule worked too well and now you hate it. What's the actual problem, the size or the fact it's a loud mess? Sounds like you need a new rule to fix the first one.

tyler_burns661d ago

The rule was to bring in two new people each month. Now we're at 80 members and the last meetup was just people shouting over each other. @the_pat, when you say a new rule, do you mean capping the group size or splitting it into smaller chapters? The noise isn't good networking, it's just chaos where no real talk happens. I'm trying to fix the mess the first rule made without just ending the whole thing.

samthompson24d ago

But isn't that the whole point of a networking group, to get bigger and connect more people? The noise just means it's working. Maybe the real issue is you liked the cozy club more than the actual networking.