South Staffordshire Council
Mingle and Master: Networking Done Right
A networking skills workshop for small business owners and professionals
Delivered: December 2025, Codsall Community Hub, South Staffordshire
“It was one of our best events of the year”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
Charlotte Davies is a West Midlands-based workshop facilitator and presentation coach specialising in communication and networking skills for business owners and professionals.
She has delivered networking skills workshops for organisations including South Staffordshire Council and the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, and has been a regular presence in the West Midlands business community as both a speaker and event host – including a TEDx talk.
She knows what it feels like to walk into a room full of strangers.
At a glance
Client: South Staffordshire Council
Workshop: Networking Skills (Mingle & Master: Networking Done Right)
Audience: Small business owners & professionals
Outcome:
- Participants actively networking during the event
- Immediate LinkedIn engagement post-event
- Described as “one of the best events of the year”
The brief
South Staffordshire Council wanted to close the year with something useful. A bigger event, timed around the festive period – and a topic their business community had been asking about.
Networking.
Not the stuffy, high-pressure version people dread. Something different.
Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer at South Staffordshire Council, explains what they were trying to shift:
“There’s a perception that networking is cliquey. That you only go to get leads, it’s high pressured, and you’ve got to come away with something. But we wanted to get across that networking doesn’t have to be like that.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
The room would be a mix: people who’d never networked before, occasional networkers, and seasoned ones who still found it uncomfortable. The goal wasn’t just to teach skills. It was to change how people felt about walking into a room.
Why Charlotte
Jody and the team had seen me speak before. They knew my reputation, my TEDx talk, and – crucially – how I make people feel.
“We didn’t want someone who was just there to sell their product or networking group. We wanted someone passionate and who would instil confidence, techniques, and develop the different styles and skills needed.”
“We thought Charlotte would be perfect to deliver the session because of the way she comes across and relaxes people.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
The workshop design
When I’m asked to deliver a networking skills workshop, I think carefully about the arc of the room – not just the content, but the emotional journey. And I start before the session even begins.
Most people assume networking is only what happens in the room. It isn’t. A lot of the discomfort people feel comes from walking in underprepared – not just in terms of what to say, but logistically. Not knowing where to park. Not knowing whether to bring business cards. Not having a pitch that feels like theirs.
I also know from running my own events that a client briefing a workshop facilitator already has a hundred other things on their plate. My job isn’t to add to that load. I want to make the process as straightforward as possible.
“It just flowed. We gave Charlotte a brief and she delivered the goods.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
The session was structured in three parts: before, during, and after.
Before the event
Preparation is where confidence is built. The session covered the practical logistics people rarely think about – how to get there, whether to take business cards, what to wear – alongside techniques for managing nerves: breathing, power posing (I offer it as a tool to try, not a guarantee), and settling the body before walking in.
One of the most effective things I teach is emailing the event host in advance. Something simple – introducing yourself, mentioning it’s your first time, saying you’re looking forward to it. I know from hosting my own events how much it means to receive a message like that, and that I’ll actively look out for that person on the day. It’s a small action that changes the dynamic entirely.
This session also included how to find the right networking events – using AI prompts I developed to help people identify events suited to their personality and goals, not just whatever’s nearby. And how to use AI to prepare and get feedback on your 60-second pitch before you’re put on the spot.
During the event
The “during” section is what most networking workshops focus on exclusively. Here, we covered how to read a room, how to approach individuals, pairs, and larger groups, how to open a conversation naturally, and – the one people always ask about – how to leave a group without it feeling awkward or rude.
I demonstrated these live. A few volunteers came up, we modelled the approaches together, and something shifted in the room.
“It’s usually hard to get people to stand up and do activities, but it wasn’t hard at all. People let their guards down. They relaxed and everyone participated. They didn’t feel silly.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
I also shared how to use AI during and after an event to capture notes – including using a voice recorder with ChatGPT to make follow-up notes on the people you’ve met while it’s still fresh.
After the event
This is where most people drop the ball, and where the real relationship-building happens. If you meet someone once and do nothing, that’s not networking. That’s a one-time encounter.
The session covered what a meaningful follow-up looks like: sending a connection request with a personal note, arranging a coffee, signing up to someone’s newsletter, posting on LinkedIn and tagging people you met to keep the conversation public and warm.
Which, as it turned out, is exactly what participants did.
What participants took away:
- Asking the host for introductions before the event
- Spotting open groups in the room – and knowing it’s fine to join them
- How to close a conversation gracefully and move on
- What a meaningful follow-up actually looks like
(Thanks to Sharon Fern for her summary of the event on LinkedIn)
The day
“Charlotte broke networking down into simple, practical steps that made complete sense. We even got to put some of it into practice, which made the learning stick. Today I learned how to quiet that noise and focus on genuine connection.”
— Jenny Steel, Training Manager, Steels Safety Training Solutions
“I left energised, clearer in my approach, and ready to take this momentum into the New Year.
It was genuine rather than transactional – refreshing, inspiring, and exactly what I needed.”
— Tracey Nyemba, Brand and Web Designer and Founder, BTN Creations
“Thank you for a great session. It was helpful to see each stage broken down and how to approach different scenarios.”
— Silvia Parnaby, Head of Sales, Weston Park
Even Jody, by her own admission a self-confessed introverted extrovert for whom the word “networking” had always filled her with dread, came away with a shift:
“As a team, we’ve all taken something from it. It made me think differently and I’m putting the advice into practice at events now.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
Learning into practice
The format meant the networking skills didn’t stay in the session.
People moved around the room during lunch, putting the techniques straight to work – phrases from the workshop appearing in real conversations, new connections forming across tables. People posted on LinkedIn the same afternoon, tagging each other, keeping the energy going.
The messages arrived afterwards too.
“I have come away with a bucket full of ideas and a pocket full of business cards.
Yours was my first event. It certainly won’t be my last.”
— Shaun Mansfield, Shaun Mansfield Magic
The outcome
“We would highly recommend Charlotte to anyone looking for a workshop facilitator. Professional, engaging, and it flowed.
The content was relatable – delivered from a business owner’s perspective, not someone instilling information and expecting you to know it.
It was one of our best events of the year.”
— Jody Fox, Business Growth Officer, South Staffordshire Council
Looking for a networking skills workshop or business communication workshop for your team or organisation?
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