Pre-conference prep

Have a plan. Know in advance whom you want to meet (directly or the type of people), which speakers you want to hear, and what exhibition stands you want to visit.

Blog or tweet about the fact that you’re going. Blog about the sessions you’re planning to attend. Find out the Twitter tag for the conference. Look up the speakers and some of the other participants’ blogs.

Set appointments in advance. If you know that there will be people attending whom you know that you would like to see, call or email a few weeks in advance to schedule a time to meet for coffee, a meal, or a drink. Don’t hope to “run into them”, as your paths might not cross at a time when you can spend quality time together.

During the conference

Name badges. This is best placed on your right lapel, not your left, because it’s in line with the path that people’s eyes follow when they shake your hand.

Guide the conversations. Use engaging questions that take advantage of your shared context, like:

• What do you think about that session?
• What else are you looking forward to attending?
• What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learnt at the conference so far?
• Are you planning to go to any other conferences?

The what-do-you-do question is bound to surface. Follow it by asking them how or why they got into their line of work and you might find yourself having  an  interesting and memorable conversations. Keep an ear out for things you can help with or people you can introduce.

Introduce others. When you meet cool people, be the one who connects them with others who might be beneficial to them. This includes those at the conference, as well as other people you might know at home.

Talk to the people sitting next to you. When you walk into a seminar, take the time before the presentation begins to say hello to the people seated around you. Once you have said something as simple as “hello”, it will be easier to talk with them later in the day if you see them again.

It’s a bit like sitting next to someone new on a train or plane.  Unless you say something in the first five minutes you won’t say anything at all for the whole journey.  Right?

And make sure to sit next to someone you don’t know yet. Each day aim to sit next to new people. Don’t just stick with your colleagues!

Ask questions of the speakers. My curiosity got the better for me at one conference, so I posed a question.  Literally 5 people came up to me in the break and started talking to me about what I’d asked. Instantly easy.

Or if asking your question in front of everyone else seems too bold, see if you can find the speaker after the talk. (This is a good idea in any case.) Introduce yourself to him or her in a concise way and ask your intelligent question.

Break times

Put your technology away. Do not run to your phone, BlackBerry, or laptop at every break. Just remember to put an out of office message on your phone and emails. Make the most of the opportunity to broaden your network.

Conference buddies. If you have a networking buddy, conferences are much nicer. They can step in and introduce themselves in order to elicit a name from someone you don’t want to admit you’ve forgotten.

If you’re looking out for potential introductions for each other–interesting people your networking buddy might want to meet–you’ll cover more of the conference and have more interesting conversations. You can take each other’s business cards and hand them to people if you hear opportunities where they may be able to help.

Food and drink. Carry your drink in your left hand, so that your right hand doesn’t get cold and/or clammy. This is important for handshakes. Hanging out near the food or the drinks can be a good idea, though, as most people will pass you at some point. Word of warning though – make sure your eyes aren’t darting over the other person’s shoulder while they’re talking.

Having some of the food makes it easier for you to make conversation about it. However it’s hard to talk with your mouth full, and it can be tricky to circulate with a plate full of stuff so juggle carefully. I once met a nervous looking man, who hadn’t yet mastered it and tipped a full cup of coffee all down the front of his white shirt as we shook hands. Nightmare.

Business cards. Carry business cards, a notebook, and a pen. If possible, put your picture on your business card. We’ve all had those moments of going through stacks of business cards and not remembering who they came from. Make it easy for people to remember you.

Create value with your card. I’ve seen cards that have been customised for an event. For example, at a networking event, they put a list of their top five networking books on the back of their business card.

Or you could put a link to your site where they can find your blog or some top tips. It’s a nice gesture and it sometimes gets people talking about you.

Have a notebook. Many people won’t have their own business cards or will have forgotten them, which is why you should have a notebook and a pen. The Moleskine notebooks are great because they have pockets in the back for business cards.

After the conference

Follow up. Follow up with people through e-mail or phone calls. Book out time post-conference to do this.

Blog about what you learned from the conference. People often want to be in more than one session at a time, and your notes can be quite valuable. Blog a post-conference summary, too.

A conference is a fairly big chunk of time and tickets can be pricey so make sure you make the most of it. Have you got any tips to add?

First impressions coupled with ever-decreasing attention spans mean being engaging has never been more important. So, how interesting and memorable is your answer to, “What do you do?”

Now of course, I realise I may well be asking the wrong person.  So here’s a better question, how often you get these kind of responses, “Oh that sounds interesting, how do you do that?”, or, “Oh I could do with some of that – how do you do it?” or a variation on that theme?

Let’s look at what you’ll often hear at a business-mixer networking event and why the answers aren’t very effective for generating leads and referrals. Some people will just give you their job title eg “I’m a solicitor.” This doesn’t work well for lots of reasons.

Firstly because you haven’t actually answered their question.  They’ve asked what you do, not what you are. And job titles don’t win many points for being engaging.

Furthermore, they may not know what that role actually entails but may feel like they should, so won’t ask. Or they may not want to spend the effort finding out. All in all, not terribly inviting, unless you’re in the same role.

Or they may give their sector, “I work in marketing.”

This doesn’t work well for reasons above. You don’t want to make your listener work hard to understand you.  Remember, it’s safe to assume that people aren’t interested in you.  They’re interested in what you can do for them or their contacts.

Or they’ll go on a ramble.  This is common.  And it’s usually because they’ve got a difficult concept to convey and frankly feel that you need to know all about it to get a sense of how brilliant it is.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for enthusiasm.  Sometimes it just needs to be curbed.

Note: be brief, be bright, be gone.

And finally, you might get a robotic answer. These are people who’ve spent some time on their answer to The Question, found something that kind of does the job, so keep trotting it out – without much consideration for who is actually in front of them.

So what do you need to be saying?

Now, of course, this depends on whom you’re talking to and the purpose of your conversation.  So you will need a number of different ways of describing what you do. However, I think there are certain things it must convey. How you add value? What happens after you’ve done your work with the client? Are they more influential ore profitable? How is their life better?

Other things may include your specialism, target audience and the problems you solve. Having said that, less is more – you don’t want to go putting yourself in “Rambler” category.

Much better to say a little and wait for a response.  Draw your listener in.

As you’ll appreciate, when you’re offering a professional service, developing trust is key.  Inconsistency does wonders to erode the trust so painstakingly won.  How confident are you that your client-facing staff are conveying a consistent message?

This business of crafting your introduction is one of the areas we cover in the Make yourself Memorable workshop:

( http://makeyourselfmemorable.eventbrite.com).

Very often we inadvertently withhold information and interesting stories because we can’t see their immediate value.  It’s only when you work with others that they surface.

I have also got a range of phrases that act as tools to focus your thinking.  This step by step process, ensures that you have a number of different and relevant ways to explain what you do – no matter where you find yourself answering The Question.

Having a range of descriptions that you feel comfortable saying is one the most important factors in increasing your confidence and effectiveness when developing new business.

It’s also crucial part of ensuring you get more leads and referrals.  So if you want to make sure key people remember who you are and the value you create – spend some time on your answer to The Question.

Reduce your frog kissing. Do as much preparation as possible.  Check out the guest list in advance, see who you’d like to connect with – find out more about them online – can you contact them to arrange a brief meeting there?

Don’t listen to your mother. Talk to new people. Set yourself a goal.  I started with 3.

Body talk. There are only ever 6 groups of people in a room – look for the open groups and individuals. Check your body language – make sure that you look open, smiling and friendly. Encourage people into your group – make them feel comfortable – take the responsibility of introducing them to others.

Play the name game. Lots of people say they’re bad with names. If that sounds familiar – really pay attention when their  name is being said. Once you’ve heard it, say it.  And imagine the letters of the name in massive bold type face above their head. Also associate their name with something else that’s familiar.

Be a go-giver not a go-getter. Always be thinking how can I help this person? Who might they like to meet, what  information could be useful to them?

Pretend it’s your party. If you act like the host, people who are agonised at networking events will appreciate it if you make the first move. So strike up a conversation about the event or something you’ve already got in common.  Or just simply introduce yourself.

Two ears one mouth. We all stay well clear of people who do nothing but talk at us and sell their products/services in an aggressive manner. Learn to listen more than you speak. Seek first to understand then to be understood.

Have an interesting and memorable introduction. Please don’t give your job title – explain what you do and the results that you create – you’re wanting a response along these lines, “Oh that sounds interesting, how do you do that?” It needs to be easily understood … can your family explain what you do for a living?

Think about what you want to be known for. You have the choice to tell them what ever you want to when they ask what’s new, how’s business etc?

Exit strategies. I’ve really enjoyed talking to you…Is there anybody here you’d particularly like to meet?

Follow up Keep your promises, review your goals – how many new people did you meet? How are you going to keep in touch – Linked In, twitter, coffee, other networking events?  What you do before and after an event is almost more important than what you do during it.

For more information…

Useful reads…

The Jelly Effect: Andy Bounds

Made to Stick: Chip and Dan Heath

Networking for Dummies: Donner Fisher

Useful blogs….
•    Andy Lopata’s Connecting is not enough
•    Ivan Misner’s ‘Networking now’

Useful workshops…
If you found this helpful and you’d like to build on it then do come along to the next half day workshops. Manage your Mingling held on 24th August from 2 – 5pm at the Office in Bristol is full of time saving tips for when at a networking event: http://manageyourmingling.eventbrite.com/

The follow on workshop focuses on how you answer the, “What do you do?” question in a way that’s interesting and memorable. Make yourself Memorable shows you how to apply the 6 ways we remember information to your networking conversations. 29th Sept at the Office in Bristol from 2pm – 5.30 http://makeyourselfmemorable.eventbrite.com/

If you’re curious to know what some creatives in London said, then read on…

I came across this free advice at the beginning of last week – at a new 2 day conference for the creative industry called Futurising. As it’s aimed at budding creative professionals, I’d been invited to run some one to one sessions to talk through their ideas, signpost them and generally be helpful etc.

Once that responsibility had been relinquished, I wondered around the exhibition. In amongst the loud and hip stands, the glinting bowls of shiny sweets, the tables groaning under flyers, leaflets, course prospectuses, a stand caught my eye….

Now, remember this was a creative industry conference, so you can imagine the ferocious competition to have one’s eye caught.  (I almost thought that there should have been a security guard on the door dishing out safe specs to prevent eye melt.)

However, this simple stall had a table with a girl and boy sitting behind it, no glass jars of pens or key rings, no brightly coloured backdrops, just lots of home-made looking booklets on their table entitled: Mind the Gap.

Intrigued, I flicked through one of them to find eminent designers, writers and managing directors each giving three pearls of wisdom to students. Now, given that you’re not a student, you might think that some of this advice won’t be relevant to you.  And you’d be right. But some of it could be – which is what I’ve gleaned  below. As a switched on professional, you’ll probably enjoy these little reminders…

Listen.
Be aware people skills and personality play a vital role in your career path. Never stop listening. (Saatchi.co.uk)

Communicate don’t decorate.
Make your work mean something. Get to the point. Tell it like it is. Don’t dress it up. Don’t set out to be clever, set out to be clear. The cleverest work is so bleedin’ obvious, so stripped to the bone, so beautifully done that you can’t fail to understand what it’s getting at. Remember people are busy. People are lazy. People are busy and lazy. They just don’t have the time or inclination to work stuff out. (Clearly a man after my own heart. (www.spencerdubois.co.uk))

Only advertise the type of work that you want to get more of.
Eventually people will be knocking at your door.  www.thisisstudio.co.uk

Never be faux busy.
I used to work at a place where we had an account manager who started every sentence with “I’m soo busy…” whether she was busy or not. You know the type. We used to call this faux busy. Everyone has their personal definition of busy. Your busy is different from Barack Obama’s busy, but it’s still busy. Successful people have the humility to realise and respect other people’s busy and so never complain about being busy. (www.reallyinterestinggroup.com)

Satisfied…you shouldn’t be.
Anyone who is satisfied with their work is going backwards, not forward. The natural condition for the designer is constant questioning and unease. Only the terminally smug are pleased with their work. (www.shaughnessyworks.com)

Understand context.
Everyone wants to be a craftsman but knowing why you are doing what you are doing, rather than being stuck in the execution stages is very important. (www.irisnation.com)

No such thing as a bad job.
When projects go wrong, we designers tend to blame our clients or the budget or the schedule. But really we must ask ourselves why we didn’t turn the project into something good. Most jobs start as neither good nor bad; it’s what we make of them that determines whether they are good or bad. (www.shaughnessyworks.com)

If you are a student, however, then check out this site for the rest of the advice.

Grant, with his mop of dark hair and his skinny frame, looked more like the guy you’d always see in the student bar, rather than the high-flying-serial entrepreneur-author-and-consultant that he is today.

I can’t give you a run down of all his points, stories and jokes. But I can urge you to look out for his new book, Sticky Marketing, which can be pre-ordered here on Amazon.

Here’s a few of his points:

• The concept of USPs (unique selling points) has gone. Everything can be copied by someone else quickly and usually more cheaply. The only thing that is ‘protectable’ is the experience our customer has of us.

• Pre-internet, we had relatively little choice, so there was some value in the information that we received through traditional marketing methods like direct mail and advertising channels.

• Today we have lots of choice and therefore we run the risk of irritating our prospects if we’re not being useful when we contact them.

• He recommended that two ways to add value today include partnering with other companies who complement your offer and to provide valuable content.

• As our range of choice has increased, our levels of attention have decreased. Therefore the traditional sales funnel needs to be turned on its head.

• Rather than shout at a broad target market, we draw people to us by being a specialist in a narrow market. We keep them in the funnel by adding value – achieved through partnering and providing useful content (which, incidentally, doesn’t have to be supplied by us).

• Therefore rather than focus on return on investment we need to focus on getting a return from our engagement.

Questions for further pondering:

OK so if USPs have gone, what’s different about you? How do you tell your story about why you?

Do you honestly know where you add value?

• Don’t preamble – parachute in

Your first mission is to grab attention. Some of the Ignite speakers started with an interesting question or statement, such as,”I’m pissed off!” or “Who feels like they’re in control of their future?” Straight away we’re paying attention.

So often we’re taught to “to tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em then tell them what you’ve told them.” But let’s face it, that can be very boring when you’re in the audience.  So how can you grab attention as well as outline what you’re going to talk about?

• Tease don’t tell

Curiosity has got to come before content. Imagine the presenter puts up a slide with 8 bullet points of information.  We read all the points and the presenter is still discussing point 1. Now we’re bored. But what if there had been 8 questions instead? Or just 8 letters? We’d stay awake for the answers.

One of my favourite Ignite talks was called Patents, Pending.  This was inspired by an old book outlining  incredible inventions which hadn’t yet (and were probably unlikely to) make it into existence.  From a mother’s modesty bra to a sheep herding device to an air ship lifted by vultures, I was intrigued the whole way through.

• Stories and examples are the building blocks of a presentation.

We love stories. But most presenters sprinkle them like garnish. The number 1 mistake people make in presentations, the authors of Make it Stick say, is that they’re too abstract.  Offering concepts and conclusions but no evidence is a sure fire way to a forgettable presentation.

One of the most memorable talks was the story of two girls rowing across the Atlantic. Another was about the lives that have changed as a result of small loans.  So even if your subject matter is a bit dry – resist the temptation to lead with your data. How can you tell a story about it? It’ll be more engaging and memorable if you do.

• Let your main points hog the spotlight.

If you say 10 things you say nothing. What’s the main point of your presentation? How much of your speaking time is on those points? The “Unplan your Business” and “Take Responsibility” talk were memorable messages because all the info related to the core idea.

• Bring reality into the room

Using small details helps enormously to bring your idea alive. For example, Rachel Kiddey, an archaeologist, packed her 5 minutes with personal stories as she talked about homelessness and heritage (heritage isn’t just posh or old stuff it’s about what’s happening now).

It was also littered with small and memorable details (she owns and dog and smokes, which makes easy for her to befriend some of the homeless people).  Ultimately, she really made us care about her subject and the people she talked about.

So next time you’ve got a presentation coming up, run through your content and ask yourself will it stick and will they care? And I urge you to read Make it Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.

For more info:

Made to Stick
Ignite Bristol

Well I have a number of things that tend to work well… earlier in the conversation, I will have tended to ask – “who are useful contacts for you to meet at these type of events?”

So when the conversation is coming to an end… I’ll say something like, ” I really enjoyed meeting you and if I come across any (insert useful contacts) would you like me to introduce you?”   At which point they’re incredibly grateful.  If you’re not good with names – that’s the ideal place to double check you’ve got their name right too.

Another thing I do is say something like – I’ve really enjoyed meeting you and I promised myself I’d speak to 5 new people tonight and I’ve still got quite a few to go, so I’m going to keep moving.

Other options include introducing them to someone else in the room you know they should meet.

Or you could suggest approaching another group together to meet some new people. As soon as two people join an existing group,  the larger group tends to separate into new, different conversations.  And so you’re naturally disengaged.

So be generous, gracious and good humoured!

I usually go up and just introduce myself and say something like I saw you standing on your own and I don’t know anyone here so I thought I’d come and say hello…

Or I’ll go to the bar, or tea/ coffee area and just make some random comment to someone who’s also there getting a drink -  it doesn’t really matter what you comment on as long as the other person can comment too – so it could something on the setting or venue tend to be good ones.

One thing you know you have in common with the other person is that you are both at that event. How they came to be there, who they know, who invited them or the benefit they get from attending are all conversation starters that are more likely to help you identify other interests you share and lead to a more productive discussion. Once you’ve done that initial bit – you’re in.

If you can’t find anyone on their own, check out people’s body language. Look at the groups and pairs around the room. Avoid those in deep in conversation and approach those who are  in groups with space between them.  Watch people’s eyes – are they making direct, intense eye contact or looking around the room?

Most importantly, show respect. I’m sure you wouldn’t, but don’t interrupt and introduce yourself. Wait for a natural break in the conversation, join in if appropriate or wait to be invited. If it feels as though you’d be interrupting a deep conversation, smile nicely and walk away. You can always reintroduce yourself later.

What follows is some things that I’ve learned over the years ( having also done the cold sweat thing).

Networking is a way to meet lots of people in the creative sector. If you put the time and effort in, it’s a great way to build strong relationships.  People tend to be open to talking and sharing information – which isn’t always the case when you’re trying to make contact using the phone.  And it’s a quick way of being able to keep your finger on the industry’s pulse.  However, in terms of generating work, you’ll probably need to give it time.  So be patient.

How to do it?
There are reams written on this but here’s a few basics for before, during and after.

Ultimately to be a successful networker – you need to have good manners and the ability to chat.  If you’re curious about other people that helps enormously.  And if you talk less and listen more, you’ll be streets ahead of many others in the room.

If you go along with an intention to GIVE rather than what you can GET, you’ll have more success. Strong relationships are the basis of effective networking and trust is key.

• Who’s the audience? – make sure you’ve really thought about the slot, if it’s for TV, what the commissioning editor for that slot likes.  If it’s a Channel 4 slot – make sure you get yourself along to events where the commissioning editors will explain what they’re looking for.
• A pitch is a dialogue – draw the panel in – whet their appetite – so they’ll ask questions.  Create space so that they can input their ideas and ask questions.
• How is your idea fresh?  How is it different?  “It’s got to be a new story which can be quite hard or a fresh angle on an old story,” Says Charlotte. What are the benefits of going with your idea?
• What’s the competition like?  Don’t let the panel make links with similar films without you having first flagged them up.
• Make your pitch easy for the panel to hear – ie don’t tell the entire story and all the characters.  Give the structure – start, middle and end.
• Ensure the panel feel that they’re in safe hands with you – what have you done before? Who’s working on the film with you?
• Work out carefully who is going to pitch – if the director’s not part of the pitch, the panel may think they’ll need to meet him… so you’re making the panel have to work harder which may put them off.
• What else have you got?  What happens if they really like you – but don’t like your idea and ask you for something else.  Make sure you don’t miss this golden opportunity by just having one idea.
• What do you want from the meeting?  Be clear on how much money etc you need before you go in.
• What are you going to leave them with?  A script?
• What else are you going to leave them with?  What do you want them to say about you when you’ve left the room?  How can you demonstrate that with your behaviour? What do you want to teach them about you?
• Take control of the space, speak slowly, use pauses – they’re so powerful, careful not to over do your hand gestures, make eye contact and enjoy your chance to shine.
• You may want to bring along a visual – a photo of the main character, if it’s an animation – bring along a sample of artwork
• Enthusiasm is better than confidence – why are you connected to this story idea?
• People buy people ultimately – this may be the start of a long relationship – they want to feel like you’re somebody they can work with – so be yourself.