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MW Blog 
The Origin of the MeetingWave Idea: An Online Tool for Offline Networking Meetings.
10/22/08
posted by John
My motivation for creating MeetingWave has its roots in a time when I was working as an associate at an intellectual property law firm in New York City. It was a firm, like any firm, where client generation was strongly encouraged, and partner compensation had a direct, measurable correlation to the amount of business you brought in. Rainmakers made a lot of money; worker bees did not. It became clear to me early on that the rainmakers were the ones who put themselves out there – they participated in professional organizations, social clubs (like the New York Yacht Club or the Harvard Club), and engaged in social activities like golfing – all in an effort to generate business while also having some fun. The power of networking to meet new people and generate new business was abundantly evident all around me.
At the same time, I also began to travel a bit to visit clients, sometimes in relatively “quiet” cities with not much going on or where I didn’t know anyone. A sampling of some of the places I traveled to for work purposes includes Gaithersburg, Maryland; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Hackettstown, New Jersey; Olen, Belgium; Slough, United Kingdom; and Birstall, United Kingdom. When I wasn’t scheduled to have dinner with the client I was visiting, my only options were often to eat dinner alone in my hotel room or eat alone in the hotel restaurant watching thirty other business people eating alone. It occurred to me: how beneficial (and fun) would it be for all of us to dine together? During one of my trips, I was working on a transaction in London and one of the attorneys I was working with named Anthony James (Carpmaels & Ransford) invited me to dinner at his private club called Brooks. The club was very old with a long history. While I sat down, I noticed a large circular table in the dining hall with a single gentleman sitting there. I asked about it and my colleague indicated it was an open table for any club member who was interested in dinner but hadn’t made arrangements to dine with anyone else. Any member could sit there and – voila – a networking dinner with a mix of members is set up.
My professional goals and my experiences while on business travel prompted me to think about creating a website dedicated to arranging networking dinners or lunches with other people while traveling or near home or work. Nothing existed (until MeetingWave came along) that provided people with the ability to create focused and convenient networking meetings. My goal was to create a tool that allowed people like me to create or find interesting networking meetings, wherever I might be.
That’s pretty much how it all started. I filed a patent application on my model and after it was granted, decided to build MeetingWave.com to help members arrange face-to-face networking meetings for business, professional or social purposes.
I hope you find it useful.
Regards, John
Founder, MeetingWave.com
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