Hi
I used to be a member of BNI when i first started my business and i did find it very useful! We had a great group of people in our chapter and i got a lot of business from it and still have some great contacts from it. I honestly think that if the format that BNI follows suits how you are comfortable networking and the type of business you have then it could work well for you, but i know people who love it & people who don't like it, depending on how formal they like the meetings & if they can commit to a weekly meeting for a year. It really gave me confidence in talking to people about my business and how to do it well, since you only get 60 seconds to do it, i think this was one of the best things i took away from BNI and it has shown at other networking events i have gone to!
I have seen people do extremely well and some people struggle. I am no longer a member for a few reasons but mainly as a new business i wanted to expand my networking field outside our chapter so as a business i could benefit a group like that if i ever joined again so i joined the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, but i also felt that the fees were quite high and inflexible.
A bit of a long winded reply, but hope it helps
