Seriously… I commend you for getting yourself out there and do the meet-and-greet and stop-and-chat. At least everyone involved is clear about the purpose of the meeting. This is not some kind of under the radar sales campaign, disguised as “social networking”.

Tonight, I promise to raise my glass to your continued success, Connie! May it forever be filled with love, joy and happiness!

But I do understand the time spent volunteering, the fees, the other donations. When I was producing, I used my networks to find people to hire. When I stopped producing and went full-time VO, I guess I just expected that my network would reciprocate. It took many years before I actually started to try to close a deal. Just spent (and still do) a lot of time volunteering. Ironically it was those in my network, but outside of my town who have hired me for their projects.

I’ve always wondered when I would have the time to do some volunteering for pure altruistic reasons, and then I realize just how much I give to a professional association without actually getting much in return from a dollar point of view, so it perhaps I have been altruistic without realizing it. This is not to discount the several good friends over the years though.

But I do find it’s easier with half a glass of wine under my belt! It’s just stopping at the half glass that’s the trick! :)

I have also watched how in my neck of the woods it might seem that a giant vacuum has sucked a good deal of the work away. 2008 for example was a very good year for me, but when I did my yearly analysis, it revealed that only 21% of my gross billings could be traced to my beloved Bay Area.

What makes this sadder still is that I have spent thousands of hours over the past few years volunteering, coordinating, supporting and otherwise serving my local ad community, gaming community and business community in general. On top of that add the membership fees, donations, luncheon and fundraising fees, raffle ticket fees, etc. As a BAARC board member, I work with other ad industry people to help Bay Area Advertising people in financial need. It dawned on me that if some of our contributors and supporters didn’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars producing their projects in Canada or overseas, we might not have so many local ad folks in need.

I now am considerably more choosy about what events I support and mixers I attend. I too have picked up a job here or there probably as a result of attending a mixer, however I have gotten a lot better about things.

I’m glad you are having some good experiences, but buying potential clients drinks at $12 a piece, while having to stand up for 4 or 5 hours at a time,can leave one struggling to justify both the marketing costs and wear and tear on the body and soul