All of us know the importance of networking. Attending conferences, seminars, scheduling meetup are a great way to connect with others, often overlooked aspect is organizing a gathering yourself.
Hosting an event helps you build relationships better than attending conferences, as you can control whom to invite for your gathering. It is a rewarding way to connect with people and much easier than imagined. You do not need any special skill set and logistics need not be difficult.
The first thing to decide is whom to invite? Don't search for a perfect combo, it doesn't exist. Listing out people to be invited may at times seem overwhelming and many people give up the idea of hosting or put together an assortment of people and hope for the best.
Keep in mind the following strategies to organize a gathering
Think of the size of the gathering: There is no single answer to the question of what is the right size. If it is an introductory gathering then a small group of 6 would get the meet started. If it is a dinner meeting, keep to 10 people to manage and take care of individual needs. For a new product launch, announcements, you may go in for a bigger meet with an organizer being given the responsibility of taking care of the housekeeping leaving you to concentrate on more important matters.
Decide on the need for a theme for the event: One way to ensure that attendees have something to talk about is to have something in common like the same alma mater, same industry. It would be more interesting to organize from a diverse group as many would prefer to meet and experience outside their comfort zone.
Think and plan carefully about the mix: When you are going for a mixed group, make sure that it is a genuine assorted group and not a group of connected persons and one or two outliers. This would isolate the new people as the connected group would interact within themselves.
It is also important to consider personalities. If one person tends to dominate the meeting he may not fit into the group you are assembling. The job is the ensure that the group is dynamic, ave interesting conversations and everyone have interesting interactions and develop new connections.
Consider having a co-host: You may consider a colleague who ha a wide contact and co-host a gathering and also help you meet new people and make connections thereby widening your network. It would also take the pressure off at the event as the co-host can also help in managing and managing the gathering.
Leverage existing contacts to build your guest list: Once you have hosted someone at a meeting, they understand what the meetings are like and you can leverage his contacts to fill further gatherings. Followup with guests after the meeting and ask them if they know someone who would be interested and if they would introduce you.
You could also host a gathering with people you know and ask them to bring along 1 more whom they think would be interesting.
Networking is essential for business, yet very few people try to host meetings imagining the difficulties. By following the above strategies you can bring together remarkable people and also deepen professional relationships.
How to Plan Your Own Networking Event (and Invite the Right People)
by Dorie Clark HBR January 09, 2019
Comments
Post a Comment