TIN #040 - Networking In Vegas! What Worked, What Didn't
I followed my own networking advice this week
Happy Saturday!
This morning, I’m excited to share my experiences at the Unleash America conference in Las Vegas.
This is an HR Technology conference, and since HR is something I do in my day job, it aligned with my professional interests.
The conference organizers invited me to be a speaker last fall.
I said yes because I hadn't spoken in-person for a while, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out some of my concepts of networking at conferences.
In this issue, I'll summarize what I did to prepare for the conference and the networking results I got while I was there.
This issue takes less than 5 minutes to read.
My networking plan was to follow some of the strategies I’ve shared in earlier issues of this newsletter.
Overall, I’d call the conference a success, with a few failures sprinkled in.
My public speaking presentation on employee engagement and experience went well:
I felt like I prepared well
I felt like my idea connected with the audience
I felt like my speaking was solid
However, my networking results were a mixed bag.
Preparation
What I did:
Before the conference, I tried to connect with people who said they would be attending.
As an introvert, I find it uncomfortable to strike up conversations with strangers at networking events, so I wanted to avoid that situation as much as possible.
There are a lot of different people you can connect with in advance of a conference: speakers, sponsors, and organizers. I explained these groups and why you should connect with them in advance in TIN #015 - How to network at conferences - part 1.
Since I was a speaker, I had already connected with the organizers. So, I knew I would have at least a few people to talk to when I showed up.
To connect with other attendees, I used the LinkedIn hashtags for the conference to let other people know I was going in the weeks leading up to the conference.
This generated new connections with sponsors and other attendees. Many of these connections sent me messages saying they would love to connect at the conference.
I was more confident about going to the conference because I felt like I would know some people when I walked into the room. It helped alleviate some of my introverted networking fears.
The results:
I met some of the people who said they would see me at the conference, but not all of them.
When you get to the conference, there are hundreds or thousands of people walking around. It’s impossible to find individuals in the crowd.
I felt like I missed opportunities to connect by not getting specific enough on when and where I would meet people. Without those specifics, I missed the chance to turn those online connections into real life, professional relationships.
In the future, I’ll set specific times and locations to meet people at the conference, even if it’s only a fifteen minute meeting.
Name Tags
What I did:
As I explained back in TIN #016 - How to network at conferences - part 2, your name tag is a great way to get noticed at conferences.
Before I went to the conference, I created a separate name tag about the same size as the conference name tag. It had my LinkedIn QR code on one side and a list of “People I Want To Meet” on the other side.
The QR code allows people to quickly scan and connect with me on LinkedIn.
The list of people on the other side was an actual list of the types of people I wanted to meet at the conference. It served as a visual representation of my networking goals. It’s also a great conversation starter.
It also makes it easier for people to remember the types of people you’re looking to meet. This gives them ideas of people they can introduce you to.
This came in handy when I was talking to a company who is working on AI solutions to HR problems.
One of the guys at the booth saw my name tag and scanned my LinkedIn QR code to connect with me right away.
He also saw my “People I Want To Meet” list on the other side of my name tag, and noticed I was looking for companies who were currently using AI tools.
He knew someone right away he could connect me with.
Now, I have a connection in a company who has solved the problem I want to solve, and I have someone who will introduce me to him.
The Results:
I did find someone to help me with a project I’m working on, and I did make some new connections.
However, I had hoped for more interactions with my name tag. I think if I had more of those real life conversations with the people I connected with online, it may have led to more people seeing my list of “People I Want To Meet.”
The T-Shirt
What I did:
Besides my name tag, I wanted to stand out in other ways.
I created my own t-shirt that says "Introverted but willing to network" and wore it on the first day of the conference.
The goal was to stand out so that people would ask me about the shirt, and we could start a conversation.
Breaking the ice is always the hardest thing for me at networking events, so this t-shirt was a great way to invite people to talk to me.
I created the t-shirt on TeePublic, a website where you can create and sell t-shirts. It cost me less than $20.
The Results:
I don't feel like the shirt worked.
I think in a crowded room of people, most people won't walk up to you and ask about your shirt.
At least that's how it felt.
I may have needed to be in smaller group settings like a break out session or roundtable for it to have worked like I planned. Or, I needed to get into those in-person conversations with the people I met before the conference.
I'll keep wearing it to other networking events to see if it starts any conversations.
Take Aways
Overall, my networking plan worked ok. I met some great people, made some valuable connections, and had a lot of fun at the conference.
By connecting with people in advance, customizing my name tag, and standing out in other ways, I was able to make conference networking a little more fun.
The biggest fail was not creating in-person opportunities to meet the people I met in advance of the conference. I believe if I had done a better job of that, my name tag and T-Shirt would have been more effective in creating new connections.
I’ll work on that at my next networking event.