6 Tips on How to Network at an Event - Got My JOB This Way!

Hey, everyone. This is Self made Millennial. I'm Madeline Mann. Today we're going to be talking about going to networking events. And I know it can be daunting, so I've broken it down in the simplest way. I know how. I'm going to walk you through what to do, what to say, how to follow up, as well as giving you simple yet powerful metrics to measure yourself against. To know, am I even doing this right? So what should be your goal when you go to a networking event?

I would say that at its core, your goal is to make friends. You want to connect with people in a meaningful way. And I don't just say this to beginners to get you guys feeling okay. I say this to everyone you know, don't go in there ready to sell your product or ready to ask for their help. That all comes later after you've created this relationship. So really burn it into your head that it's not about hustling around and going and asking everyone for something, but it's more about hustling around and adding value anywhere you can see possible. So I know when I say you should make friends, that's pretty abstract. So let's make it concrete. When you go to these events, you need to find out one interesting thing about each person you talk to. Focus on them, ask questions, make them feel interesting. Also tell them about what you're up to, but just don't force an agenda. Okay, so now you have this friend making, meaningful relationship mentality set. Let's talk about, how do you introduce yourself at a networking event?

I get a lot of anxiety going up to a group of people and introducing myself, but I just have to keep saying myself. That's why they're here. They want to meet more people. Like, don't put so much pressure on the situation. And in the end, they are happy that you introduce yourself. I am only going to give you one question to ask when you start a conversation with someone at a networking event, because I think it's the best question. It is simple, it is elegant, and it gets straight to the point. And that question is, what brings you here today? What's great about this question, what brings you here today is it gives you context, right? Are they passionate about the presentation? Are they an expert about what the presentation was? Or maybe they're a novice, or maybe they're here to promote their startup, or potentially they were just dragged here with a friend and they don't really care about what this whole event is about. That gives you context around your conversation. And as how you could add value to them in the future as well as if they are just kind of dragged there, then maybe you'll try to exit that conversation a little earlier so that you can move on to someone who's really excited to be there. Also, this question's just very easy and comfortable to answer. They don't have to do like an elevator pitch about their career or the company they work for. They can just kind of let you know what brought them there. All right, so now that you've broken the ice, what the heck do you say in the rest of your conversation?

My rule of thumb is get curious, ask lots of questions and uncover things that are interesting about them that could be related to work or in another area of their life. I usually try to connect with them on something semi personal like where they grew up or some of their hobbies or what makes them passionate about their careers. Usually when they say something about their hobbies and careers and I don't necessarily know a ton about that topic, I'll just follow up with oh, what got you interested in that? Or how do you like it? Or simply say, I don't really know that much about it. Could you tell me more? Sometimes they'll be the one to be asking you all the questions driving the conversation and happens then make sure to flip the questions that they're asking back to them when appropriate. Just, you know, what about you? Alright, so you've had a very nice conversation, you gotta go, you gotta move on to the next person. Life's short and so how do you exit the conversation? And this is the part that I always get really awkward about and I'm not the best at.

Fortunately for you, I have three tactics to exit a conversation gracefully at a networking event. First one I do, which is my old standby, when I'm feeling a conversation is kind of reaching its end, I will reach into my bag and pull out my card and I say, hey, so great meeting you, here's my card, let's connect on LinkedIn, let's talk more later. And that usually feels pretty good. It's not a goodbye, it's a see you later. And the second way is the straightforward way where you say, hey, I'm going to be here for another 30 minutes. There's a few other people I want to meet, but so great meeting you and have a great rest of your event. They're at the event to meet other people too. They get it, they move on. The third way to excuse yourself is to say, oh, my drink is looking A little empty. I'm going to go get another one bar or I have to use the restroom. And if you do say these things totally works, but make sure you just actually do them.

So let's talk about the next day. You have a stack of business cards and what you should do is you should email the people who you met and say so great meeting you. You should bring up that little fact that you learned about them, such as if they said that they love hiking, say oh, I hope you have a chance to go hiking soon, or here's a great trail I think you should check out. And then if you can, try to think of a way to add 60 seconds value to their life. This means do something you think will help them, but don't spend more than 60 seconds doing it. Such as you could introduce them to someone who might be helpful to them. You could send them an article, or let's say they're job hunting and you endorse them on LinkedIn for certain skills. If you can't think of any way to add value to them, that's okay. Just write your email that they should reach out to you should they need anything. Alright, so this last part of this video is networking by the numbers. These are metrics that I use for myself to make sure that I'm hitting certain goals when networking. It's a lot like deciding how many miles you're going to run on a treadmill before you step on it.

So the first metric I use to start getting my feet wet into networking is I count up 10 business cards and I would say that I cannot leave a networking event until I've handed out all 10 and I've touched all four walls of the event space. In the beginning I ripped through those 10 cards, touch the walls and leave. But over time, as I started getting to know more people, I wouldn't just leave right away, I would take a bit more time. My second metric is to not speak to anyone for more than five minutes. Generally five minutes is enough time to get that interesting fact about them, connect with them, give them your card. Only in the cases of extremely valuable conversations should go longer than five minutes or 10 minutes. But every single conversation that goes on longer, there's opportunity cost of not meeting other people. Third metric that I remind myself of is that not everyone I meet is going to have a profound effect on me. So maybe one in 10 people that I meet I'm going to speak to again and maybe 1 in 100 is going to be a super meaningful, valuable relationship. Now those numbers go way up if you're at a more specific and relevant event to you, or if you go to event where you know a lot of people and you can make a lot of meaningful new relationships through those introductions. One of the best ways to up your meaningful connections at events is if you're going there with other people. Make sure to check in with them and say, hey, who'd you meet? Did you meet anyone interesting? Is there anyone I should go meet? So those are my tips for today. Hope you go out there and meet lots of strangers. The stranger the better. Leave your questions and stories in the comments as well as hit a like if you like the content. These videos come up every single week. I haven't filled you yet, so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss one. Thanks everyone. See you next time.