Expanding one’s social circles plays a big role in most people’s lives, and online networking has only made it easier – whether for personal reasons or for networking for business.
While online networking has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, the value of offline social networking cannot be ignored. Marketers create seminars, workshops, and other meetups to connect. Speed dating and other social events still exist.
To facilitate offline social networking events, there’s useful you’ll want to consider.
Meetup is a great way to engage with like-minded people near your location. Whether it’s making new friends or finding dates, the site has been a go-to place for those who wish to expand their social circle.
The site has been home to numerous networking events taking place all over the place. The creator of a Meetup group can simply schedule a meetup and invite the members to join. Those who wish to find new jobs and professional opportunities should attend an event to meet people within their industry to talk with.
If this is your first time organizing a meetup, don’t expect it to be perfect. In fact, setting up a successful event can take more than one meetup to achieve. There are times that those who RSVP’d didn’t come, the attendees are not actively talking with each others, or the presentations have been a mess, among others.
There are lots of factors that you should consider when organizing and implementing the meetup. To learn the most important ones and get the most out of the networking events, you need to following the tips below.
Find the most appropriate theme for your meetup
The meetup will run like how an average networking event runs. People talk and share business information so they can further their discussion after the event.
But you can spice up your networking event by using a central theme. For example, you can invite single professionals in your group to join the networking event this coming Valentines’ Day. Or you can require all attendees to wear a scary costume to the meetup scheduled this Halloween. Schedule your meetup with any upcoming events and holidays for this year that’s applicable.
To encourage attendees to participate with the theme, you can reward the cutest couple or the scariest costume with a gift certificate or coupon.
Secure speakers on the day of the meetup
Invite industry experts to share their ideas about a particular topic related to your event. It can be the latest trends, case studies, or interesting findings about your line of work. Encourage them to use data visualization to create more impact with their stories.
It’s best that you prepare the topics that need to be discussed during the event. Look through your group members and see reputable experts that you can invite to deliver a presentation from the topics you prepared. They can pitch a new and similar topic if they feel much more confident in doing that.
Brand your event
If you are a small business and the networking event is a way to find and hire potential employees on the spot, you can take this opportunity to also include your print materials.
Set up a PVC banner from Aura with your company name and logo. Place brochures, flyers, and posters of your business at easy-to-see place so people can either get a copy of look at its information.
Doing these will also keep your business in the minds of attendees for future reference.
Take pictures of the event
Hire a photographer or videographer to document the event. Upload the files on your Meetup group page so attendees can download their pictures and videos. You can also set up a photobooth so people can get their pictures from there.
This is a good way to keep the festivities light and fun with great people.
You can also use the pictures on your marketing materials to promote your business. Make sure to inform attendees that a photographer will be present during the event.
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