Mention the word ‘networking’ and loads of people will roll their eyes with boredom at the thought of a lame evening swapping business cards. But add the words ‘pub crawl’ to the equation and no doubt you’ll see some eyebrows raising.

Australian brother and sister Nigel and Megan Hamilton (pictured above), who work from home as co-directors of search engine technology company trexy.com — decided they wanted to get out and meet other people in their field. So they created The Flag & Bell pub crawl for IT professionals.

The networking event is held in London on the first Tuesday of every month. Around 50 people gather at the first pub around 6pm, then at the ring of a bell they all follow the flag to the next bar, and then the next. You get the idea.

The event is designed for IT professionals who want to get out of their offices and talk programming, web applications and even job opportunities with like-minded people.

It’s free to attend, plus a round of drinks is sponsored by trexy.com.

Megan, 33, originally from Brisbane, says the pub crawl night is not only suited to people who work from home.

“We have programmers, chief technology officers, developers, marketing people, recruitment people, project managers, all sorts,” she says.

“But for those who do work at home it’s a good avenue for them, keeping them up-to-date with what’s going on. They can share ideas, bounce ideas off each other and hear about what other people are doing.”

The night has also become a useful recruitment tool.

Megan says recruitment agents often come along to the events and many people who attend are on the look out for IT staff.

“If you’re looking for work or to get more projects, then it’s a good place to do that,” she says. “We’ve definitely connected employers and employees, we’ve made some good connections for people and often we post jobs on our mailing list too,” she says.

» For more information about the pub crawl night see http://flag-and-bell.com.