Aaron Marcus shares what went wrong at an acting networking event and how to fix it. Research attendees beforehand on LinkedIn, talk to people like a human instead of pitching yourself, then follow up with a personalized message referencing where you met.
Have you gone to an acting networking event and just found that it wasn't helpful or you had a bad experience? Hey, well, try these ideas, and if you watch this video until the end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's an audition strategy that I use that I think it helped get me booked on my first NBC TV show. Okay, let's get started. Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. Where I share information with you based on my 39-plus years of working as a full-time actor. Now, marketing yourself, getting yourself out there is really important in order to have success as an actor. And I know sometimes people talk about, you know, well, it's all about who you know. That's not really the right term. It's who knows you. And so here are some strategies to use preparing yourself for going to a networking event. And these networking events could be anything from a movie screening. Maybe it's going to an organization like Women in Film and Video, which have men as well. It's a great organization, wifv.org, and I'll leave that for you here so you can see it. Maybe there are meetup groups that you're going to be going to. They're all different kinds of networking events that you could attend. So instead of just walking in cold, which is what most people do, here are some strategies to try. Number one, think about who might be going, who might be attending, and if so, research some people. I'm not saying stalk anybody, but you can go to LinkedIn, you can go to Facebook, you can go to Twitter and see if you can get some information about some of the people you might find there. And look into their backgrounds. Maybe they grew up in the same area you did. Maybe they have similar hobbies. Maybe you have friends in common. Maybe you went to the same college. So that way you might have something else to talk about. And I can also tell you that one of the, one of the key things to keep in mind is when you are meeting new people, industry professionals, You just want to be thinking about, how can I help them? That's really your goal. It's not, oh, I want them to love me, you know, I want them to, you know, talk about contracts or bring me into audition. How can I help them? And before you even get into that, just make sure— don't start doing a routine, don't start acting. What you want to do is just be a regular human. You're sitting down talking to another person. And so just share information. You don't have to go in and start swinging with your resume and talk about all the things that you've done. That's not what people want to hear when they're first meeting somebody. Have a conversation. Look, if it leads to somebody saying, hey, so what kind of projects do you find yourself working on? Well, of course. I'm not saying don't do that, but don't lead with that. Because that looks like desperation. It kind of smells like you're needy, and that's not the kind of people that other industry professionals want to work with. And here's the other key thing, you know, and like I was saying about, you know, the no acting, and don't do a performance. What you want to do is listen to what somebody has to say. Ask them questions about themselves. Ask them questions about the industry. Don't feel like you've got to force yourself on them and entertain them and tell them how great you are. Just listen to what they have to say and let the conversation go wherever it naturally and organically goes. And if you're talking about something, maybe you're talking about your dogs, and that would be great. It's making a real human connection. Then certainly, you know, you do want to follow up with people who you've met. You know, you can ask them if they have a business card. Maybe they have— they can just give you their contact information if they're willing to do it. I highly recommend bringing a business card. I love my business card. I have it in my wallet just in case I meet somebody at the supermarket or on an airplane or wherever. And it has my photo on it. Some people like to put a QR code That will take them to a resume or maybe a reel. You'll have information. Certainly you'll have contact information and social media links. And feel free to hand it out, but follow up with people, even if it's just to say, hey, just wanted to stay in touch. It was great meeting you at that event. And make sure you let them know where it was so that people remember where they met you. And Like I said, you don't have to get back in touch and say, hey, I just booked this, or I'll just get back in touch with them. How you doing? I was thinking about you. Had a really enjoyable conversation. Do things slowly. It's like a date, and you don't want to immediately talk about marriage on your first date. Get to know the person a little bit. So I just wanted to make sure that you go in in a much more prepared way. You go in in a much more human way where you're just meeting with people. And I think that you will have a much, much better experience by doing that. Hey, the other thing, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget to subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. If you like it, please give it a thumbs up. That's very helpful. And share, share the link with fellow actors so we can continue to build a great community, a great channel of actors who are helping each other. I did promise, uh, an additional bonus video for you. So if you just look up here, boy, I'm getting, getting lots of texts. Just look up here and you will see, uh, the little exclamation point. Just click on that. And it's a really good video of an audition strategy. that I used that I truly believe helped me book my first NBC TV show. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
