By 
On Monday I attended a Venture Hawkes Bay event where one of the speakers was Andy Hamilton, CEO of The Icehouse, from Auckland. One theme from Andy's presentation was the facilitation of connections through personal networks. In other words - who do you know that could help someone else that you know.
The "incubator" concept is a formal and structured management of network matchmaking. There's also a very casual matchmaking, usually over a coffee or beer with friends.
Somewhere in between a formal incubator and a casual chat are the phenomenon of social networks. Linked In is probably the most widely known professional network. Linked In can host groups of like minded individuals with very broad, very narrow, or location specific interests.
So my question is - does anyone else use Linked In; and would anyone be interested in joining a Hawkes Bay Business centric Linked In Group - with a view to facilitating connections.
Share your thoughts here by leaving a comment. If you'd like to chat directly please give me a call on 021 2787195, or email me on steve@thinkinghow.com
12:14, 15.10.2009
Hi Steve
We’ve already set up a Fruitbowl group in LinkedIn. If you search by group for Fruitbowl, you’ll find it.
08:05, 16.10.2009
We use it – sometimes we are surprised at who knows who. A great tool.
10:51, 16.10.2009
Matt – thanks for pointing me to the Fruitbowl group. You’ve done a great job setting up this site I should have known you’d have set up a group in Linked in as well. Cheers