I want to take you back to when I was just a young bit thing in the heady days of the late 60s and early 70s.  Disco reigned supreme and Saturday Night Fever was all the rage.   I can remember so well getting ready for a night at the disco.  Ages spent on which outfit I would wear, how short/long should my dress be, was the make up too much / too little, most importantly of all would heart throb of the month be here and would he notice me.

So there I was, at the disco, skirting around the edges and watching the action or in many cases complete lack of action.  The big question was “ Should I strutt my funky stuff with some tantalising moves or just hang about and hope to be noticed”.  So the night goes on and a few dances  later  which generally meant a few would-be”clicks” later and time marched on to that all-important end of night last dance – would it be with the current dreamboat who would ask to walk you home or would it be with the walking advert for Clearasil?

Let’s just say that I was disappointed many times……………………….

Does this remind you of anything?  Does this sound a little like very informal networking groups.  You know what I mean, spending ages getting ready, wondering if the mode of dress is appropriate, have I got my business cards, will anybody speak to me, will I get any business?   Then when you get to the event should I dive right in and go and speak to somebody or even the groovy group where everybody is laughing together, or should I just hang around the edges and wait and see what happens.  And towards the end of the event, will I actually get to speak to the right people, well I get any business?

So when I heard the term disco networking a few weeks ago in Perth — sorry I cannot remember who coined it — I thought it was totally brilliant and must confess that I have used the term many times since then and it has raised a little laugh.  So to all you disco networkers out there all I can say is………………

“Oh Oh Oh – stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive”