Here are some networking activities that are coming up



Vancouver Area Networking Opportunities

Clark County Chamber of Commerce

Meets the second Tuesday of each month from 7-9AM. This is a free event to attend and usually has 50-100 people at each monthly meeting. Check the web link below and click events calendar in the upper left as there is a different location for each event.  They also have free meetings each Thursday from 8-9AM based on the weekly calendar and have 10-20 people at these events.  1st Thursday—Umpqua Bank Hazel Dell 600 NE 99th Street, Vancouver, 2nd Thursday Umpqua Bank Mill Plain 12019 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, 3rd Thursday is at Ameriprise Financial at One Tech Center, Suite 220,1499 SE Tech Center Place, Vancouver, 4th Thursday is at Orchards Village at 10011 NE 118th Ave, Vancouver.



East Vancouver Business Association (EVBA).

This organization meets once a month. Membership is $75.00 a year and meetings are $5.00 for each event, usually 40-80 people attend. Anyone can come and see if it is a good group for you before joining. The $5.00 for each event goes to the Rick Melching Scholarship Fund for Evergreen Schools. Meetings are usually 8-9 AM on Fridays and the tree lighting at Firstenberg for the December meeting.



The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce

This group has leads and needs meetings the first and third Wednesday mornings each month.  The second Wednesday is speed networking. These you can come twice and then consider joining, usually 80-100+ people.  They also have a lot of evening events to attend.  You can contact Paul Montague at 360-567-1058 for information about joining.



Speed Networking

This group meets at the Battle Ground City Grill only on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 7:30-9:00 AM. This is a free event and competition is welcome. There are usually 20-30 people in attendance and you will sit with 8 to 12 people to share about your business. Contact Scott Edwards at 360-281-4800.

North County Professional Social Network

This is a social group that rotates meetings from Battle Ground to Ridgefield, La Center and Woodland locations. This group meets on the third Wednesday of each month from 4:30 to 6:30 and is a free event; usually 30-50 people attend. Contact Amy Cheng at 360 907 3080.

CC Leads Direct

This is a free group networking group that only allows one person from each profession in and meets every Tuesday from 11:20 to 12:30 at Azteca Restaurant by Van Mall. There are usually 25-35 people that attend and you can contact Suzie Rawson at 360 281 9934 for more info.

CCBD

This leads group meets on Fridays at The Java House corner of Evergreen and Columbia downtown Vancouver from 7:30-8:30 AM contact Brent Anderson at 360 694 6400. This is a free group but only allows one person from each profession to be represented; usually 20-30 people attend.

Business Success Association

No fee’s-competition welcome, meets every Monday at 8:00 AM at Club Green Meadows 7703NE 72nd Avenue, Vancouver WA. This group does book studies, business development and networking with usually 20-25 people in attendance. Contact Donna Owens at 360 635 2933

Leadership Luncheon

This is held at Living Hope Church Brush Prairie Campus at 10702 NE 117th Ave., Vancouver, WA  98662. This group focuses on building leadership within our community. Usually there are 80+ people that attend regularly to network and build skills. The meeting is from 12:30 to 1:30 Every Wednesday with most people arriving at 12-12:15. Travis Saban is the contact at travis@.

Leadership Luncheon East Vancouver Campus

This group will focus on “The little black book of Connections” and will meet Thursdays at 12:30-1:30 each week. This is held at Living Hope Church East Vancouver Campus located on 705 SW Park Crest Ave, Ste. 340, Vancouver, WA 98684. The Contact is Kasey Butler at 360-944-3905.

Young Professionals of Vancouver

This will be a time to meet other young professionals that are interested in meeting new people and furthering their careers. Young Professionals of Vancouver meets every month at a local hot spot. Our meeting schedule is: First Wednesdays at 5:30pm. Usually 50-75 people attend.



Blackstone’s wine event

This is a wine and social networking event that meets the second Thursday at Blackstones.

Check out the website at or contact Ed Bisquera at edbisquera@.

After 5 Society

Wine Tasting and Food Pairing the second Wednesday of each month from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Tickets online at and is 15.00 for the event. Email info@

Christ at work Wednesdays and Fridays

Points of contact: Website - Vancouver-area Meeting Locations:

Ross Reida: rossr@, 503-431-2011, Ext 103 - Wednesday, 6:30am: 201 NE Park Plaza Dr (Park Tower Addition, 1st Floor, Conf Rm 6)

Evan Wiggs: evansusan@, 360-606-7412 - Friday, 11:30am: 201 NE Park Plaza Dr (Park Tower Addition, 2nd Floor, Conf Rm 4)

Gary Meier: gameier@, 360-514-8114 - Sunday, 9:45am: 11005 NE Highway 99

Jim White: jwhite@, 503-697-4118 - Contact Jim White for Portland-area groups

Portland Area Business Association (PABA)

Meets Thursdays at noon at Key Center. This is a pay group that meets in Portland and Vancouver locations. You can attend free before joining to see if you want to be a part of it.

Portland Business Alliance

Meets several times though the month you can attend two events free to see if you would like to join. Contact 503 224 8684 for more information and check out their website at events.

Women Empowering Women

They have 7 chapters through out the Portland Metro Area. Look at for their calendar of events. They also have a business showcase that allows women owned businesses to purchase a table for $25 and have 5-7 minutes to speak about their business. No membership required; $10 at the door.

WEO ~ Women’s Entrepreneur Organization

Meets once a month (3rd Wednesday) at the Heathman Lodge. 2 guest visits, pay for dinner $45. You can fill out a membership application and pay annually. There are about 125 + members and about 80 that attend monthly. Open competition. They have spotlight speakers (7 min) and Keynote speakers at every event.

Helping Hands Network

Meets every Thursday morning at Avis Rent A Car in Hazel Dell. This is a Business Development Group. No fee, open competition. You learn business best practices and discuss hot topics that are affecting your business. Contact Traci Anderson at 360.448.3404 for more information.

ProNet

Meets every Tuesday at 7:30 at Billygan’s. Non-compete, annual fee $50. Contact Paul McLinn at info@ to inquire if your industry is represented. Usually 20-25 people in attendance.

B2B Leads Groups

There are several chapters all over town.  Mike Pulham is the area contact at 360 253 4990.

These are pay groups that have one person from each profession.

Christian Chamber of Commerce of the Northwest ()

They have been meeting on the 4th Thursday of the month, 7:30-9 AM, at Billigan’s 13200 NE Highway 99 . Vancouver, WA. 503 320 9373 for more information and Portland chapters.

Costal Conservation Association

This group meets on the second Tuesday of every month from 7 PM to 9 PM at Camas Meadows Golf Coarse. If you are a fisherman or want to save salmon from extinction, you need to join the CCA. The annual membership is 25.00 per year and a group of 100-150 people who meet once a month to get involved and change laws to save our stocks of fish. Did you know 30 cents of every dollar go to protecting salmon of our power bill? If we eliminate commercial gillnetting from the Columbia River (which is the only river in the U.S. which still allows commercial gillnetting) we will lower our rates and save our fish from extinction. Visit or contact Kris Thomas at 360-600-3386 for more information.

WIN! (Women in Networking)

WIN! Is a group of professional women coming together in a casual setting to share resources, expand their network and support one another! We meet the second Wednesday of each month from 4:30 PM to 6:30. Currently there are no membership dues or meeting fees. Meeting locations vary throughout SW Washington. Please RSVP Cindy Johnson of the Vancouver Business Journal at 360-448-6018 or at Cjohnson@ for more information.

Professional Connections

Come to the luncheon at Bopp’in Bo’s Malt Shop & Grill at 7809 NE Vancouver Plaza Dr, Vancouver, WA 98660 every Monday 11:45 -1PM usually 20-30 people attend. This is a free event that you order off the menu is you want to eat. Contact Aaron Tice for more info at 360-713-3060.

Green Drinks

Meets the last Tuesday of each month at HULA BOY (1109 Washington St, Vancouver, WA 98660). Downtown Vancouver at 6:00 PM. This group is based out of the environmental field. Please feel free contact Laura Sauermilch at vancouvergreendrinks@

NO-FRILLS MARKETING/NETWORKING, Oaktree Restaurant, Exit 21 I-5, Woodland 7:30 – 8:30 AM, Contact Jim Teasley at (360) 314-8691.

Meeting the first 4 Thursdays each month, the group will enjoy no-frills marketing/networking. In other words, the meetings will provide basic marketing and networking opportunities and emphasize referrals between attendees. Each week the group will engage in either traditional marketing/networking (1st & 3rd weeks) or speed networking (2nd & 4th weeks).

During the 1st and 3rd Thursdays’ meetings, one attendee of the group will be given time to share any presentation, discussion, etc that they might want to share. If they want to do a presentation on their business, that is fine. If they want to host a roundtable discussion on a topic of their choosing, that’s fine. It will be their marketing time to do whatever they wish.

During the 2nd and 4th Thursdays’ meetings, there will be no speaker. The emphasis will be on speed networking. In speed networking, attendees sit at a table of 4, each having 3 minutes to share their information with the other attendees. After 12 minutes, the attendees are shuffled between tables, and another round is held. Time is allowed for 3 rounds of 12 minutes each.

Look in the Vancouver Business Journal for other events. The paper comes out every 2 weeks and has up to date information on Business Associations or other types of meetings (i.e. Chambers around the county). Contact Alexander Stone for subscription information. astone@

There are several other groups, Lions, Rotary, Elks, Letip, BNI etcetera.  The best thing is look in the Sunday Columbian and in the business section they have a business calendar that has a lot of the groups, locations and times with contacts as well.   

I hope this helps as this is only a few opportunities of groups in town.  The more you get out the more you find out about.  There are also many health fairs, bazaars and trade shows you can rent a table at and display your brochures. What make networking successful is going to events and finding out what a good fit is for you. Once you find an event that works for you, attend regularly. Use each meeting to get an introduction and collect their card. Don’t try to sell them on your services or tell them everything about your business on the first appointment. This is just an introduction. Ask them to go to coffee or lunch and use the second appointment to get to know each other sharing equal time. They might not be an ideal contact for you, but they may know someone who is (THIS IS BIG).

Let me know how I can help,

Kris Thomas

360 256 2320 WK

360 600 3386 Cell Rev 7/20/09

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download