The following is a list of networking events in Northwest Arkansas that will be happening in 2018. Events are added and updated weekly as new information becomes available, so check back often! (For a list of B2B networking groups that meet regularly in and around Northwest Arkansas visit our B2B Networking Groups page. And if we've missed any events (or you spot one that needs a correction), shoot us an email via our contact form!
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
Cost: Free
Grit Studios is excited to present a special #GRITTalks session with Dhiraj Rajaram, Founder of Mu Sigma. Mu Sigma acts as a sherpa to network non-natives in their transformation journey. Mu Sigma is the largest pure-play Big Data Analytics and Decision Support company, serving ~140 Fortune 500 clients (many Fortune 100) in the US, Europe and Australia.
Join the NWA chapter of Green Drinks for a happy hour of networking, socializing, and earth-friendly discussion, now hosted by the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust! This month's conservation partner is Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists!
Green Drinks is a casual social group made up of individuals who are passionate about, or employed in environmental fields as well as sustainability, outdoor and conservation enthusiasts. The Green Drinks movement began in the UK in 1989 and is now active in more than 600 cities worldwide.
Limited Seating
A unique brunch held at the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville. Business executives share their vision in the intimate setting of the Main Gallery. Questions may be submitted anonymously in advance. Seating is very limited, and there is a multi-brunch discount.
Cost: Free
The premier educational and networking event for identity and security professionals and is coming to Northwest Arkansas! Hybrid Identity Protection Tech Day is a 1-day regional event that fosters a community for identity and security professionals providing exclusive access to Microsoft MVPs and industry leaders in an intimate and interactive setting. The barrier between speaker and attendee is blurred. Not only can you engage with speakers before, during, and after their sessions, but they attend and participate in the conference alongside you.
Speakers include:
• Darren Mar-Elia, Head of Product, Semperis, 14-time Microsoft MVP
• Gil Kirkpatrick, CTO, ViewDS, 14-time Microsoft MVP
• Ben Johnson, Co-Founder and CTO, Obsidian Security and Carbon Black Co-Founder
• Sean Deuby, Senior Identity Architect, Edgile Inc, 15-time Microsoft MVP
Cost: Team - $800.00 | Single - $200.00
Registration Required
This four-person scramble tournament is a fun way for Chamber members to come together, compete for prizes and network with other players. It’s a great way to treat yourself, reward company employees and say thank you to special clients on the golf course.
Players can test their skills in the hole-in-one, longest drive, closest-to-the-pin and putting contests. Prizes will be awarded for top finishing teams and individual contest winners. Each golfer will receive two complimentary adult beverage tickets, snacks, and non alcoholic beverages. Breakfast will be served for the morning golfers. Lunch will be provided to every golfer.
Patio Party at Builders Stone & Supply & Elite Outdoor & Patio! They'll have beverages, food, and prizes to celebrate the grand opening of Elite Outdoor along with their recent remodel.
Cost: Free
This free 'drop-in' event will feature the work of inventors and entrepreneurs who will be on hand to showcase their work. You will also have the opportunity to sample food created by female caterers and listen to discussions on diversity, development, and how to launch into a startup ecosystem.
$15 Members | $25 Non-Members
This innovative and trans-formative program is a key stone of the Chamber’s equity-driven economic growth and diverse talent initiatives and will provide participants a continuous learning experience that goes deep into understanding about DEI issues and best workplace practices while developing inclusive leadership skills and fostering a welcoming, engaging quality of life for Bentonville-area professionals.
Cost: Free
DRAFT is a nationwide meetup series that taps into people who love bikes, biz and beer. These events bring communities together to celebrate the latest bike industry innovations. Speeches, announcements and conversations allow business leaders, product developers, tech innovators, advocates, artists and more to share big ideas—all while enjoying delicious craft beer. Click here to check out photos from DRAFT meetups around the U.S. So come by for a fast-paced hour of ideas, entrepreneurs and bikes, capturing the exciting things happening in the bike industry!
Members: $30 | Non-Members: $40
34 new people are moving to NWA each day, with Bentonville being one of the fastest growing cities. Investing in quality of life is vital to the growth of our community, there is no shortage of things to do in northwest Arkansas; where nature meets art, meets music, meets food, meets education; so on. These intersections are what make the region so unique. During this lunchtime discussion, you will hear from business representatives about the growth of Bentonville's education scene and how it impacts your business.
Cost: Free
Membership Required; Please RSVP
All Chamber members, volunteers, committee members, board members and special friends are invited to the Chamber Picnic. Each year, Chamber members provide hours of community service, give discounts on goods needed for Chamber programs and donate everything from snacks to door prizes for Chamber events. The Chamber staff would like to show its gratitude for all of these little things (and big things, too) and express appreciation to the Chamber’s friends and family. Come enjoy some delicious food and have some fun with your Chamber staff!
Non-Members: $30
From Facebook to email and texting, technology has taken over as the primary means of communication. Yet conversations are still a crucial part of relationship-building, both professionally and personally. This upbeat presentation will provide real-life communication strategies for maintaining “high-touch” relationships in “high-tech” times.
Free with Chamber Membership
Chamber Membership Required
Caffeinate is a monthly networking event for members and guests. You can count on making some valuable connections, delicious food, great coffee, and door prizes.
$10 Members | $20 Non-Members
Some days are too short, some seem unending, and there are times when you’ve barely made it through one set of rapids before another set begins; you need calm waters to reset. This session will help you find ways to rest in the chaos and paddle back in with confidence. Every river has an eddy, you just must pull into it. During this first session, you will walk away with a clear picture of where you are going and how to find rest while you are on the path.
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
Cost: Free
Avg. Attendance 300
The IdeaFame Live Contest, brought to you by Startup Junkie, is an event created to promote startups & new ideas, and to increase "creative collisions" in emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems. Come pitch your new business, product, service, or solution for a chance to win BIG! This event is open for anyone to attend! Bring your co-founders, friends, family, fiancé – anyone! (Attendees vote for the $1000 People’s Choice Prize.)
The competition is open to entrepreneurs, innovators, and dreamers who want to share their idea for a chance to win $1,000! You have 60 seconds to pitch your idea, no more. No slides. No notes. Only one contestant can speak per pitch.
Cost: Free
The Foreman will be creating a special cocktail for leisurlist After 5, and the first 100 people to check-in will have their first drink* covered by leisurlist. Come alone or come with friends and hang out with leisurlist to meet like-minded young professionals! All you need to do is register for your free ticket, show up and make friends--it's that easy! They'll have conversation cards laying around to help break the ice, and if you're new in town, they can introduce you to folks at the event--just let 'em know when you check in. As an added bonus, Onyx Coffee Lab is generously offering non-alcoholic options for attendees, if you want to mingle, but would prefer a non-alcoholic beverage.
*Drinks included in the event are beer, wine, the specialty cocktail provided by The Foreman, or a non-alcoholic beverage from Onyx Coffee Lab at The 1907
Pre-registration required
LinkedIn is one of the fastest growing online platforms for promoting your business’s services and products to targeted business professionals and for business networking. This platform can be used to showcase your expertise and knowledge. Come learn how to make sure your public profile is most effective, how to use free LinkedIn features to research and find prospects in your area or nationally, navigate LinkedIn’s basic systems to take advantage of all it offers, recruit quality talent for your business and how LI helps customers find your products and services in search engines. The speaker will be Martha Londagin of Legacy National Bank, and a complimentary lunch will be provided.
Cost: $25.00
Back for its second year, the Springdale Chamber has partnered with the Downtown Springdale Alliance to bring you an exciting opportunity: Invest Springdale, a meeting to share ideas, opportunities and resources promoting accelerated investment and development in Downtown Springdale. The event promises to be educational and informative for people who are interested in learning about investing in Springdale.
The Business After Hours business-building networking event keeps growing in popularity, with close to 100 business networkers attending on average at each event. One of the main reasons is that you get to mix and mingle with other Northwest Arkansas business professionals and find out what other businesses have to offer. This event is Presented by Chambers Bank and Cherokee Casino & Hotel and Hosted by House of Webster and Indigo Sky Casino at the Rogers Experimental House. It's a fun way to make new contacts, generate business leads, and find new vendors!
The LPGA, Network of Executive Women, and sponsor Kimberly-Clark present the Women's Empowerment Summit. More details to come!
Cost: Free
Join the Northwest Arkansas Woman-Run group on June 27th to hear from Stephanie Funk as we talk about business transitions.
Chamber Membership + WalStreet Membership Required
The Bentonville Chamber's WalStreet Speaker Series provides opportunities for Walmart and Sam’s Club executives to engage with front-line supplier employees. Monique Picou, SVP Flow & Fashion Supply Chain at Walmart US, will be the featured speaker for this event.
Membership + Registration Required; Women Only
Join for a fun pick-me-up from the weekend and start the week out right! An early morning networking event is a great opportunity to connect with other business minded women in NWA. Coffee and breakfast snacks will be provided.
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
The Business After Hours business-building networking event keeps growing in popularity, with close to 100 business networkers attending on average at each event. One of the main reasons is that you get to mix and mingle with other Northwest Arkansas business professionals and find out what other businesses have to offer. It's a fun way to make new contacts, generate business leads, and find new vendors!
Members: $30 | Non-Members: $40
34 new people are moving to NWA each day, with Bentonville being one of the fastest growing cities. Investing in quality of life is vital to the growth of our community, there is no shortage of things to do in northwest Arkansas; where nature meets art, meets music, meets food, meets education; so on. These intersections are what make the region so unique. (The topic for discussion is currently TBD - check back for updates!)
Tables: $80.00 Members | $110.00 Non-Members; Individual cost has not been posted
Check back soon for more details!
The event that celebrates local teachers who are making a big difference in the world. Teachers give our children so much and use their classrooms as the first steps in educating the next generation of workforce that will keep our businesses and our community thriving well into the future. Though we can never thank them enough, this event is an opportunity to let them know how much we appreciate all that they do.
In this interactive session you will outline the priorities in your life by using a ‘wheel of life.’ This diagram will serve as a visual representation of what is important to you and will reveal how you are doing in each area. Upon completing the exercise, you will be able to identify the areas to take actionable steps in to successfully integrate your life and your work.
The Business After Hours business-building networking event keeps growing in popularity, with close to 100 business networkers attending on average at each event. One of the main reasons is that you get to mix and mingle with other Northwest Arkansas business professionals and find out what other businesses have to offer. It's a fun way to make new contacts, generate business leads, and find new vendors!
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
$65 - $149
Avg. Attendance 1,500
The NWA Business Women's Conference is the premier women's conference in the region. Known for its outstanding keynote speakers and networking opportunities, more than 1,500 of northwest Arkansas' most accomplished business women attend the conference each year.
Cost: $30.00 - $40.00
Avg. Attendance 40 - 60
Rogers-Lowell Chamber Membership Required
This may be the best networking bang for your networking buck! Six business representatives sit at a table and each participant at the table has two minutes to promote their products and services. Then, we rotate to two other tables and rinse and repeat, which means you get to network with at least 18 participants. That's a lot of networking! So be sure to bring plenty of business cards, brochures, product samples, and promo items to hand out.
Cost: $100.00 - $150.00
Great developers aren’t just found in the Valley, or Seattle, or New York. They’re right here in Arkansas, in the heart of America. In the middle of “nowhere.” The name, Nowhere Developers, is our way of tipping our hats to all the incredible developer talent in our region. For this reason, our mission is to provide a platform for industry professionals to engage in top-notch, pure-tech events in the state of Arkansas.
The Nowhere Developers Conference will star local, regional, and national speakers that will talk about the state of technology, software engineering, machine learning, and our region’s technology ecosystem. The conference will feature various expert-led sessions tailored to our attendees technological interests. Local food will be provided to foster community and attendee interaction. Additionally, attendees can look forward to networking, appetizers, and drinks at the afterparty.
Chamber Membership + WalStreet Membership Required
The Bentonville Chamber's WalStreet Speaker Series provides opportunities for Walmart and Sam’s Club executives to engage with front-line supplier employees. Steve Breen, SVP Merchandising at Walmart, will be the speaker for this event.
Team Cost: $350.00 Members | $450 Non-Members
Registration Required
This is a fun opportunity to engage with others in the community, promote your business and encourage economic development of the area through networking. This event is open to both Main Street, WalStreet and non Chamber members. In addition to golf, there are also various sponsorship packages available offering you the opportunity to promote exposure for your brand in a relaxed environment.
$20.00
Avg. Attendance 150 - 300
GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals and creatives including designers, developers, database administrators, marketers, content creators, and web strategists donate their time to provide technology solutions for non-profit organizations. We have volunteers who come to Northwest Arkansas from all over the state to make a major difference for the weekend!
Cost: Team - $400.00
Rogers-Lowell Chamber Membership Required
Back for its third year, this popular event offers members a unique and fun opportunity to network with other business professionals and conduct business on the range at Gunsmoke Sporting Clays in Garfield. Sponsors may invite special customers/clients to join them as a gesture of thanks or reward employees with a day of team building. Shooters receive continental breakfast, lunch, snacks, ammo, goodie bags and beverages. Experienced and novice shooters alike are welcome!
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
Free with Chamber Membership
Membership Required; Registration Not Required
This month's Business After Hours features "Networking with a Purpose," a nonprofit showcase hosted by the Northwest Arkansas Emerging Leaders and the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. This event is set up so you can meet and network with contacts from a variety of local nonprofit organizations. You'll find out how you can volunteer and contribute, learn what services are provided by nonprofits, and discover what products and services these organizations need.
Cost: TBD
Avg. Attendance 1,000
The Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit brings together small businesses, entrepreneurs, C-level executives, retail and suppliers, technology, academia and communication and social media professionals to celebrate technology, innovation and the power of digital in shaping our future. Forward-thinking and practitioner-driven general session speakers and high value breakout sessions deliver ways to effectively collaborate on innovative solutions to common business challenges and learn how technology is powering change and leveling the playing field.
Members: $30 | Non-Members: $40
34 new people are moving to NWA each day, with Bentonville being one of the fastest growing cities. Investing in quality of life is vital to the growth of our community, there is no shortage of things to do in northwest Arkansas; where nature meets art, meets music, meets food, meets education; so on. These intersections are what make the region so unique. During this lunchtime discussion, you will hear from business representatives about the growth of Bentonville's entreprenurial scene and how it impacts your business.
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
Cost: $30.00 - $40.00
Avg. Attendance 40 - 60
Rogers-Lowell Chamber Membership Required
This may be the best networking bang for your networking buck! Six business representatives sit at a table and each participant at the table has two minutes to promote their products and services. Then, we rotate to two other tables and rinse and repeat, which means you get to network with at least 18 participants. That's a lot of networking! So be sure to bring plenty of business cards, brochures, product samples, and promo items to hand out.
This informal event being put on by both the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber and the Bentonville Chamber to allow you to showcase your company, meet with other members of the business community, and network in a casual atmosphere. Refreshments and food will be provided.
Chamber Membership + WalStreet Membership Required
The Bentonville Chamber's WalStreet Speaker Series provides opportunities for Walmart and Sam’s Club executives to engage with front-line supplier employees. Simon Belsham, President at Jet.com, will be the speaker for this event.
Cost: Free
Gig Coffee Socials are a monthly in-person gathering hosted by The Gig Community. We like to get together to bond over the unique triumphs and woes that being a gig worker bring. Our events are open to any 1099/contract worker in the 4-county Northwest Arkansas area! Even if you earn just a bit of income from self-employment/contract work, we want you to join us!
The Business After Hours business-building networking event keeps growing in popularity, with close to 100 business networkers attending on average at each event. One of the main reasons is that you get to mix and mingle with other Northwest Arkansas business professionals and find out what other businesses have to offer. It's a fun way to make new contacts, generate business leads, and find new vendors!