Being a fairly young entrepreneur I have only just started attending startup events and recently registered for the E- Summit going to be held at IIT-B which has a plethora of events and discussions !
Since I’m in my early stages I’m on the lookout for potential team members / partners, investors and people who could be customers !
So please share your experiences as to how does one get noticed and make the right connections.
How would you choose the events and discussions to attend?
asha chaudhry
neat q. some basic stuff that comes to my mind!
– be early and start networking from the morning tea sessions itself! scan the crowd – zero in on the most friendly face and go and intro yourself – it will break the ice! make sure to look into the person’s eye, shake hands firmly and smile. exchange biz cards. take interest in what the other person does, more than what you do!
– don’t just go around distributing biz cards to the mass. be selective. be genuine. nothing puts people off than those people who dole out their biz cards like prasaad 🙁
– be attentive at the sessions so you can ASK THE RIGHT Q’s. alok keeps telling us when he attends conferences abroad, he prefers to sit at the back and makes sure he asks a unique question (that people take notice of!). he will always SAY HIS NAME AND HIS COMPANY NAME for people to remember!
– try to interact with the speaker later on. if not, with the audience.
– take notes and TWEET! tweeting live from an event is a sure way of getting noticed and creating a great impression.
– be presentable: first impressions include how you look (and of course, how you carry yourself). i rarely go to events. but i wear my rodinhood tee and it gets noticed :)))
– LISTEN – keep your ears open – you never know where you can contribute or what useful info you can pick up.
– blog about the event afterwards. great content always goes viral. in fact, you should blog about the e-summit for trhs. lots of our rodinhooders do that. alok will be at one of the sessions – a panel, so be sure to attend!
search abhik, sushrut, anamika.
will share some links with you that will help.
ALL THE BEST. have fun!!
asha chaudhry
here u go –
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/notes-from-tiecon-delhi-2014
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/takeaways-from-startupgrind-w…
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/why-do-entrepreneurs-get-stuck
oh yeah – take pix of each speaker and share over social media!
when you tweet – be sure to use the event hashtag, twitter handle and speaker’s twitter handle.
VOLUNTEER! if you volunteer at a startup event – you will meet/connect with many more like-minded entrepreneurs and get more leads… 🙂
asha chaudhry
oh – imp thing! read people’s name tags, smile and nod. AND ENGAGE with folks you think you need to!! wait for your turn in case the person is busy. but if he/she are really engaged in a serious discussion with someone else, don’t lurk around. find your next person of interest and try to catch this person later on!
asha chaudhry
you gotta read these 🙂
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/polite-conversations-startupmuddyshoes
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/comic-cofounder-needed-toons-…
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/attending-a-start-up-event-ma…
Dhanyal Gopi
Before the event
1) Identify the explicit networking opportunities which the event organizers are providing (Any webapps/mobile apps where in you can browse through attendees list)
For eSummit, check the following link
https://ecell.in/esummit/networking.html
2)Introduce yourself and what you are looking forward from the event, in event’s facebook page / twitter / event web page /other online presence
3)Use hashtag #esummit15, #esummit effectively to search for attendees, connect with them in twitter.
During the event
Asha has covered it in great detail.
Adding a point on ‘Being a connector’
If you are meeting someone, try to also understand what he/she is looking for, may be ‘keep noting down these requirements’. Later if you come across someone who can fulfill those requirements, you can connect both of them, during/after the event. Helps build connections.
After the event
1) Use twitter/fb effectively again
2) Follow up on the connections within a week
PS: I’m exploring the scope of an ‘Before-During-After’ event networking app. Details here.
Related links
http://www.bit.ly/Esummit15-Networking
http://www.bit.ly/eventnetworkingapp
Will connect with you for quick feedback.
Cheers!
asha chaudhry
awesome points dhanyal!
how could i forget being a connector??!! that’s pretty much what i do at our own events as well!!!!
Natwar Maheshwari
I think Asha covered pretty much all of it.
I can add a couple more points:
If you really want something out of these events your goal should be to HELP anyone you can.
Contact organizer and see if they need help (live tweeting is something every organizer values), and make sure they know who you are and what are you looking for. Because they as organizers are in best position to connect you to right people 🙂
When you get a favour from an organizer or anyone for that matter, make sure you publicly thank them. Your gratitude goes a long way.
Connect people to one another, this really gets you in good grades of 2 people at the same time 🙂
I hope this helps 🙂
Thanks Asha for tagging me 🙂
Abhik Prasad
Firstly, look at the agenda and speakers and try and decide before hand which sessions you want to attend. There will be sessions in parallel so if you have pre decided, it will be easier for you.
Don’t just attend a session for the heck of it…try and attend it first based on the quality of the speaker and then the topic of the session.
Don’t attend ALL the sessions…take some down time to meet people.
Take notes, preferably with a pen and paper instead of your phone.
Try and have ‘quality’ conversations with a few folks instead of just handing out business cards to everyone.
Wear the name of your startup on your badge. Will make it easier for folks to connect with you.
Have fun 🙂
Riha Marwah
Thanks Dhanyal !
Riha Marwah
Will definitely keep this in mind ! Thanks ! 🙂
Riha Marwah
Thanks Abhik !
Abhik Prasad
You might want to say hello to this guy 🙂
asha chaudhry
abhik – too bad we can’t LIKE comments :))))
asha chaudhry
how did it go riha?
did everyone’s suggestions help you at the e-summit?
any takeaways from the event?
we’d love to hear an update on this!!