Mike, it was great seeing you at Tech cocktail. Great list! With a little preparation, you can definitely make yourself more efficient at a networking event. Because of this, you will come across as professional and organized. I wish that more people took this serious. I also have some routines that I follow such as placement of business cards, bringing a good pen, bringing a small notebook, etc.
My Networking Event Checklist
By Mike Maddaloni on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 09:14 AM with 4 comments
Last night I attended TECH cocktail 6 (TC6) in Chicago, which was attended by hundreds in the tech, online and entrepreneurial community. The breadth of people in attendance made it a successful event, and I met a variety of people I hope to reconnect with in the future. I’d like to think part of the success of the night was my preparation, making sure I was mentally and physically prepared for the event.
Physically you say? Yes – I consider what I wore and carried with me essential for the event. Here’s what I did to prepare for TC6:
- Get my head shaved earlier in the day at The 316 Club
- Pickup my blazer from the dry cleaners
- Eat beforehand – juggling a drink and food is hard to do at a crowded event
- Re-read John Wall’s post The Case for Drinking at the Ronin Marketeer blog
- Carry plenty of my business cards in my front right blazer pocket
- Carry my Moleskine notebook in my inside blazer pocket, and lucky pen in my shirt pocket
- Bring my new folding reading glasses from Peepers.com in my pants pocket
- Wear my green Omniture scarf made by my client Sports Scarf – a promotion at TC6 was giving prizes for people who wore green (they can make a scarf for your company too!)
- Carry a new box of Frisk mints
- Get cash for when the bar closes
- Check my fly – yes, wearing lined pants gives guys a false sense it is zipped
- Walk through my elevator pitch in my mind as I walked from the "L" stop to the venue, trying not to move my lips
I commonly follow these steps for most all networking events. Do you have a checklist or ritual you follow?
Business • (4) Comments • PermalinkComments
Comment by Hi Jason - Yes, it was great catching up with you, and I hope TC6 was as successful for you as I found it.
Also, great idea on setting your MyBlogLog name/label to “Relationship Builder” - I have not seen much of people changing this.
mp/m
Comment by I definitely wish I were there.
By the way, I’m curious: Do you have tips for elevator pitches? That could make for good blog fodder.
Comment by Hi Daniel - it was a lot of fun and informative.
For elevator pitches and the like, check out Jason Jacobsohn’s blog @ networkinginsight.com.
mp/m
Post a Comment
Note: Comment moderation is active, and your comment will be viewable once it is reviewed.
Subscribe to The Hot Iron
The Hot Iron strives to present unique content and point-of-view on business, technology and other topics by Mike Maddaloni, a technology strategist based in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Photo credit: Logan Connor/Oomphotography
Follow Mike on Mastodon.
Value for Value
If you like what you are reading on The Hot Iron, buy me a coffee!
About Links
In posts here at The Hot Iron there are often links and banner ads for products and services. For some of these links and banner ads, I receive compensation if you click and/or eventually buy said products or services. Where most links are marked as such, it is safe to assume any link or banner ad is a compensated one.