Post-Networking

By on January 29th, 2009

I’ve just come back from a networking event, the first formal such event I’ve ever attended. I drove out through unplowed roads, which made a 20 minute drive take closer to 60 minutes. I wasn’t the only one, however, as about 60 people attended, although some did arrive late.

I had been briefed as to what format these events tend to follow, and so I had my “elevator speech” prepared, a small infomercial rehearsed, and plenty of business cards to hand out. I wasn’t coming to buy anything, but neither was I coming to sell. I was there to meet people, make connections, and hopefully, in a while, once we’ve established some sort of relationship, exchange contracts and clients.

When I arrived, I was given a card with 3 numbers on it. I picked up a cup of coffee and headed over to the table with the appropriate number on it. There was no one sitting there, but then again, I was still about 20 minutes early. A few minutes later, a couple other people sat down at my table, and we started chatting about our work. The formal program had not yet begun, and I was connecting to 2 other people already.

The program kicked off with the room almost filled (10 tables with 6 seats at each) with an introduction by the chair of the Jewish Chamber of Commerce Toronto, Daniel Sonshine, about the purpose of the event, and a small tribute to UJA, with which the Jewish Chamber of Commerce is affiliated. Sarah Lambersky picked up the introduction with our instructions: each person would have 2 minutes to introduce themselves to their table. At the end of 12 minutes, everyone would get up, move to their next table, and we would repeat, and then again for a third table.

In my preparations for this event, I read that before you trade business cards, have a reason to trade. Apparently, I was the only one in the room to have read that advice, because before I could blink, I had 5 business cards sitting in front of me. Oh well, I guess I’ll hand out mine, and hope that people don’t just toss it in the recycling.

The event went well, with my meeting 13 other people during the round table portion of the event (2 people were at my table twice). But in my opinion, the best part of the event started when we stopped the round table, and began to mingle.

First, I went over to someone who had introduced herself to me at the table as a graphic artist. I got her website so that I could see a sample of her work, and will be forwarding her contact information to a few people I know who might be hiring. I then ran into someone I had seen around, and found out what he does. Turns out, he has a need for custom software from time to time, but he usually outsources it to India. He knows one of my current clients fairly well, and is going to be in touch with them for a referral. I then met another IT consultant, who focuses on web design and search engine optimization, which was another card to go into the special to follow up on pocket.

Another person came up to me, looking to strike conversation. He’s in sales, marketing advertising space in a trade magazine. While I don’t think the two of us had much in common, although we did chat for a while, he introduced me to someone he had met earlier in the evening, who has connections to a large number of small and medium sized businesses. I chatted with David for a while, though, and gave him some tips on improving his introduction, as he had mentioned that some people got confused as to what he does. I also gave him the title of the book I had been reading on networking, Make Your Contacts Count, as it may help him with future events.

At the end of the evening, I left with about 20 cards, due to the desire on the part of most participants to hand out as many as possible. Of those, about half will likely end up in the recycling, but 10 contacts for 2 hours of effort is a pretty good return on my time, as long as I remember to follow up on them, which is my task for the next few days.

Related posts:

  1. Preparing to Attend a Networking Event
  2. Networking and Following Up
  3. Post Parnasa Fest Toronto II
  4. Trading Cards
  5. Getting Started with Networking
Categorized under: Work at Home.
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  • smartsuccess

    Glad to see the event went so well! You can probably see now why it is important to be ‘picky’ in who you give your business cards out to. As you received 20 and were honest in saying you would most likely toss about 10 of them. Imagine what percentage of yours may face the fate of the ugly recycle bin if you just blindly hand them out. Treat them like actual money and you’ll find yourself being more careful in your selection process. Again, great job!!!!

  • smartsuccess

    Glad to see the event went so well! You can probably see now why it is important to be ‘picky’ in who you give your business cards out to. As you received 20 and were honest in saying you would most likely toss about 10 of them. Imagine what percentage of yours may face the fate of the ugly recycle bin if you just blindly hand them out. Treat them like actual money and you’ll find yourself being more careful in your selection process. Again, great job!!!!

  • ekochman

    Thanks! I’m thinking I will actually keep the cards that I would have otherwise thrown out, and turn it into a piece of artwork for display at another networking event to show people what is likely to happen to their cards if they just hand them out blindly.

  • ekochman

    Thanks! I’m thinking I will actually keep the cards that I would have otherwise thrown out, and turn it into a piece of artwork for display at another networking event to show people what is likely to happen to their cards if they just hand them out blindly.

  • sol

    You’re seriously going to make a mosaic of business cards you would have otherwise thrown out? Wouldn’t that create the appearance of elevating their status above the cards you kept for actual reference?
    I’d just keep ‘em all. Neve know when they’ll come in handy.

  • sol

    You’re seriously going to make a mosaic of business cards you would have otherwise thrown out? Wouldn’t that create the appearance of elevating their status above the cards you kept for actual reference?
    I’d just keep ‘em all. Neve know when they’ll come in handy.

  • ekochman

    No, I’m going to keep all of them in the mosaic. As I upgrade the level of each person’s status, I’ll indicate that in the mosaic. Once they’ve reached the level of Advocate, I’ll put something bright on their card. It will show that many enter the arena, but only a very select few make it beyond the Acquaintance stage.

  • ekochman

    No, I’m going to keep all of them in the mosaic. As I upgrade the level of each person’s status, I’ll indicate that in the mosaic. Once they’ve reached the level of Advocate, I’ll put something bright on their card. It will show that many enter the arena, but only a very select few make it beyond the Acquaintance stage.

  • sol

    Interesting idea. May I see this mosaic?

  • sol

    Interesting idea. May I see this mosaic?

  • ekochman

    Sure, once I’ve been going at it for 6 months or a year. It would be a work in progress for a while though.

  • ekochman

    Sure, once I’ve been going at it for 6 months or a year. It would be a work in progress for a while though.

  • http://www.davidspinks.com/ David Spinks

    Elie,

    Thanks for reading my blog. Sounds like you had a successful first networking event as well. I did end up keeping all the business cards I received except one guy who just walked up and handed it to me then walked away. I feel that networking events are meant to create connections and business cards are just a way to follow up on those connections, not a connection in themselves.

    Dave

  • http://www.davidspinks.com David Spinks

    Elie,

    Thanks for reading my blog. Sounds like you had a successful first networking event as well. I did end up keeping all the business cards I received except one guy who just walked up and handed it to me then walked away. I feel that networking events are meant to create connections and business cards are just a way to follow up on those connections, not a connection in themselves.

    Dave

  • ekochman

    If you treat your business cards like cash (and not the 25 cents your paid, but like a $100 bill) you will be more careful to only give it to people you’ve spoken to and connected with. As you say, it’s a way to follow up on a connection, but not a connection itself.

  • ekochman

    If you treat your business cards like cash (and not the 25 cents your paid, but like a $100 bill) you will be more careful to only give it to people you’ve spoken to and connected with. As you say, it’s a way to follow up on a connection, but not a connection itself.