On November 27 the Toronto Young Professionals Affinity Group held a very successful networking mixer with several hundred attendees. A highlights video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6TbpinDhag.

We decided to try out the new “Young Professionals” branding by making the event open to everyone, not just IEEE members. The turnout was staggering! We used the Eventbrite platform to advertise the event through various social media streams. The day of the event, we had 890 people registered, after just 3 weeks of marketing. Many of our attendees found the event on Eventbrite or by Googling “networking events in Toronto.” Most had never heard of IEEE, but were intrigued to learn more in spite of their various backgrounds which included medicine, law, finance, teaching, engineering, etc. After speaking with dozens of guests, they all agreed that “Young Professionals” was a very appropriate new name for GOLD, and that they would be interested in attending our events in the future despite their different backgrounds.

IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013IEEE YP Toronto Networking Mixer 27 November 2013

More photos of this event are available at http://www.chaimu.ca/.

Article contributed by Mario Milicevic, IEEE Toronto YP Chair