	{"id":111837,"date":"2025-12-08T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballinatimes\/?p=111837"},"modified":"2025-12-03T20:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:40:04","slug":"after-hours-networking-event-to-build-business-confidence-for-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballinatimes\/news\/after-hours-networking-event-to-build-business-confidence-for-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"After-hours networking event to build business confidence for the new year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BALLINA Shire Council and its Destination and Economy team will host an after-hours networking event in hopes of building business confidence through collaboration and support into 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The free event will be held at the Ballina Information Centre on Wednesday, December 10.<\/p>\n<p>Up to 70 businesses have gathered at after-hours events since June in hopes of sharing ideas and supporting each other through the Ballina Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n<p>Destination Ballina, which operates the visitor information centre, promotes the region\u2019s coastline, rainforests, waterfalls and local businesses.<\/p>\n<p>They field more than 40,000 enquiries each year from locals and visitors seeking local products, experiences, services and events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis gathering is more than a festive catch-up,\u201d an event spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to recognise the strong and evolving partnership between council and businesses across the Shire-partnerships that continue to drive innovation, resilience and economic vitality right across the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evening promises a blend of casual networking and professional uplift.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith big projects underway, a collaborative business climate and a community that\u2019s not afraid to back bold ideas, the foundations for a standout year are already in motion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ballina Fair Shopping Centre, Wharf Bar &amp; Restaurant, Summerland Farm and Ballina Jockey Club have held after-hours networking events this year.<\/p>\n<p>It has attracted a broad mix of attendees including engineers, real estate agents, and hospitality and retail workers.<\/p>\n<p>There has been an open forum for discussion and guest speakers which has given businesses owners and chamber members the chance to meet with council.<\/p>\n<p>The NSW Reconstruction Authority has also had representatives at events.<\/p>\n<p>Registrations for the event can be made at <a href=\"http:\/\/ballinachamber.com.au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>ballinachamber.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLINA Shire Council and its Destination and Economy team will host an after-hours networking event in hopes of building business confidence through collaboration and support into 2026. The free event will be held at the Ballina Information Centre on Wednesday, December 10. Up to 70 businesses have gathered at after-hours events since June in hopes [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballinatimes\/news\/after-hours-networking-event-to-build-business-confidence-for-the-new-year\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":111838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-111837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>After-hours networking event to build business confidence for the new year - Ballina Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballina\u2019s after-hours business networking event aims to boost confidence for 2026 through collaboration, support and community engagement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballinatimes\/news\/after-hours-networking-event-to-build-business-confidence-for-the-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After-hours networking event to build business confidence for the new year - 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