Introduction
Networking events, often known as ‘mixers’, can be one of the best ways for companies, trade groups, churches, PTAs, and just about any group you can think of to help their members to meet and network. The same goes for conference receptions, parties, or just about any gathering.
But how effective are such events? How many times have you been to a social gathering and seen small isolated groups or cliques of people who already know each other, standing together or sitting passively around a table and effectively excluding anyone else who wants to join the group? Surely that defeats one of the main goals of running the event or mixer in the first place? The reason many events are difficult for people to mix is due to ‘structural’ issues, in other words issues related to location, who is invited, and how the event is run.
Why is it so important to mix successfully?
If you are in business, meeting new potential clients or people who might refer you to new clients is vitally important and directly related to the success of your business. Mixing events is simply too expensive and time consuming for you to bite into a snack and talk to friends, colleagues, or people you already know. For a company, making as many contacts in the shortest time possible is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
The typical event
The event organizer is relaxing (she has done her job, or so she thinks), has reserved the room, arranged transportation, booked entertainment, arranged food, made sure the bar was stocked and staff of the hotel is available. Now he’s standing near the edge of the room, staring, passing an occasional comment to a colleague or hotel worker. The food looks great, the champagne is flowing, the room is beautifully decorated, and no one can fault the practical arrangements. She has done her job, has she?
Unfortunately, what you will probably see are some groups of people with people from each group who apparently already know each other. It’s easy for them to catch up and enjoy a relaxing chat. Especially since your company is paying the bill for food and drink. These groups are normally positioned as a small circle facing inwards, absolutely impregnable to anyone who does not know them, each back was like an armadillo shell! If things are left to their natural course, an evening characterized by inward-looking cliques or loose groups of strangers unsure of how to connect effectively is likely to be a disappointment to everyone involved. But what can be done to improve this situation?
How Organizers Can Improve Their Events
As with any good event, it all starts with excellent planning. Making sure you invite the right people to an event is a great start.
Get your invitations right
Personal invitations will always get a better response than an invitation sent by email or by mail. Segmented invitations Invitations to functions in churches, chambers of commerce, etc. invariably extend to all members. In this there is the danger that the same small groups or cliques will form each time. A new approach is needed to revitalize meetings and attendance.
Personal invitations to topic-specific events, segmenting the potential “invitation base” and appealing to a group that will have this topic in common, can be an effective alternative to the general networking event. For example, people could be invited to attend a meeting for those who intend to work in the media or industrial products. Members involved in these industries will be invited and a general invitation will be extended to those interested in working with these professionals.
Organizers should also consider limiting the number of people from any specific company or organization. This will not only give a greater impression of exclusivity, but will also prevent the worst excesses of the corporate cliques from coming together.
Always provide identification cards. Even if you try really hard to remember someone’s name, it is very likely that in a large meeting that lasts several hours, you will forget someone’s nickname. A badge provides a discreet reminder. Event organizers should produce badges before an event, ideally in large print. If you do not know in advance who will be attending, the organizer should provide a sufficient quality of stickers and markers.
“Meet You” Games
The following are some simple games and techniques that can be used to get people to know each other.
The introductory game
Divide the group into pairs, find out the following about the other person:
- where were you born,
-
an interesting fact about you
- And what do you do in your free time?
The next step is for three of the groups of two to come together and each person to introduce the other. It’s a bit embarrassing, but you meet a new person.
‘Fast dates
Divide your group into approximately two groups of equal size. Have the groups line up facing each other. Each person has to introduce themselves and what they do in about thirty seconds or a minute (depending on the size of the group). They also exchange business cards. When time is up, the organizer should blow a whistle, ring a bell, or use some other clear way of signaling to everyone that time is up. At this point, everyone moves on to the next person in line. The process begins again. People at the end of the lines must “circle” to be at the beginning of the line. You may need to help them with this. When everyone knows everyone else, the process stops. Make sure you have time to do this process, although it doesn’t hurt to break things after a while, even from all the combinations of meetings that haven’t taken place.
If the event organizer can participate in the process, they should, as it really helps, as it is not good to appear too “distant”.
Bingo business card
When people enter the room for the first time, be sure to put their business cards in a hat. Ask them to write an interesting fact on the back of the card. You will also need to make sure you have an exciting prize to offer as an incentive in this game.
When everyone arrives, attendees have about fifteen minutes to walk around the room and collect about 6 business cards each. In doing so, they should know the name of the person from whom they are getting the business card and a little about their business. At this point in the exercise, everyone should have a combination of 6 different business cards. The caller then removes the business cards from the hat at the entrance and the winner of the exercise is the first person to remove all the cards. The caller keeps pulling out business cards until someone has a full house. that is, all business cards. In the event of a tie, the winner will be decided by a series of questions about the people whose business cards are part of the 6 drawn. These questions could be an interesting fact, if they wrote about it on the back or on the card, or just what your company does.
‘Tag’ people
When people come in, give each of them some small colored stickers. Try to distribute them in roughly similar numbers and don’t use too many colors. At an appropriate time at the beginning of the meeting, ask everyone to try to find all the other people with their color. It’s silly, but it’s fun, and even the tiniest of violets will be forced to speak as they search the room for their color. This game is generally best used with groups of more than 25 people. Once the groups are formed, members must discover what businesses they represent and exchange business cards.
Another variation on this is for the event organizer to put the appropriate business groups together in the same color group, rather than randomly putting people into groups. This makes networking more beneficial for group members. For example, the red group could consist of a graphic designer, a printer, a promotional products representative, a direct marketer, a journalist, and a representative from a local newspaper. This combination of professions can potentially work successfully together and your conversations should be mutually beneficial. This is in contrast to the typical chamber of commerce mixer which may look like a hide and seek game for children. After engaging in a conversation, which requires boldness and courage, it takes a few seconds to realize that the new acquaintance’s business is of no importance to you. It takes more effort to break free from the useless relationship, before another attempt is made to find the perfect business partner who is apparently playing hide and seek.
A networking event could be transformed if a method, such as the game described, were organized to ensure the meeting of professionals from mutually beneficial categories.
Greet people as they arrive
A great way to start the mixing process is to have someone stand in the doorway to shake hands and meet everyone who enters the room. This works best when the person making the greeting is someone who is fairly superior or important to the organization hosting the meeting. It works worse if the person greeting is a young man. In my experience, the least successful way to greet people is to hire some kind of professional receptionist. I have been greeted by clowns and drills and it was just embarrassing. How much more effective if the CEO of the company could have stood at the door and shake hands with everyone, instead of talking animatedly with his cronies at the bar.
Find more party and event planning resources at: social-mixing.blogspot.com/.
