The Magic of a Meetup - Athena Alliance

The Magic of an Athena Meetup

When accomplished women meet, something magical happens. Orchestrated by Athena’s team, and hosted by enthusiastic Athena members, our in-person meetups offer a unique chance for leaders, hailing from diverse and powerful backgrounds, trajectories, and experiences, to convene and connect outside of their professional circle.

We don’t “network” at Athena.

We build deeper connections, foster personal and intentional relationships, share our Portfolio of Impact™, support each other to activate progress toward goals, and help each other have fun.

What to expect

The best events are a combination of both unstructured and structured moments for everyone to participate and connect on a variety of levels. Our structure is simple and comes in three parts:

Gathering & connecting individually

Usually 30 to 45 Minutes. Your host will ask you to sign in so we can help the group follow up with new connections. You are free to mingle and talk with whomever you wish; but we suggest you make the most of this time.

Our Top 4 Tips For Making Individual Connections:

Meet people you don’t know. Be determined to make some new ties.
Engage with Intention. Ask others what they are excited about, focused on, and struggling with.
Offer your support where you can.
Don’t stay too long in one conversation; you can always agree to talk more later. Use this time to get acquainted with as many people as you can.

Connecting as a group

Usually 30 to 45 Minutes. Your host will facilitate an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves. This is where the magic of an Athena event really shines. You have a brief moment (a minute, maybe 2 depending on the size of the group) to let people know who you are. Don’t share a chronological account of your history. You just won’t have the time.

Our Top 2 Tips For Connecting To The Group:

Who are you? If you like, share name, title, company… or share a “drop the mic” statement that leaves people wanting to know more.
What is your Portfolio of Impact? How many of these are you, and which one or two are you most focused on now?

Leader (e.g. title within a company)
Board Director (e.g. serve on boards)
Investor (e.g. actively funding next generation businesses)
Entrepreneur (e.g. building a company as a founder/ceo)
Inspirer (e.g. wrote/writing a book, teaching, hosting a podcast…)

An example

“Hi, my name is Coco Brown. I’m the Founder & CEO of Athena. I am a 4 time entrepreneur, actively building Athena Alliance, which is a community platform for women leaders building their Portfolio of Impact™. Our members have 20, 30, 40 years behind them. They aren’t done yet. They are now architecting for the next 10, 20, 30 years. Some of them want to join boards, others invest, most of them want to do several things.

As for me, I’m focused on building my company to scale as an entrepreneur, investing in next generation businesses through light angel investing, I serve on a couple of private boards, and I’m screwing up my energy and courage to do a TED Talk.”

Having an experience together

Each Meetup is designed around an experience, which can be as simple as gathering around food, or as orchestrated as going to a museum, or engaging with an expert around a specific topic.

A gathering at a home, or a bar/restaurant

A gathering around an activity (like wine tasting)

A gathering for a topic - to hear an expert and discuss

Depending on the setting, the opportunity to talk as a group may be a challenge, but whenever possible your host will make that happen. Otherwise, it’s just pure fun and connection. If there is a topic for discussion (with or without an expert present), your host will kick this off an hour or so from the start of the event.

Play your part

Each Athena event is what you make of it. Together we can make it magical.

Seven expectations for all who join an Athena Meetup:

Be a friend. During free mingling time, pull people in who are on the periphery.

Move around. Don’t just hang with who you know.

Make your introduction brief. Check the size of the gathering and adjust your introduction accordingly. If there are 25 or more people, you really only have one minute. If there are only 10 people you have 3 minutes.

Read the room. Don’t monopolize the conversation, or work hard to drive your point. Make sure you listen and attend to others.

Offer to help. What can you contribute to someone else’s goals and challenges?

Don’t sell. Here, personal growth and shared learning take precedence over self-promotion. This is not the time to sell your consulting services, your book, or your company’s services. You can mention them, but Athena Meetups are not a platform for acquiring customers.

Be inclusive. Don’t assume your experience is anyone else’s. We come from all different backgrounds, politically, religiously, economically, racially, culturally. Don’t assume you know what others feel, believe or want.