How to Get Over 150 People at Your Next Networking Event
As some of you may already know, last Wednesday we had the first Philly Design and Construction Network networking happy hour event. It was a smashing success to say the least. As i watched the greater than expected crowd packing in, I couldn’t help but to think back to the event’s planning.
The event was not really extensively planned. I must admit that I was uncertain about whether we could get as many people to these events as Washington DC did. But what Tim Klabunde and I decided was this, “let’s just set the date and get people to come. I mean, we claim to be marketers after all.”
And that’s essentially what we did. Tim sent out a few emails. I sent emails to people in my local network. I even contacted some local associations. But my strategy with the local associations was not, “please send an advertisement about our event to your membership.” It was, “we are having a free networking event. What advice can you give me about getting the word out to your membership?” You’ll find that associations are often hesitant to send out notices about other events. They frequently get these requests.
Tim was a little surprised that every association I contacted helped me get the word out to their membership. As marketers and people, we should know that the most productive thing you can do is to help everybody everyday (Tim’s saying and the name of this site). However, we often hesitate to ask for the help of others. We are often even more hesitant to accept the help of others when its offered to us. Maybe we don’t want to look incompetent or weak. Just think about all the times you said, “no, that’s ok,” when someone offered you help. Now think about how much more you would have accomplished if you simply swallowed your pride and said, “yes, I would greatly appreciate any help.”
People want to help you because helping other people feels good. And when you rob someone of the chance to help you, you are actually robbing them of their chance to feel good about helping someone out. And that goes against the whole idea of helping everybody everyday. So when you want to accomplish something, let down your guard and ask for help. And when help is offered to you, accept it.
How do you get 150 people at your next networking event? Simply ask for a little help.
To learn more about Matt Handal, see our About the Authors section.
