Events
Since ESN’s inception 4.5 years ago, ESN has held over 90 networking events for the downtown business community. This year ESN is moving towards having over 4000 business people through its doors. The success of ESN has been in providing four innovative types of events: ESN Roundtables, ESN Evenings ( main monthly event) , ESN Business Trade Fairs for the business community and ESN VIP Boat Cruises held every July.
ESN Roundtables – the perfect networking venue
“ESN Roundtables” is in our estimation educationally one of the “perfect networking venues” to held for business owners. With four to six entrepreneurs per table, a lot of our ESN members and first time guests very much appreciate the benefits of the ESN tables because they are very personalized.
But what makes ESN roundtables very different is that we create an unique environment to allow people to have fun and be themselves. And where each business owner has the opportunity to not only give professional tidbits about their business but personal tidbits ( what university did one go to, do you like dogs, etc)which we find really helps excelerate the process of relationship building faster.
Throughout the evening , it is customary to see a “ sea of happy smiling faces” This style of ESN roundtables has become a simple but very effective networking tool for businesses to really utilize their valuable time and gain quality leads. Included in this program is one to three speakers throughout the evening that talk about topics specific to small business needs.
ESN Evening – authentic networking; a full packaged agenda
If you like a high energy event , this is the one to come out to network. . Recognized as ESN’s main monthly event it is held the last Wednesday of every month at a downtown hotel or storefront from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
Expect from 150 to 200 people in attendance ; from new to very established entrepreneurs ; as well as students from the local colleges and universities, people from abroad , those in career transition and others from the corporate community.
A very packed stimulating agenda ensues: face to face networking where one has the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people, followed by a 10 minute speaker who shares their knowledge and expertise, and one minute interviews conducted with our 8-10 interactive trade tables who are showcasing their new products and services to the Vancouver marketplace. We then complete our session with our very popular fast paced “ speednetworking” where one has the opportunity to gain more contacts.
ESN Trade Fairs – setting a different standard
ESN Trade fairs began by having only one trade fair for the business community per year. But because of market demand, it is now customary for us to hold between two to three per annum. In a short period of time, we have from 500 to 1000 individuals come out to ESN for this type of event, and those numbers are climbing every year. We are also joining alliances with other companies and networks to hold joint events which is mutual beneficial to all parties. And the ESN trade fair attract not only the local business community, but people from B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
We provide a fun environment, and encourage our trade table exhibitors to provide interactive “ hands on” presentations for the business community. But we allow only two per profession or field in a group of over 50 tables. This professionally gives much more exposure to everyone, but also allows our show to be a very “eclectic” with variety . Apart of the business trade fair success is also profiling speakers who focus in providing small business owners with a lot of great knowledge on subjects where they can increase their bottomline.
ESN VIP Boat Cruise – the most social
Held the month of July every year, our ESN Boat Cruise is probably the most “social” of our events. For the last few years we have had this event on the “Hornblower”, a small craft out of Coal Harbour. But our numbers are climbing, this July we will have it on a larger “ferry” type boat out of Granville Island. With this event, sometimes we have specific themes . One year we had a” white and black party”;the last year a Hawaiian theme. But for small to medium sized business owners this has become one of our most popular events as they are able to do business and enjoy the summer as well. They also have ample time too, as it is a 3 hour cruise to re-kindle old business relationships and explore new ones. This is clearly a recipe for success!