The Little Miracles BIG Networking Event on September 15 has been put together to both raise some much-needed funds for the children that Little Miracles support, but also to bring local businesses together.

Talk Networking, a popular networking organiser, has been supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for over a decade with free, affordable events. During lockdown, the team has created four online networking formats at different levels to get as much return as possible for those attending. Three of these will be used at the Little Miracles BIG Networking Event.

Businesses can pick between the events - doing just one, two or all three.

The mastermind session is three hours long and gives each attendee the chance to talk about their business in detail. Each attendee can also share a question or challenge they are facing and their peers will help them to resolve it.

The online rotation room allows attendees to meet virtually in small groups, pitch for a minute, mingle for five minutes and then move to another room with brand new people. Feedback from this event suggests that it is better than face-to-face networking; the lead generation and number of people connected with can be much higher.

The final event is a virtual room known as Tables. The platform will show a room full of tables and attendees can click on a table to meet a new group of people.

Each event comes with a detailed delegates list (that is GDPR compliant) and Talk Network are giving free access for those in attendance to join their own social platform to connect with their online networking group.

The hope is that as businesses begin to return to some semblance of normal following the coronavirus crisis, this networking event can safely connect leaders and reinvigorate the local business scene.

Little Miracles is a Peterborough-based charity that is leading the coordination efforts to get food, baby milk, clothes, toiletries and other essentials to families in need. Donations and funding has halved due to lockdown - but the charity has facilitated over 2,000 assistance parcels since the beginning of the pandemic.

More than 20% of the children supported by Little Miracles are life-limited and 77% are on the government's high risk list. The majority of families have been shielding and so haven't seen loved ones or been able to leave their homes since the beginning of March.

Tickets can be purchased through the Talk Networking website or by contacting Emily Sibthorpe at emily.sibthorpe@Littlemiraclescharity.org.uk.