Legal Marketing & PR

Organized Networking Makes Sense

By Tom Kane

Too often when working a room, many of us do so with little thought on being organized. As lawyers, we are methodical by nature in many of our dealings, but I expect networking isn't one of them. Then, I ran across a post Bruce Allen did on his Marketing Catalyst blog during the holidays, that I like for it's systematic approach and wanted to share it.

Allen talks about working a room in 60-minutes, presumably because during the busy holiday season, people have numerous events to attend. Whether you limit your networking to a fixed time, isn't the point, what is has to do with being organized to get the most out of what might otherwise be a haphazard approach to networking. So, here's his suggestions:

• Get there early and check out the name tags for people you want to talk with;
• In the early stages, hang out at the entrance to see (people you want to engage in conversation) and be seen;
• Invite people to join you at the bar or food table, and offer to bring drinks to a group you'd like to join;
• After the event is in full swing, move to the back of the room greeting people as you go;
• From the back, survey for additional people, including VIPs you would like to meet; and
• Then, work your way back toward the entrance greeting people as you go.

Take a look at his post, as I didn't capture all his points. A more organized approach to working an event makes sense, and after you get the hang of it, improve your chances of success at networking.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).