From the course: The Ultimate Guide to Professional Networking

Attending a lobbycon

From the course: The Ultimate Guide to Professional Networking

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Attending a lobbycon

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- Business cards are the reddest of red herrings of the networking process. Here's what I mean, everyone thinks they're crucial or even the most important thing you can do at a networking event and yet, the opposite is actually true. Handing someone a business card should be the byproduct of already having made a successful connection. In fact, I've entered numerous collaborations and joint ventures from networking over the years without a business card ever leaving my pocket. Many people think they should go walk the floor of a trade show and hand out business cards. This is typically not a good use of your time. Yes, it can potentially yield results but the number of hours you spend walking the floor trying to make connections is an awfully large and inefficient net to cast. When it comes to building real connections, look for the so-called side shows; ancillary parties, other random hangouts, these things materialize during a trade show. That's right, for your networking purposes, the real convention takes place in the lobby or the hotel bar. That's what we call Lobby-con, it's where you get the most bang out of your networking buck. But you don't even have to shell out any bucks to reap the benefits. The great part about Lobby-con is that it's free. If you're short on resources, then you can go to the convention hotel to network without even buying a ticket. You can start from scratch this way by showing up at the Lobby-con, then leverage your presence to get invited to other events. I'll give you a real example. I know these two guys who are in the internet marketing world. For several years, they attended what's known as Traffic and Conversion, a convention in San Diego. And over time, they expanded their network as a result. But here's where it gets interesting, eventually they started inviting people to a little mixer at a local brewery during one of the nights of the event. As word spread that this was a fun way to meet other people in a smaller, more casual scene, the attendance grew. Now there are 6,000 people at this big trade show and you can bet, just about everybody there is looking for a more intimate connection. My buddies eventually negotiated with the brewery to host their little party for free and they offered everyone who came, $6 beer. Then they told the food trucks about it, which meant now there was food available and they didn't even have to pay for it. The last party I went to had several hundred people. I may have known perhaps a dozen people there and then of course, those dozen knew others, which is why all of us made better and deeper connections at a satellite gathering like this, rather than at the main event. Master networkers always look for these side parties and Lobby-con hangouts, and you should too. Find a local events calendar and begin planning your own Lobby-con excursion. You'll find it fun and effective.

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