Recently, a fellow Western MA resident posted a “rant” (his word, not mine) about how the Western Massachusetts business climate is less than ideal and offers little in the way of networking opportunities. I think he missed the mark quite a bit and have re-posted my comments here, lest they be moderated away on his site.
My comments are below…
I think you’ve missed the mark here a bit… maybe a lot. I’m not sure if your goal was to get people “fired up” and talking about this. If so, I’m sure you’re well on your way to doing it. 
As a Western MA business owner, I can speak to competition… of course there is bound to be competition amongst competing businesses, it’s what business is all about… how to differentiate your business from the others. But want to know where I get a significant amount of referrals? My competitors. Those that I have fostered relationships with. Them and like-minded businesses.
You also allude that being parts of groups like BNI and Toastmasters are ineffective. I am not a Toastmasters member, but I do belong to BNI. The motto of BNI is “Givers Gain”. It seems that BNI is all about what you are saying is lacking in Western MA. BNI is groups of business people that get together to help each other grow their businesses and increase profits… together. I whole-heartedly invite you to visit my Chapter any time and see what BNI is all about. http://millriverbni.com
As the founder and organizer of the WesternMA TweetUps, I wanted to comment on some inaccurate information.
Your comment about the TweetUps was “Cons: not effective if only 15% (or so) of the western MA business community actively uses Twitter, only once every two/three months.”
Over the last 18 months, there has been a TweetUp EVERY month with the exception of three. The month of December, January and this month (so far). TweetUp attendance has grown from the first one at about 20 people, to around 60+. The TweetUps have also introduced a lot of like businesses that are now working together in various capacities. Cooperating and working together.
Additionally, since last June (2009), all TweetUps have offered the opportunity for local businesses or organizations to sponsor the TweetUps, something that has been taken advantage of every month since it was offered. Something that puts their name in front of thousands of folks that either follow @wmtweeps (http://twitter.com/wmtweeps) or the WesternMA hashtag or the dozens of people that re-tweet the announcements.
[Additionally] that’s where you and I met face-to-face for the first time… at a TweetUp.
Also, I’ve been to both PodCamp Western Mass events, and they were less than a year apart and grew significantly in both attendance and knowledge.
Events for the Greater Easthampton and Northampton Chambers as well as the Northampton Area Young Professionals (NAYP) events happen EVERY month.
You also seem to be considering only the City of Springfield as “Western MA”. There are hundreds of networking opportunities per week throughout the Pioneer Valley and Western MA. Sites like http://masshappenings.com are trying to get the word out. I can’t go a day with dozens of events being talked about on Twitter and Facebook.
If you compare the population of Boston to Springfield, you’ll see that Boston’s population, not surprisingly, greatly outnumbers Springfield. While Springfield is larger than Hartford “proper”, once you start comparing the sizes of “Greater Springfield”, “Greater Boston” and “Greater Hartford”, you’ll see again that our population falls far below that of those regions. Of course they will have many more networking opportunities.
Greater Boston Population: Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston)
Greater Hartford Population: Greater Hartford is also the largest metro area in Connecticut, and 45th largest in the country (2006 census estimate) with a metropolitan population of 1,188,841 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford,_Connecticut)
Greater Springfield: The Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of three counties: Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. At the 2000 census, the Springfield MSA had a population of 680,014 (though a July 1, 2007, estimate placed the population at 682,657 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield,_Massachusetts)
The entire “Greater Springfield” region has a population approximate to the size of Boston “proper”.
I am not saying you don’t have some valid points in wanting to Western MA to be more active. I do too. That was my main motivating factor behind founding and organizing the Western MA TweetUps. Provide a venue that allows minded people to get together over a common interest and network, whether they want to talk socially or professionally.
But consider why people move or live in Western MA. It has a lot to do with the laid-back atmosphere, the Hilltowns and countryside, the slower pace. If people are looking for a “big city” business, then they should probably move to the “big city”, because frankly, Western MA is not that place.
In this day and age, the Internet allows us to work anywhere. Face to face connections are great, but by are by no means necessary to have a working, THRIVING business relationship.
