WIL’s first networking event of the second block was organised in collaboration with Women’s Business Initiative International (WBII), a network of incredible entrepreneurs and professionals based in The Hague. Their main purpose is to empower women entrepreneurs to achieve and succeed their business goals through learning and development, peer support and a variety of events and activities. Fusing their goals and values with those of WIL led to an incredibly insightful workshop, organised with the help of Deborah Valentine, a leading networker in the Netherlands and the presenter of our How to Network Workshop.
The evening started off by welcoming members of WBII to our office at Stille Veerkade, followed by a dynamic presentation given by Petra Fisher. Engaging with the audience, she tested the attendees’ LinkedIn knowledge. Throughout her presentation she emphasized the importance of LinkedIn as the only and most efficient social media platform for professional connections, with its highest use being in the Netherlands. She also shared tips and tricks to improve your LinkedIn profile, expand your network and make the best use of the platform’s features in beneficial ways. At the end of the presentation, three lucky participants won a free review of their LinkedIn profile by the specialist, Petra.
The rest of the evening was an opportunity for WIL members to interact and network with WBII attendees, sharing experiences and learning from each other. It was the perfect occasion to benefit from each other’s skills and opportunities, with for instance some WBII members looking for employees.
This event was an opportunity for WIL members to make lasting connections, with one member in particular sharing how she found the event: “I knew that I had a lot to learn from the inspiring and experienced professionals that would be attending this event, but I soon came to realise that I had skills to offer in return. Truly amazing things can happen when driven, ambitious women come together and collaborate.” Another attending member shared that Petra's presentation encouraged her to present herself as more "authentic and organic" on LinkedIn than she would have thought prior to attending the workshop.