 Networking events offer an excellent opportunity to meet new people whom you can form lucrative partnerships with or get business from. As more and more of the business world goes online, you may find yourself attending a virtual networking event at some point. Here’s how you can prepare for the event so you’re ready to make valuable new connections. Know Your Purpose Before you go, clarify your purpose for attending the event. What do you hope to gain by meeting the people you’ll meet there? This will determine how you’ll present yourself, who you want to meet, and how to follow up with them. For example, if your goal is to get new clients, you’ll want to prepare to explain the benefits of using your service. You’ll also want to create a target client profile, so you know which attendees have potential. Test Your Tech Tools Long before the event, make sure you know how to use the tools. If you’re meeting over Zoom, arrange a Zoom call with colleagues and friends, and familiarize yourself with its features. For example, you’ll need to know how to mute yourself when not speaking. You may also want to show someone your website or a document, so you’d need to know sharing features. You’ll need to make sure your internet speed and computer are sufficient as well. Do Your Homework Do some research before you attend so you can make the most of it. Try to find out who will be attending. Research them on LinkedIn or using Google search. Look for news articles or press releases. Find out what organization they work for and find a picture so you’ll recognize them. You should also know about the event itself. Who’s organizing it? If there is a speaker or presentation, research that as well. If the event is based around a specific topic, read up on it. Get Your Story Straight Prepare an elevator speech. This is a short story of about 3 sentences that explains who you are, what you do, and how you serve people. It should focus on how you benefit others. You’ll use this story with each person you meet, so you can make a good first impression and they’ll understand the salient points quickly. Prepare Some Conversation Starters It’s good to also prepare some conversation starters. After your elevator speech, if you hit it off with a person you’ve met, you’ll want to keep the interaction going. The best conversation starters are focused on your industry, your or their work, or the topic of the event. Prepare conversation starters that focus on the other person and give them the opportunity to talk about themselves. Brush up Your Online Presence Check out your online presence before you go, as people will look you up if they’re interested in getting to know you better. Make sure your social media profiles are up to date. See what comes up when someone Google searches your name. Have a Plan for Following up While you’re preparing for the event itself, you should also have a plan for following up with people you’ve met afterward. You should send an email after the event, reminding them of who you are and making some offer to extend your relationship with them. Remember to focus on the benefits for them and not just yourself. Consider Your Presentation Finally, before the event starts, take a moment to think about how you present yourself. Even though you’re meeting virtually, wear appropriate clothes. Check your surroundings and what people will see through your camera. Attend from a room in the house where you won’t be distracted so you can give it your fullest attention. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.
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The more you get out there and network, the more you’ll meet people with whom you can create profitable win-win relationships. So, a key to success with power networking is to regularly find networking opportunities and take advantage of them. Here are 8 ways to find places to network. Networking Sites Check out networking sites where people list events you can attend. The most popular ones are Meetup and Eventbrite. They list meetings in your local area based around various themes, and it’s an easy way to find events to attend near you. Social Media In the same way, you can find events listed on social media. People will advertise opportunities in their news feed and some platforms like Facebook allow you to create events. Use the search function to look for networking opportunities using relevant keywords. Friends and Colleagues Keep in steady touch with friends and colleagues and you’ll naturally hear about opportunities to network. You can find great places to go through word of mouth and have someone to attend with. The Local Business Community Connect with your local business community and look for events happening around town. A great way to get information in one place is to join your locality’s Chamber of Commerce. Another benefit is that you’ll become better known in the offline business community. Industry Organizations Look for organizations in your industry that you can join. They’ll often host events where you can meet other professionals in your field. Join your university’s alumni association and look for relevant affinity organizations. Influencers in Your Niche Follow influencers in your niche. These are people who are the most active on social media and individuals who people listen to. They’ll often talk about events and opportunities that they’re excited about attending. Speeches and Presentations Although they’re not specifically designed for networking, speeches and presentations are sometimes good opportunities to network. Look for presentations where the people you would want to connect with are attending. Create Your Own Event Host your own networking event. You can advertise it on social media and other online marketing channels. Include speakers, activities, and refreshments to give people something to do. Making the Most of Your Networking Opportunities Because it takes a great deal of effort to attend networking events, you need to make each one count. Start by identifying your goal and the type of person you’d want to meet to achieve this goal. Then, for each event, research who will be there to determine if your target contact is likely to attend. Prepare well by identifying your own unique value and creating an elevator speech that explains who you are, what you do, and the benefits of knowing you. Get organized with a plan for following up with those you meet so you can start building a lucrative relationship right away. Power networking is a numbers game, and you learn it through trial and error, so get out there as much as you can and start meeting people today to build your business network. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Storytelling is an incredibly important skill for power networking. If you can tell a good story, it not only clearly conveys who you are, but also makes you more relatable, trustworthy, and memorable. Here are some ways you can create a story to use in your networking efforts. Your Introduction Story When you attend a networking event or other opportunity to meet new people, you’ll find yourself having bite-sized conversations with a number of people. You’ll need to have a simple, short story that conveys who you are which you can rattle off to each person or group you meet. The goal of your introduction story is to convey to people who you are in a way that’s concise and easy to understand. Crafting Your Introduction Story The key is that your story should be short. It should only include the key information you want people to know about you before they move on to the next person. It should answer 3 questions:
The third question is important because it conveys to people how knowing you can benefit them, which is the whole point of networking. So, your introductory story might tell people that you’re a consultant specializing in coaching for small businesses that are trying to keep up with rapid growth. Try to anticipate what questions people might ask when they hear your story. For example, if you introduce yourself as a writer, people will ask you what you write or where you’ve been published. More Stories for Networking In addition to your introductory story, you should have some other stories prepared and look for opportunities to share them. A good standard one is the story of your business. It tells how you came to do what you do. The best business histories include a challenge or conflict that you, the main character, overcame. For example, your business might have been born out of a problem you faced and struggled to overcome. You hit upon a great idea that solved the problem, and then built your business around it. This is much more compelling than simply reeling off a list of facts about your company. Tips on Creating Effective Networking Stories Go over every area of your business and look for stories waiting to be told. The best opportunities to write stories are when there has been a big change. This includes not only how you founded your business, but how it grew, faced a challenge in the market, developed a new product line, and so on. If you actually write out and plan your stories, you’ll have the chance flesh them out and improve them. Try to make them humorous, engaging, and relatable. Also try to write them in such a way that they emphasize the unique benefits you offer. Run your stories by colleagues and acquaintances to get feedback, which will help you make the stories better. Go to your next power networking event with a repertoire of interesting stories you can reel off at a moment’s notice. About The Author Pat Simes is a business strategist, a blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  When meeting new people whom you might form partnerships with, it’s important that you communicate your value to them. If you do this, they come away from the encounter understanding the value of knowing you and the unique benefits you offer. If you can match your value with their needs, you can create a win-win situation that leads to profits for both parties. What Is Your Unique Value? How well do you know the unique value you offer? You may have an inkling already, but it’s important to figure this out before you start putting your efforts into networking. You can start brainstorming with these questions:
Take inventory of your skills and areas of expertise. Go through your work history and see where you’ve achieved results and where you’ve spent the bulk of your time. You can also perform a SWOT analysis of your business to help clarify. Learn Your True Value Through Feedback Self-assessment will help you a great deal, but you also need to seek feedback from others. Other people can help you understand your strengths better than you can by yourself. People you can ask include friends, family members, employees, current and past business partners, clients, customers, and brand advocates. Look back over emails to see what they’ve said before in praise of you or reach out to them and ask directly. You can also read reviews or comments about your products or services. Focus on the reasons customers or clients choose you over a competitor. Tips on Refining Your Unique Value If you come up with a big list, distill it down to just a handful so you don’t overwhelm people. Which of your benefits would offer the greatest results to people you meet? Choose one to three and put them up front. One technique that helps you narrow it down is the “So What Test.” For each item on your list, put yourself in the shoes of the other person and ask, “So what?” This helps you discover which benefits have the greatest impact. Communicating Your Unique Value Once you understand your value, you need to learn how to communicate it. There are many ways you can do this. When you prepare for power networking, you should create an elevator speech. This is the introduction you give when you first meet people. It explains who you are, what you do, and how you serve others. This should also convey in an easy-to-understand way the unique value you offer. You should also include your unique value in your follow-up emails. If you’ve conveyed it in your elevator speech, your follow-up can be a call back, driving home the benefits you offer and reminding the person of who you are. The point isn’t to brag or hype yourself. Find a few authentic benefits you offer others and there’s no need to exaggerate. If the unique value you convey is authentic, you’ll form real relationships that grow into lucrative partnerships. About The Author Pat Simes is an entrepreneur, a blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Building a business network full of profitable partnerships isn’t hard to do. It just takes some organizing and planning. Once you get out there and start implementing your power networking plan, you’ll see yourself working toward your goals. Here are the 8 secrets to building the right network for you. Do Your Homework Before attending a networking event, do some research on the event and who will be attending. If you know the people you’re meeting before, you’ll know how to better make a connection with them. You can figure out how to present yourself in the best light. Know Your Unique Value How well do you understand your unique strengths? Spend some time figuring out the unique value you offer so you can communicate this when you meet people. Look at your past successes and areas of expertise. Think about the ways you’ve gotten results for others. Emphasize the Benefits You Offer While your story should tell people who you are and what you do, the emphasis should be on how you get results for others. This is the value of knowing you. Drill it down to a few key benefits and frame the discussion this way. Get Organized You’ll meet a great number of new people and it might be hard to keep them all straight. Take notes at the event and create an Excel file full of information on who you meet and how you can approach them to make offers. Create and implement a system for bringing new people into your orbit. Learn to Tell Stories Stories help in power networking because they’re engaging, relatable, and memorable. If you’re a good storyteller, you can convey who you are and what you do more effectively. Turn every aspect of your business and its history into an engaging story. Get Out There and Meet People Constantly seek out opportunities to network and attend events regularly. Fill your schedule with professional networking events. Always think about building your network wherever you are, whether at an event or just at the store. Overcome Your Nerves It’s okay to be nervous. Attending networking events takes some getting used to. Just like getting on stage and performing, you’ll be nervous at first, but you’ll gradually get used to it. Create a ritual where you can warm up before the event and get into a social mood, so you’re pumped up to go meet people. Have Fun Although you’re there with a specific business goal in mind, have fun with networking. When you’re enjoying yourself, others will enjoy interacting with you. Think of it as a fun social outing where you get to indulge in a hobby (your business) with like-minded people. If you can do this, you’ll increase your motivation to get out there and network, and your enthusiasm will be infectious. About The Author Pat Simes is an entrepreneur, a blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. |
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