A Guide to Rocking A Professional Networking Event
Networking not only takes your professional career to the next level but also your personal life. Individuals met through networking help your business as well as become potential life long friends that help with the next steps of your life. Networking is not about forcing yourself to network but rather using your natural strengths and challenging yourself to change your personal perspective on networking events.
Here are some key tips to calm those nerves before entering a networking event and
strengthen your ability to meet your future professional network.
#1 Name tags
Look at everyone else's before filling out your own. Understand if they are putting their full name and company or just their first name. Follow the format of others around you or ask someone what should be written on the name tag. Put the name tag on the right side of your chest!
Tip: To remember what side to put it on, always put it on the side you shake an individual's hand with aka your right hand side! This is to ensure the individual can read the name when shaking hands to introduce yourself easier.
#2 Relationship Action Plan, Make Lists
Make two lists, one of those that you have already met that will attend the event and how to strengthen this relationship. And the second list of those who you want to meet including leaders or influencers in your niche. Using these lists you can create an action plan to act on and the best way to connect with each individual. This might be setting up another coffee date or knowing what to ask the individuals before you meet with them even if they are brand new or ones that you have met before. If you do not know
who will be at the event, create lists of potential questions for both situations, interactions with those you have met before and those that you are meeting for the first time. After the event, create a continuous list of individuals you have met before and what they do for work so you can give suggestions to people on who they should go to for different services. An example is meeting someone that does printing on t-shirts at the previous event, having records of this individual in a list can allow for you to suggest to a new contact who they should go to if they mention an event where they are making t-shirts.
#3 Where to Stand
Don’t stand at the entrance, stand in a place where after they have put their things down and have grabbed something to drink so you can engage in a conversation. The best place is right where people are exiting the bar, where people are ready to mingle and have something to hold while talking. Never pass up on the opportunity to meet someone while standing in line. It is easy, not awkward and if you don't enjoy speaking to the individual then the conversation can easily stop when you get out of line after grabbing food or your drink. Always start the conversation with a handshake, giving a strong handshake can show your interest in the individual and respect for the other.
#4 Too many pockets
Have a system for business cards. The biggest mistakes are not knowing where your business cards are and losing other individuals and not being able to follow up the next day. Have one pocket for your business cards and another for other peoples for easy access and no room for them to get lost. Always follow up with the individuals after you have met. A quick email consisting of who you are, who you work for, something you talked about during the interaction goes a long way. Connecting with connections
often keeps them in an open line of communication that allows for you to message them in the future and build a better relationship with them.
#5 Names!!
Remembering names can be difficult.
Step 1: Don't say you are bad at remembering names, you just don't have a technique to remember them better.
Step 2: Create Technique. One technique that was created by EON-Mem was to correlate the name
with a visual cue from a facial or body feature. Another strategy is to correlate a name with someone you have met and will never forget their full name. Example you meet someone named Stacy, and you know another Stacy named Stacy Smith, correlate the Stacy you just met with the Stacy Smith you have been high school friends with for years.
Another strategy is to repeat their name three times during the conversation, when you meet someone and ask their name you repeat it back to them to ensure pronunciation even if it is easy like Lacy. After the initial repeat you bring their name into conversation at least once during the interaction.
Example: Lacy, how did you hear about this event? And the final time is to repeat the name in the goodbye, For example.Lacy, it was so nice to meet you. Would you mind giving me your business card to keep in touch?
The final strategy is writing something on their business card to remember them from this event, maybe their dress color or something original that was talked about during the interaction and especially kids or pet names. These will be written down in your lists talked about earlier in this document for future connections and things to bring up in the next interaction.
#6 Different Social Universes
Diversifying your social acquaintances allows you to have a broader understanding of the world and different industries. Having individuals in the same industry or type of interest you have is important but so is diversifying these individuals to allow for more opportunities. 83% of people find their jobs through a current contact or people they only see occasionally. Going to different networking events to ensure that you are meeting people from different areas is key.
