Productive networking during the holiday season for speakers

by Neen James

It seems during the crazy holiday time many organisations, associations, companies, speakers bureaus and social clubs have a networking event for you to attend. How can you possibly do it all? Well… you can’t. To ensure your networking is proactive, productive and profitable this holiday season you can apply these productive networking tips for the holiday season.

Choose your activity – you will receive many offers to attend functions, choose wisely. Determine what time of day is best for you to attend. Do you prefer breakfast events, luncheons, or after work activities. Assess when and where the function is being held and if it is the best use of your time. Ask yourself, ‘why am I attending this event’? If you are attending to ‘be seen’ that might be important for growing your business or are you attending from a sense of obligation? That is OK too, but be very clear on your personal agenda and why you are attending the event. If you are attending to catch up with other dear friends from the speaking industry and you just want to have a great time that is OK too!

Don’t accept every invitation – just like you need to choose which functions to attend, you also need to decline many invitations. You simply can’t attend every activity at this time of year and still run your business and meet your business goals. Respond quickly to invitations, send a ‘thank you email’ to the organiser and decline some invitations.

Take a raincheck – one of the most polite ways to decline an invitation to any event is to ask the person “may I take a rain check”. This simple question lets the person know you appreciate their invitation but you are unable to attend at this time.

Meet a friend – many people want to catch up with you during the holiday season, ask them to join you at a networking function or speaking event, this way you can enjoy their company, meet new connections and make the most of the this busy time of year.

Send a ‘Happy Holiday’ follow up card instead of a thank you card – you have heard me say before I think it is important to re-connect with people after each networking event by sending a thank you card or a ‘nice to meet you’ card. At this time of year replace this with a ‘happy holiday’ card and include your business card for their records.

Shop the display tables – if you are fortunate enough to attend functions that include trade displays, use the time wisely to also purchase holiday gifts. This will save you time battling the store lines with other holiday shoppers while supporting other businesses. It is great to be able to buy from other business owners whenever you can.

Book follow up time – when you book a networking function into your schedule, make another appointment with yourself the day after the event for 1 hour of follow up activity. Use this time to write your ‘happy holiday’ cards, send company information that was requested from you or make follow up phone calls. This will help you be more productive and know all those new connections you made and the new business cards you collected, won’t sit on your desk for the coming weeks or maybe months!

Arrive early, stay late – to maximise your time at functions you decide to attend, arrive early to meet the committee, speakers and hosts. Stay late to make new connections with people you have just met. Offer to volunteer on committees for the following year; this is a great way to make your networking more productive.

Don’t book multiple functions in one day – don’t make the mistake of rushing from one networking event to the next. Be fully present while you are at an event and enjoy the conversations and the connections you make. Many people try to fit in multiple events this time of year and don’t do justice to any of them. Choose wisely.

Book 1 hour to review your involvement in Networks – it is easy to join multiple networks but not be involved in any of them. Take one hour to assess every network you belong to, determine which networks you want to remain involved in for next year and decide which networks have not been valuable for you this past year. By conducting this activity before the end of the year, you can start the new year afresh. This will help you make quick decisions about which invitations to accept and decline. Use these questions to help you:

• What can I contribute to this network?
• What is the investment I need to make?
• What is the R.O.N?
  

Pro-Networkingä R.O.N is a way of calculating ‘Return on Networking’ – I use this proprietary formula to determine if the network is worth my time, attention, energy and money.

Set up your appointments for next year – now is a great time to schedule your January through March appointments, don’t overlook this time for planning your next year. Conduct annual reviews with clients; meet prospective leads and book time with your staff to help them set their goals for next year.