Baton Rouge NetWorking

By Peter Biadasz, Southern Plains Bureau Chief          Peter's Bio
 

One of the greatest things about this position is getting to talk with exciting networking groups in a variety of geographic areas. This month we travel to Louisiana and visit the Business Associates of Baton Rouge (BABR). This group represents various non-competing businesses in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the surrounding areas.  BABR meets its main objectives by purchasing, promoting and referring the products and services of its members and planning programs which inform and stimulate member participation. According to Jerry Watts, Membership chair, “We are the best!!!”

Business Associates of Baton Rouge was started in December, 1980 by a small group of individuals who realized the importance of sharing ideas, business practices and sales opportunities with other professionals from various businesses. Currently, there are approximately 60 members in BABR. Over 40% of the current members have been with BABR for over 10 years. Nearly 15% of the members joined BABR over 15 years ago. The weekly morning meetings involve last an hour with two or three members giving a six minute speech. The format for the speech can be found on their website at www.babr.org.  Attendance guidelines are strict to ensure that members get quality time with each other. In addition, the group has excellent accountability of lead passing in that they give both written and verbal lead passing reports. A points system is utilized to recognize and reward those deeply involved in the lead passing and networking process.

Throughout the year, BABR holds a number of events outside of the weekly Thursday morning meetings such as the "After-Hours" get-togethers at one of the BABR members' place of business, crawfish boil or the annual Christmas party.  These events are fun, relaxing and are an opportunity to meet and mingle with fellow members! Emphasis is placed year-round on members plugging into the networks of co-workers. The group has two officer positions titled “Members-at-Large” who, Jerry related to me, act as communication liaisons between the membership and the board to receive negative or constructive feedback to better the group.

To learn more about how the Business Associates of Baton Rouge can benefit you, feel free to visit www.babr.org.
 

---

Please contact Peter at PeterB@TheNationalNetworker.com.