LinkedDayton Meeting

I recently ran across someone on LinkedIn belonging to a LinkedCincinnati group and after a little searching also found a LinkedDayton group.  Each has an associated Yahoo group for messages: Dayton and Cincinnati.  The Yahoo groups have been a mixed bag, some messages are people introducing themselves or their businesses while many are people seeking or offering opportunities.

Tonight I attended a networking event organized by the LinkedDayton group, which was held in the community room at the Panera Bread near the University of Dayton.  It was a little different than the typical technical user group meeting I attend.  First of all, there was no free food.  And when they announced that it was time to eat, nobody ate, they just kept talking.  Very different than developer groups.

Other than the culture shock, it was a good event.  They didn't say how many people were there, but it it seemed like about thirty; this was the second group meeting, and they had nine people at the first one. As you might expect, the crowd was full of sales people and recruiters, but also had a number of "regular people" too.  If you're looking for a new opportunity, it's probably a good place to be.  I chatted with a variety of people, including a few technical types.  Most of the meeting was devoted to people talking amongst themselves, but there was a little presentation from the group leaders, including input from a couple attendees on changing careers.  There was also a number of questions and discussion from group attendees.

The next event will be April 22 at a location to be determined.  You can join the LinkedDayton group to be notified when the location is finalized.