To build lasting business relationships at networking events, work in three stages. Before, pick ten people worth meeting and learn something real about each. During, aim for a handful of proper conversations rather than a pocket of cards. After, follow up within two days with something useful, then again a month later.
Most people attend a networking event with no plan beyond turning up, and leave with a stack of cards they never touch again. The ones who get work out of these rooms are rarely more charming; they are simply working from a list. This is that list, arranged in the order things have to happen, with a note on who owns each item when a company sends more than one person. Print it, use it once, and the difference will be obvious.
Planning this in Pune? See our business event organisers: one team plans and runs it with you, since 2013.
The checklist
Everything below fits into three stages, and the last one is the stage almost everybody skips.
| When | What to settle | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Three weeks out | Decide why you are going, in one line, and whether this event can deliver it | Whoever approves the ticket and the day away |
| Two weeks out | Get the attendee or speaker list and mark ten names worth meeting | The person attending |
| Two weeks out | Research each name properly: recent work, a shared connection, a genuine question | The person attending, or a marketing colleague helping |
| One week out | Write to three or four of them beforehand and propose a short meeting at the venue | The person attending |
| One week out | Prepare three sentences: what you do, what you are looking for, what you can offer | The person attending, checked by their manager |
| Day before | Agree how notes will be captured and where they will land afterwards | Sales or marketing, whoever owns the system |
| On the day | Arrive early, stay through the breaks, aim for a handful of real conversations | The person attending |
| Same evening | Write one line about each conversation while you still remember the face | The person attending |
| Within two days | Send a specific message to everyone worth keeping, with the thing you promised | The person attending |
| Within two weeks | Decide which contacts move into the pipeline and which stay warm | The sales owner |
| Four to twelve weeks | Make the second approach, with a reason that is not a sales pitch | The sales owner |
| After the quarter | Review what the event produced and whether to attend the next one | The person who approved it |
Two weeks out: choose ten names
Go with a list of ten and you will behave completely differently from someone going to see who is there.
Get the delegate list if the organiser shares one, and build your own from the speakers, sponsors and exhibitors if not. Choose people you could plausibly help, not only people who could help you, because the first kind answers messages. Then learn something real about each: what they launched recently, where they worked before, an article they wrote, a connection you share. Not to perform it at them, but so you have a question that is worth their time. Ten is the right number. You will meet three or four, and that is a good afternoon.
One week out: write before you go
A short message sent in advance converts a chance meeting into a scheduled one.
Keep it to three lines: you will be at the same event, here is why their work interests you, could you find ten minutes near the registration desk after the first session. Most people will not reply, and a few will, and those few are the reason the day pays for itself. Where you have a mutual contact, ask that person for a one-line introduction instead. An introduction before the event is worth more than a perfect opening line at it.
One week out: three sentences
Decide in advance how you answer the only question you are certain to be asked.
- What you do, said in a way a stranger from another industry can repeat to somebody else. If your answer needs a follow-up explanation, it is too clever.
- What you are looking for, stated specifically. Introductions to procurement teams in pharma is useful. New opportunities is not.
- What you can offer, which is the sentence almost nobody prepares and the one that makes people want to continue.
Practise them out loud once. It feels silly and it saves you from the mumbled version you would otherwise deliver twenty times.
On the day: fewer conversations, done properly
Aim for four conversations you will remember rather than thirty you will not.
- Arrive before the start. The first twenty minutes are the easiest time to speak to anyone, because nobody has settled into a group yet.
- Stay through every break. Slipping out to answer email during the interval is skipping the part you came for.
- Join groups of three rather than pairs. Two people talking are usually in the middle of something; three have room.
- Ask questions that need a real answer. What are you working on at the moment beats what do you do.
- Listen for a problem you can help with, even if the help is a referral to somebody else.
- Offer something concrete before you leave the conversation: a contact, a document, an answer. Then actually send it.
- Write a line on the back of the card, or in your phone, before the next conversation begins. By evening you will not remember which person said what.
- Leave a conversation cleanly. Thank them, say you will send the thing, move on. Standing in one group all evening is the most common way to waste the ticket.
Within two days: the message that matters
The follow-up is where relationships are made, and it has a short shelf life.
Send it within two days, while they can still picture you. Refer to what you actually discussed, attach or link the thing you promised, and make any next step easy to say yes to. Do not attach a company profile to a first message; it converts a conversation into a pitch. If you promised an introduction, make it that week or explain why it is delayed. And connect on professional networks with a line of context rather than a blank request, because a bare invitation a fortnight later is indistinguishable from spam.
Weeks four to twelve: the second approach
Nearly everyone stops after one message, which is why the second one works so well.
Wait a month, then get in touch with a reason that is not a sales question: something relevant you came across, a comment on news from their sector, an invitation to something small you are hosting. The purpose of the second touch is to prove you are a person who remembers, not a pipeline entry. Keep a simple record of who you met, where and when, and set yourself a reminder. Relationships at this stage fail from forgetfulness far more often than from disinterest.
If you are sending a team
Two colleagues who stand together all evening have effectively sent one person.
Split the list before you go and agree who covers which names. Agree that you will not talk to each other except to hand over an introduction, which is the most useful thing a colleague can do for you in a crowded room. Decide in advance where the notes land, whether that is a shared sheet or your sales system, and who reviews them afterwards. Then look back at the end of the quarter: how many conversations turned into a second meeting, and was this the right room to be in. Exhibiting rather than attending changes the mechanics completely, and our exhibition stall design page covers how a stand can be laid out to start conversations instead of blocking them.
When you are the one hosting
Everything above is easier for your guests when the event has been designed to allow it, which is the part a host controls. If your company is running its own evening, the room layout, the length of the breaks and the presence of briefed hosts will decide how much of this checklist your guests can even attempt. Our business event organisers page sets out how we plan and run company events across Pune and Maharashtra, from small partner sessions to full conferences. If you would rather talk it through first, our contact page is the quickest route.
Frequently asked questions
How do I prepare for a networking event?
Get the attendee, speaker or exhibitor list two weeks ahead and mark ten names worth meeting. Research each one enough to ask a real question. Write to three or four in advance proposing a short meeting at the venue. Then prepare three sentences: what you do, what you are looking for, and what you can offer.
How many people should I aim to meet?
Four good conversations beat thirty introductions. Collecting cards feels productive and produces almost nothing, because no one remembers a name attached to sixty seconds of small talk. Go with a list of ten, expect to reach three or four properly, and write a line about each one before the next conversation starts.
What should I say in a follow-up message?
Refer to what you actually discussed, send the specific thing you promised, and make the next step easy to accept. Send it within two days while they can still picture you. Avoid attaching a company profile to a first message, because it turns a conversation into a pitch and usually ends the exchange.
How do I keep a contact warm without pestering them?
Wait about a month, then get in touch with something that is not a sales question: an article relevant to their work, a comment on news in their sector, or an invitation to something small you are hosting. The aim of that second contact is to show you remember them. Keep a note and set a reminder.
Is it worth sending several colleagues to the same event?
Only if they split up. Two people who stand together all evening have effectively sent one. Divide the target list beforehand, agree that you will only approach each other to hand over an introduction, and decide where notes will be recorded and who reviews them afterwards. Otherwise you have paid twice for the same coverage.
Vicky founded Plan With YOLO in Pune in 2013 and leads the planning on corporate events, weddings and stage production across Maharashtra.
