In-Person Meetings Are Back: Master the Art of Event Networking

If you have little to no experience of networking but are set to attend your first industry event in the coming weeks, you may be interested in learning how to master the art of networking sooner rather than later.

It can seem like a daunting process, especially if you are socially anxious or struggle with meeting strangers for the first time, but by finding out as much information as you can ahead of time, you can ensure the entire day runs as smoothly as possible from start to finish. Read on to discover the first steps you should take.Photo by Product School on Unsplash

Do your research

If the sheer thought of mingling with strangers fills you with dread, it may benefit you to do your research in advance. This includes familiarising yourself with a rough itinerary of how the industry event will unfold on the day and which businesses are likely to attend so you can shortlist a handful of famous faces or like-minded individuals that you feel like you would benefit from communicating with on a face-to-face basis. It may also help you to reach out to attendees ahead of time to get the pleasantries out of the way and establish a rough business relationship before the day of the industry event rolls around.

Organise business cards

If you are set to attend an industry event hosted by a world-class event provider, such as RX Global (see their website here at https://rxglobal.com/) you can confidently expect some of the industry’s most famous faces to attend. If your business is located in the UK, as the company is UK based. To help you network with businesses or individuals that you may feel are out of your league, for example, it may benefit you to design and organise business cards to distribute at the event to save yourself a considerable amount of time in waiting your turn to talk to a particular person and boost brand awareness in a quick and easy way that suits you. This can also be a great idea if you have only recently launched a small business or are unfamiliar with attending industry events within your chosen industry, sector, or niche.

Remember to follow up

It can be tempting to breathe a sigh of relief when an industry event concludes and sit and wait for people to contact you but by remembering to follow up, you can remain proactive and remind the connections you made on the day why they should establish a business relationship with you going forward. This can be done by sending a timely email, leaving a professional voicemail, or connecting on a business-oriented social media platform.

If you are set to attend an industry event but have little to no experience of networking, you must find out as much information as you can ahead of time to ensure you are sufficiently prepared to meet people and forge long-lasting business connections. This includes doing your research of the event’s itinerary and attendees in advance, organising business cards to distribute when it gets busy, and remembering to follow up with the connections you made on the day.