A few years ago, I went to a "Free" networking event that wasn't as free as I thought!
At the time, I was working for a very toxic job, where everyone was screaming at each other, they couldn't pay us on time and the owner was caught doing drugs in his office! That's a story for another time! But because of this job, I found out about this Networking event because the jobs linkedin had this guy as a friend and he had messaged the company about his networking night.
So I was like, ok, I'll go!
The networking event is a monthly free event that the host, provides. He has other events that are like dinners and you have to pay for this, so this was the only one that was free.
I had gone a total of 4 times, and after the second time, I went on his website to sign up for his directory listing which shows local businesses on his website. Before signing up, I looked to see if you have to pay for it and I couldn't find anything about that.
So then I signed up, but I didn't finish the application because I searched the website again and found out that in order to sign up you had to pay a YEARLY fee of $300 dollars! I can't afford that, so I just closed out of the website.
Keep in mind, the price for having a listing was hidden, like it's not out in the open. You have your pages, like it says photos, events, videos, info, etcetera and one of the tabs is a phone number. You have to click on that tab and then it brings you to a page that just says for "Sponsor info click here" and then it brings you to another page that tells you how much it is for the listing. Which is $300. To me that's a bit strange that the price isn't upfront and that you really have to "dig" to find it.
A few days later, he starts calling me and he always called me when I was at work. Because of that, I didn't want to answer him when I was there because the job was very strict so I was afraid I'd get into trouble if I left to take a call. Keep in mind, It didn't occur to me that I could call him after hours, so I never did.
He had also added me on Facebook and sent me a message as well, and for some reason, my brain registered his message as an automated message as the message as an ad as it said things like, promote, connect, Special, Sign up now and get 2 months free" , so I never answered him there either as I figured it was an automated message. But he kept calling to finish the application. Looking back at it, like obviously I'm not interested so like leave me alone?
Fast forward to the third time I go to his event, he's at the door and looks furious. He gave me an attitude and was like, why didn't you answer my calls. I don't remember my response, but afterwards he said that next time he calls me, that I BETTER Answer him. I thought to myself, he's not my boss, he's not my dad, he's no one important to me, like he has a lot of nerve to be so nasty and then demand a phone call. No one in life owes you anything, you know?
So I go in and I had invited two of my friends, and I told both of them what happened. They were supportive of me and they told him how I had invited them there. He always does a speech and he had mentioned that I had brought people in. Throughout that day, I was paranoid that he was going to get angry with me again. But nothing happened.
After that, I had no desire to go back since he was so nasty to me. But 2-3 months later, I decided to go back as I had just been laid off from the toxic job. So I went and everything was fine, but at the end, he was like, I really want you to be a sponsor, I'm sure we can work things out. After he walked away, I left, I was like nope. Like even though he was nice to me this time, I still remember when he was so nasty to me, and it's not like I have money to afford that I was just laid off! After that, I never went back and have no desire to.
Now looking back at the Networking event, I realized that I started seeing the same faces and what struck me as odd was the familiar faces were all Sponsors who paid the price. Whereas everyone else that I had met, I never saw again. So the only returning people were the sponsors, which makes me believe that if you want to keep on going, he starts to pressure you into becoming a sponsor and that's how he makes his money from the event being "Free".
In some ways I kind of wonder if it's a pyramid scheme, because he starts to bug you about being a sponsor until you join and then you recruit others to do the same and you keep paying him for his services that may or may not work. I'm pretty sure he even said that not everyone will meet someone that they can do business with. He has like 500 Sponsors, that's 149,700 a YEAR!!!! Just from Sponsors!! The only person I actually met at this networking event that was of value is this girl I met the first time, who turned into a great friend of mine.
Also, one of the times he had made a comment that he prefers women and will always talk to them first. Something along the lines, which makes me believe that if I was a woman, he would have been much nicer to me. But this is just a theory.
It's funny because his website is very outdated, not only is the price for sponsors hidden, but it also looks like it hasn't been updated since 2003.
