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One of my goals for this year is to go to more networking functions. That’s easy you think. There are loads to choose from. And yes, there are. However like many solopreneurs, my time is fairly precious, and I want to make sure that the networking events I go to are going to be relevant and help me achieve my goals.

How do you do that I hear you ask. Well, personally I go to networking events for a number of reasons:

to hear a speaker who interests me
to meet prospective clients
to catch up with a number of friends/colleagues/business associates all at once (it’s a lot easier than arranging a lot of coffees!)
to support a charity that I believe in – particularly if they are fundraising
to support the organisers if they are clients, friends or starting out a new networking group that sounds interesting.

Most of these reasons are fairly self-explanatory. However I am often asked how do you know that prospective clients are going to be at the networking function you are going to. There are a few ways to find out:

trial and error – go to a couple and see what sort of people are also there (this can sometimes be a bit exxy in terms of time and money)
go where your target market goes – one reason I go to events run by the Australian Institute of Management is because other business owners go (and they are one of my target markets)
ring the organiser and find out who has attended previous events – while they probably won’t give you names, they may give you some examples of professions and roles
ask the twitterverse if anyone has been, what they thought, and what type of people were there – the people who reply will also be a good indication of attendees.

How do you choose what networking events you go to? And what are your favourites?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 1:51 pm and is filed under networking, self development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Relevant networking”

February 16th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Jane says:

Great tips Mel. I need to be more disciplined and make sure I do this as well.

Do you have any financial selection criteria? For example I went to a breakfast recently that cost $25 on the day (no worries, nice breakfast) but seemed totally geared to getting me to shell out $2k for a year’s worth of similar events. Do you have any traps for the unwary to watch out for?

Also love to hear others’ stories of their best value networking events. (Value doesn’t have to be client acquisition, can be stuff learned, etc.)
February 21st, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Mel Kettle says:

Thanks Jane.

I don’t officially have any financial criteria but I want to make sure it’s value for money. Again, it depends on who is going to be there and what I am going to get out of the event. I’m not a big fan of the $100 breakfast or lunch, but have forked out that much for a speaker I wanted to hear – for example.
March 29th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
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April 6th, 2010 at 1:25 am
Elwood Wren says:

I’m delighted! It’s refreshing to see someone very knowledgeable about what they do. Keep up the great work and I’ll return for more!Cheers!
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