It is 6.30am at a drab conference room at a mid-range Wan Chai hotel - not the most cheery of scenarios. But the place is energised. People are smiling and speaking at high volume. They are clattering coffee cups, waving arms, stacking piles of business cards. This room is pressurised by the anticipation of what is about to unfold.
These people, almost all of them entrepreneurs or small business owners, are about to indulge in a binge of networking that will create rounds of referrals and, potentially, money.
Welcome to speed networking. People get up in front of a group. Say exactly what they are looking for. And the group responds immediately. People push name cards into the hands of the speaker, or pieces of paper jotted with names and numbers.
The concept is to reduce networking to its essence. The structure of the meeting cuts out schmoozing and pointless chit-chat. It's all about communicating what you need, getting the info, and then getting out of the room and on with your business.
This meeting is organised by Business Network International. Its members trade weekly business referrals with military-like efficiency.
Boris Burgess, a secretary and treasurer of a BNI chapter, explains how it works. "Each person is given 60 seconds to tell their chapter who they are looking for. Members are expected to provide at least two referrals per week," he says, noting that each member represents a different industry within the chapter to ensure that there is no competition for referrals.