[For this article, ILB goes BLACK!]

In every major city, a network opportunity for critical yet creative young professionals to connect, is a every's young pro's right. And there we have it: YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ROTTERDAM. Since I work in Rotterdam, this is a YPR highlight concerning Rotterdam. What network are you in where we can learn from?

Now, a review of the first Young Professionals Rotterdam Event hosted by Rotterdam Central District on November 21, 2011. By Leanne.

What a splendid idea! Using your own business card as name tag. Unless: not everyone brings their own business card to … a networking event. “As long as they serve coffee”, I heard a guy say when he admitted not to carry a business card. Working in sales, that is just something that fascinates me. But it is not what I want to discuss here now.

The event was a success. Lots of young Professionals attended the very first Young Professionals Rotterdam Event hosted by Rotterdam Central District. An event organized to make Rotterdam even more bubbly, innovative and metropolitan for the future-decision making generation. There was also room for some confrontation. One of the key note speakers asked the audience:

“Who likes to get stuck in morning traffic”?
“Who likes to travel to get from home to work?”

This key-note speaker and young professional was Joris van Brussel, marketing manager BeNeLux & France at Shell. “So how come that a lot of my colleagues, including me, travel everyday from their homes in Amsterdam to Shell in Rotterdam? Considering that they have to wake up early every morning, to .. get late at work, because on their way to work, they get stuck in traffic jams?”

Now, to me, this was an obvious invitation to start an interactive and passionate discussion about why those “Amsterdammers” should move to Rotterdam! But instead of exciting interaction, the audience stayed quiet. I even heard a woman in the front row say: “This is getting a little bit out of hand”.

Okay, I have to admit, I stayed quiet also. But that is because I honestly have no idea why you would want to live in Amsterdam, hit morning traffic, and spend precious hours in traffic jams.

I am more of a Rotterdam fan. I love Rotterdam for the dynamic vibe, the innovative atmosphere and business life. You do have to know where to go though. But that is what I like about Rotterdam. You can walk around and discover new spots every time. All the Italian restaurants in the Blaak area (Very Italian Pizza, Vapiano and the non-chains Italian restaurants I still have to try like Happy Italy), fancy cocktail bars (Level, Elit, Blender) and the best coffee in the entire world (Trenti Secondi). Don't miss out on Bazar, a healthy wok-box from Eazie and the Frank010 Drink either!

My suggestion: it’s not too late to start THE discussion:

How can Rotterdam seduce you to live and to work in?

So please young professionials, we would love to hear your thoughts on this and looking forward to learning your ideas! You can share it on Twitter: #YPR

How was the event in motion? Check out the video here: