Yesterday I found myself in Harrogate at a Drinks Evening with The Yorkshire Mafia.
What a breath of fresh air.
Having moved to Yorkshire and wanting to meet other like minded people locally who are in business, I have to say Yorkshire Mafia do things that are in keeping with the way I like to see things done.
It was simply a pleasant evening with a whole mix of people at a great location in Harrogate. The event was put on and those who wanted to book, booked. They closed off at 300 people and the boutique hotel was buzzing with people by 7pm.
This is the first Yorkshire Mafia drinks evening I’ve been to. I spoke to a good handful of people I already knew and was introduced to good number of others. The best way for me to describe the evening was ‘chillaxed’. It seemed to follow exactly what was put out recently in one of the broadsheets (feel free to drop the recent link in as a comment below). It said Yorkshire Mafia is a place where people go as buyers to meet others.
I have to say I was delightfully surprised to attend something that had a good mood about the place, diverse people and of course an event that seemed to keep the networking day-walking junkies out of the room.
I have to say the Balmoral Hotel in Harrogate was perfect (please feel free to punch their website in the comments box when you comment – they deserve a link if anyone has one). The right feel about the place, well organised and generally really good service with polite staff. One of the best things about this event is that the organisers are not organising the event to sell you their magazine advertising space, or their new wizzie website solution. In fact, it was there for people to come together, meet others and a simply network.
The people who wanted to be there, were there. It was really good to see such a well put on event.
One point I will mention is about the caterer who made the tiny fairy cakes. They were quite simply the best cakes I’ve seen for a long time. One of the designs that I saw had the Yorkshire flower on it. These were exceedingly better cakes than Mr Kippling! Please post a photo and leave a comment on the blog.
One of the best parts about attending I have to say was the preparation and the well organised manner that this was put on. On a personal level, I am extremely busy, I am really quite short on time, as are others and it was good to see that the careful thought had been put in to asking an SMS service provider to send a personalised message to give the PostCode location of the hotel and a contact phone number.
Driving from South Yorkshire, due to arrive at 5.45pm for a 6pm start, having never been to Harrogate, I was able to leave work with my txt message on my phone, punch the location directly in to the SatNav en-route and let it guide me in. Ample parking, somebody at the outside entrance of the Hotel to welcome me in and what I can only describe as fantastic company inside.
All in all, Mafioso do things right.
Thank you so much to those who emailed me this morning, it was great to meet you all.
If you are wanting to share your experiences from last night’s event, feel free to comment here or drop a link of to your own blog.
AND, just in case you were wondering, the event was very normal, un-pompous and simply delightful to be at.
