For people in the travel, hospitality and corporate events industries it can be challenging to remember all the new people we meet along the way. Even with a good memory it's not easy to retain all the information about what they do and who works for who.
Meeting new people isn't only about professional connections — it's about building a community of like minded people for social reasons too. I've been working on a list of "Essential Tips for Effectively Building and Creating a Community Through Networking Events and Summits" — let me know what you think!
1. Craft a strong introduction: Make your first impression count with a clear, engaging narrative about yourself that leaves others intrigued and curious to know more.
2. Actively listen: Make every conversation meaningful by focusing on what others are saying. Networking and making new social connections is a two-way street, and people appreciate being heard.
3. Appreciate your network and community: Celebrate the achievements of your connections, and show gratitude for their time and insights. A simple "thank you" can strengthen relationships. Help them and share other impactful projects they might be engaged in even if it's of no "business value" to what you do.
4. Leverage mutual contacts: Mention shared connections when reaching out — it instantly creates common ground and fosters trust.
5. Diversify your community and network: Broaden your horizons by connecting with professionals from various fields and remember that a person's hobbies and interests that you may find you have in common are often far from what you may assume based upon their profession. A diverse community or network opens the door to unexpected opportunities.
6. Follow up: Keep the momentum going after your initial meeting or contact. Thoughtful follow-up messages every now and then (do not spam!) can leave a lasting impression and pave the way for future collaborations.
7. Pay attention to body language: Your non-verbal cues speak volumes. Ensure your gestures, posture, and facial expressions reflect openness and confidence.
8. Be patient: Building meaningful connections takes time. Focus on developing genuine relationships rather than chasing quick results.
9. Attend events that are not related to your profession: Whether in person or virtual, events such as webinars, launches and conferences on a range of topics as they offer fantastic opportunities to meet potential new friends and collaborators.
10. Stay consistent: Make building a community whilst networking a continuous practice, not a one-off activity. It’s a long-term investment that pays off in the future.
Networking isn’t just a task — it’s a journey. By nurturing authentic connections and building a non work related community, you’ll create a vibrant network that may boost your career growth but it will very likely open up new opportunities for your personal needs and community spirit.
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Comments
I hope my experiences (and what I am learning from them) can help others create and develop better networks and collaborations with potential new friends.
I would love any feedback and thoughts you have and please let me know if I'm missing something too!
Any "add ons" to my list welcomed!
Hi Gili, thanks for sharing these tips, these are fantastic!
Here's a few of my additions to your list:
- Have a good online profile so people can easily find and connect after the event. If you're reading this and haven't updated your Travel Massive profile, then this is your moment to hit the "settings" button and fill it out! :)
- Learn some tricks at remembering people's names. I am generally terrible at remembering people's names (I remember visually) so I try to remember a name with word association, and repeat the person's name at least a few times so it sticks. If it's not a common name (for me), I also ask how to spell it so I can visualise and remember. This is why dorky name tags are actually beneficial to many people at the event.
- Ask what people do outside of their profession. Later in the day/evening it can get a bit boring talking about industry stuff (unless you live in Dublin, in which case people talk about airline distribution until 1am — true story!). It's really fun to learn about people's hobbies outside of work, and often you find out you have the same interests!
- Disrupt conversations / groups that are taking too long. I often see some people huddled in groups for half an hour and observe quieter people hovering outside the groups. That's my cue to find an appropriate point in the conversation to bring the newcomer into the group and shake it up. It's a networking event, after all!
I also shared some networking tips from Hubspot last year, there's a few comments:
Hope that helps!
Awesome and many thanks!
❤
Good tips, Gili! Thank you for sharing.
I am very passionate about building and joining communities – there's something very valuable about interest-based groups of people who are really motivated and inspired by what they do, and hence – motivating and inspiring others with that energy.
Over the years, I've built several communities (besides being part of a few more) and here's a few other important things I notice:
• Communities leader burnout. As much as the power lays in every member of the community, there always needs to be someone moving and leading things. In the beginning it feels exciting, new, bring slots of value. Over time, it may bring more and more work and responsibilities especially when the community grows. That may lead to a burnout / resentment of the community leadership tasks – what is the solution then? Find a co-leader (that's another challenge), reshape the community, built something on top...
• Monetizing a community – yay or nay? Most of the time, this comes as a questions sooner or later. You have all that base of people interested in the same thing. How do you monetize that value? I have never taken that step because it doesn't align with my personal values but sometimes there is a real opportunity / need for a step like this. How do you manage that?
Just a bit about my experience with communities:
• Coworking Days Sofia: Weekly meetups of digital nomads and remote workers in Sofia working together from different locations. The community is not active anymore as I moved out of the city.
• Snowboarding GIRLS Bansko: Regular meetups of women doing ski/snowboarding in Bansko, Bulgaria. The community stopped being active when I moved out of Bansko.
• Travel Massive Sofia: Regular networking events for tourism industry professionals in Sofia. The community stopped being active when I moved out of Sofia, even though I onboarded community co-leaders.
Thanks for your insights and sharing your valuable experience. Some great points to consider 🙏🏼