Care to hold your next meeting in someone else's office?

Biz4NJ recently surveyed a group of entrepreneurs on their meeting habits. The goal was to detemine the different ways entrepreneurs held meetings. We found that of the four ways mentioned, the idea of meeting in someone else's office piqued our interest, even though it was cited by only one respondent. That said, while the idea sounds doable, the devil is in the details!

Some reasons business could consider this approach?
 1. People who work in different parts of the state often like to meet midway which means neither person's own office would be suitable.
 2. Not everyone wants to meet in a restaurant over a meal. Sometimes the time is inconvenient, other times, people are watching their waist lines.
 3. Waste lines are also an issue. Not meeting in a restaurant or a meeting center like Regus or HQ, can save money as well.

On March 8, 2010 Dana Mattioli of the Wall St. Journal wrote a piece on the same theme. She talks of companies meeting a firms they already have a relationship with, such as vendors. Other service providers could also serve, such as Accountants, Lawyers, even Advertising Agencies!

The subject has stirred up a degree of interest at Biz4NJ, to the point of exploring whether a network of businesses across the state would be open to being
part of a searchable database on Biz4NJ. If a sufficient number of businesses are interested, Biz4NJ would be willing to launch the service in January 2011. Prospective users of the service would need to be people screened carefully, possibly confined initially to business professionals who have written for Biz4NJ.

Meanwhile, Biz4NJ will be contacting membership organizations and service businesses who want to increase their exposure to the business community to participate initially. Biz4NJ may charge a nominal registration fee of $100 a year for businesses to be listed on a searchable database that would also present the following information:

- Host company, a business description and additional information on what makies it special.
- A full address with directions, phone numbers, contact names/titles, email addresses of   persons who handle reservations.
- Photographs of venue with details such as seating capacity, availability of catering etc.
- Special terms if any such as lead times for booking, maximum time available per booking, # of bookings available per organization per year (if   applicable) as well as usage agreement to limit liability etc.                                                                                                                                                 - The availability of wi-fi.
- Eligibility for booking (if any). Some companies may want to limit availability based on size of company and the title of the person scheduling the meeting (such as limitting it only to CEO's of small, to mediumbusinesses

There will be an evaluation process and  Biz4NJ reserves the right to refuse an application for any or no reason. While Biz4NJ is planning toannounce the service in 2011, initial usage will be low but Biz4NJ expects the service to hit its stride in 2012.

Nostradamus speaks of the world coming to an end in 2012. Perhaps we could make a new begining as we facilitate greater corporate connection instead <smile> If you would like your company location to be included please email the Biz4NJ CEO at pphilip@Biz4NJ.com with your name, title, company, address, type of business and the best time that a Biz4NJ representative can call you back.