culturalentrepreneur.org

One of the best facilitated networking events I’ve attended was produced by a local branch of eWomenNetwork. We sat at tables with 6 or 7 other women entrepreneurs, and were encouraged to introduce ourselves by saying (in this order):

1. Something unusual about ourselves
2. Something we needed help with
3. Help we could offer
4. A description of our business
   

What I learned from this exercise, that can be applied to more casual networking situations, is:

1. People will remember a funny story, or an unusual fact about you before they will remember your elevator pitch.
2. Know what you need, and how to ask for it. People are very willing to help, if you are specific.
3. Know that you have as much to offer as the people you want to meet.  During the eWomenNetwork exercise, we weren’t allowed to give the women at the table our business card unless we could fulfill one of their needs.  If we could help them, we wrote a note on our business card like, “Call me for a designer recommendation for your website.”
4. Share the details of what your business is about after engaging with someone in a personal way.  They are more likely to listen, and remember what you say.

Here are a few more networking tips:

1. If possible, find a list of event attendees, and contact the ones you want to meet beforehand.
2. Set goals for yourself like, “I will meet three new people tonight.”
3. Practice how to introduce yourself, and ask for what you need.  Try using the PitchWizard on 15SecondPitch.com to craft your introduction.
4. Really listen to the person you are talking to, rather than think about what you are going to say next.
5. Follow up with people the day after the event.  You can write an email, or connect with them using social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What are some of your networking tips for entrepreneurs?

Flickr photo credit:  Hey there, nice to meet you uploaded by Shannon Yeh