Launch Your Own Networking Event

Iris Creative's Headshot Social

If you spend a lot of time networking, consider launching an event of your own. So much of networking feels like the same events, the same food, the same people over and over. Try something new — host your own event. The advantages of creating your own event include:

•  Being seen as a leader

•  Potential alternate revenue from event sales

•  Inviting the people you want to meet and get to know better

•  An opportunity to connect with your contacts without directly selling

Not to mention an actual event to pitch for PR. It is no longer news that you launched a new website. An interesting event can bring press coverage and attention to your firm and your expertise.

At Iris Creative, we are launching two events in the upcoming months. The first is a small event titled “The Headshot Social”. We have invited local leaders from business and nonprofit to come and get an inexpensive professional portrait in a relaxed and social atmosphere. No one likes to get their picture taken, but executives need a quality shot for use in press, writing, speaking and other marketing. An individual session can cost hundreds and you really only need one image you don’t hate. If you’re in Philadelphia August 19th, join us. http://www.iriscreative.com/headshotsocial

The next event scheduled is a four session workshop on social media called “Beyond the Profile”. For marketers and professionals who have signed up on one or more social media sites but not really figured out what to do next, how social networking adds value or how to integrate it into marketing — this series is the perfect fit. The workshop will be held on four Tuesday mornings from 8-10 in Lafayette Hill, Pa, just outside of Philadelphia. The first session is September 15. More information will come. If you would like to be added to the list, please email info@iriscreative.com

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Networking Cattle Call

Lately I have been attending and writing about small group networking options. This week I did the opposite. From one of the many social medias I follow I was invited to a brand new networking event called Spark. It was to be held one of the newest and most dramatic places downtown and I had been curious to see the space. The program was about generating and supporting new business ideas, which is always interesting and the price was practically free. Moreover, I have learned over time that  when I hear about a new networking event – just go. It is an opportunity to be in a room with lots of bright shiny new faces, and in this case lots and lots of new faces. The crowd was massive and diverse, but luckily dotted with a few familiar faces which makes getting started easier.

The great thing about attending a one-time or launch of an event is that there are no groups or cliques. Some people may come with a friend or colleague but most people are on their own and looking for someone to talk with. And since they served need-a-fork food I had an easy excuse to barge into a tall table grouping in order to eat. People always welcome you to their cluster if they see you juggling a glass a fork and a plate of food. Normally I don’t recommend filling both hands as it inhibits handshaking and card exchanging, but if you are heading to a table it can be an asset. While you are in the food line, look around for an opening at a likely table.

At a large event try not to get overwhelmed by the amount of bodies. You can use the same tricks to get comfortable as in a small group, and it is easier to have a discussion in a food line when it is moving slowly. It is also easier to melt away when others join a conversation and move on to meet more people.

Like any other event, try to have a few good conversations. Spend more time with people you are likely to do business with later and move on from people who are too many steps away from being a direct sale or resource. In a one-shot event, you can’t focus on who they may know, you won’t get to know anyone well enough to create an environment for a referral. Save that for your membership groups where you can build long-term relationships.

Lastly, if there are speaking sessions you are interested in go, if not there are always folks hanging back and still networking in the halls and cocktail room. When the masses head into the program, a huge event gets a lot smaller. If you hate crowds it will offer a welcome breather and a chance to get to know others who may feel the same way.

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Getting Comfortable with Business Networking

I am starting this blog for everyone who has ever walked into a room full of strangers with the intention of “networking” and wanted nothing more that to forget the $46 you just paid for lunch just to get out of there.

Most of my business can be traced back, one way or another, to networking. It’s been 12 years, and I am still in business, growing and adding employees, so I guess it works. But it is never easy, even for an extrovert like me.

There is so much written about networking, but most seems to talk about the sales side – how many people you should speak to, how to follow up, how to convert that meeting into an appointment, into a sale. Those are all really valuable things and should be focused on if you are going to use networking as a sales tool. Despite all this great info out there, what I keep hearing from people is “how do you DO that?”

Now, as I mentioned, I am an extrovert. If you have ever looked at a personality profile, like Myers-Briggs, I’m the one who scored a 19 out of 20 on the Extrovert vs Introvert scale. So it may be easier for me, I don’t know. I know I like to talk, especially in person. And when I started my business alone in the basement, showing up at a lunch with a bunch of strangers seemed a whole lot better than sitting alone in the basement.

When I started out I had never heard of networking. When I had a “regular” job I was expected to focus on what was inside the four walls, not outside. Once I liberated myself, I called all the people I knew and told them I was now “out on my own”. And the second day of business…I was reading the newspaper.  Surprisingly, this turned out to be the right thing to do. In the back of the local paper were these things called “Business Events”.  I found some kind of a local business women’s lunch and signed up. Little did I know I had learned my first lesson of networking – just go. Nothing can happen if you don’t show up. I had no idea what I was getting into, and most of the women at the lunch had blue hair and had been retired for years. I have no idea what the speaker was about or if I met anyone that day, but the next day someone from the group called me and asked if I had heard about another group. I hadn’t (of course) and signed up to go to something else. So I now had two things to do in a month. At the time, it was a really big deal. And at the second event – I knew one person.

And so my journey of networking started. I have developed a lot of tricks to help get through the social awkwardness over the years. I want to share them here, learn what struggles others have and hear about great ideas. My company is a marketing and design firm focused on strengthening membership organizations through encouraging participation. I believe that if people feel welcome, involved and included they stay in a group. That’s tough to do if folks won’t mingle. I hope to help everyone feel more comfortable jumping in.

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