✦ Register now for our next event ✦ Register Interest
Sussex Coast · Invite Only

Real conversation, finally worth showing up for.

Forks & Talks brings interesting people together to trade skills, not business cards, hosted at luxury venues across the Sussex Coast. No lanyards, no sales patter. Just better company.

Request an Invite Brighton · Hove · the Sussex Coast
The Concept

Networking, but nobody's handing out a business card.

Forks & Talks started with a simple complaint: most networking misses the mark. Stiff rooms, awkward small talk, and forty people trying to sell you something before you've even said hello.

So we built something else. A small, invite-only table where the currency is skill, not sales patter. You bring something you're genuinely good at, someone else brings theirs, and the conversation does the rest.

We call it a skill-swap: real expertise changing hands around a table, not a stack of business cards. A lawyer trades an hour of advice for a branding session with a designer. A founder swaps an introduction for a marketing tip. Everyone leaves having learned something they couldn't have Googled.

Every gathering is held at a luxury venue somewhere along the Sussex Coast, Brighton, Hove, and beyond, chosen as carefully as the guest list.

No stage. No agenda. Just a table set properly, and conversation that goes somewhere.

An elegant afternoon tea setting with champagne, set by a garden window
How It Works

Three courses, roughly speaking.

I.

You're invited

Places are limited and personally extended, usually through someone already at the table. Tell us what you do, and what you'd love to learn instead.

II.

You sit, you talk

Good company and a guest list curated so the conversation actually goes somewhere. No agenda beyond that.

III.

You swap something real

An hour of legal advice for an hour of brand strategy. A introduction for a favour. What you leave with depends entirely on who you sat next to.

Own a unique, inspiring venue? We're always looking for beautiful spaces along the Sussex Coast to host Forks & Talks. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.

Enquire Here
An intimate two-seat restaurant table by a window overlooking the sea
One-on-One

The Mini Table

Not every conversation needs eight people and a set menu. The Mini Table is our one-on-one format: a single, deliberate pairing, a smaller table, and nowhere to hide from a genuinely good exchange.

Best for the introductions that matter, or the skill-swap that deserves more than a passing mention in a crowded room.

Annemarie Siklawi, founder of Forks & Talks
The Founder

Sixteen years in Brighton. A fair few of them wasted at bad networking events.

I'm Annemarie Siklawi. I've called Brighton and East Sussex home for sixteen years, and spent a good chunk of that time doing the rounds of the local networking circuit.

Forks & Talks is what I wished existed the whole time: no stiff small talk, no queue to hand someone a business card they'll never look at again. Just people worth talking to.

Founder Annemarie Siklawi
Attend an Event

Come and see what the fuss is about.

Tell us a little about yourself, and we'll let you know about upcoming gatherings at luxury venues across the Sussex Coast.

Lovely, your request has landed. We'll be in touch personally.

By submitting this form you agree to be contacted about Forks & Talks. Your details are never shared with third parties.

Collaborate With Us

Bring your venue, brand or talent to the table.

We're always looking to partner with beautiful venues and interesting people across the Sussex Coast, as a host venue, a sponsor, or a guest speaker. Tell us what you have in mind.

Lovely, your enquiry has landed. We'll be in touch personally.

By submitting this form you agree to be contacted about Forks & Talks. Your details are never shared with third parties.