Have a great Canada Day!

Sean Mitton

As a Canadian living in the U.S., one of my favourite events is Canada Day. An opportunity to celebrate our Canadian Heritage and catch up with old friends while also creating new ones.

In Raleigh,NC, we typically have a good turn out of around 100 people or so. I don't know about you, but if you've had the opportunity to have a good conversation with 10-15 people you've been pretty busy.

Those conversations are always enjoyable, but are you connecting with people, who may have similar business, social or Canadian backgrounds?

Chances are there a people in the crowd who may:

• Be in your industry
• Have attended your University
• Be from your Canadian province or city
• Enjoy the same bands
• Enjoy Cultural or sporting events
• Like similar Canadian products (Do you make Tim Horton's runs?)
• Have experienced similar expat challenges (Immigration is easy, right?)

The Canadian Expat Social Network is a tool that can make networking more effective. It's an opportunity to meet individuals with commonalities without having to ask as series of questions of every person.

That one connection could help find a job opportunity that keeps a person or family in the country, find a new business opportunity, find a new friend or help in solving expat issues.

Our social network is not focused on how many friends you have or sharing what you did over the weekend. It's about making intelligent connections with people you may not know but have commonalities including heritage.

I hope you find this tool useful in applying this to events and connecting with people who have common business and social interests.

Might this have helped you when you first arrived in the U.S.?

Have a great Canada Day!