How to run a successful networking event

When I walked into the room and saw all the chairs lined up, it was totally shocking because half of the chairs had their backs facing the stage.

I asked the MC, what is going on here? Why are the chairs in rows like this facing each other. He said that we were going to do a speed dating type thing with the CEOs in the room so people can get to know each other quickly in under 30 minutes.

I was fascinated by the idea of speed networking and I was encouraged to write this article to share my ideas about how to run a successful networking event.

When I started networking several years ago, I was really afraid of networking. I did not want to get uncomfortable and meet new people. It was scary to get rejected or to feel like people that I do not know well might not be interested in what I have to say.

What I realized very quickly is that I need to learn the art of networking and the best way to do this is to attend many networking events and conferences and take notes. What works, what does not work and how can get people to have a good time.

Here are three things to keep in mind if you want to run a successful networking event.

Planning, Preparing and Running your event are the three keys to success when it comes to actually creating an experience for your guests to walks away from your event and say things like “This was one of the best events, I have ever attended!”

You cannot run a successful event if you do not plan it in advance. Why? Because you will be missing key elements at the event that will help you run it properly.

Planning takes time, effort, energy and strategy. The best way to plan an event is with a group of people who are committed to the success of your event. I am fortunate enough to have staff that can help me plan out the event weeks in advance and that helps be able to feel better about the event.

Planning means thinking about the place, the people and the activities. Here are 30 questions you will need to answer if you want to have a proper plan written out.

1. Where will the event take place?
2. When will the event begin and when will it end?
3. Who will be sponsoring the venue?
4. Who will be sponsoring the food and beverages?
5. Who will be involved with making sure the place is ready for the networking event?
6. Who will be involved with greeting people and running the event?
7. Who will be cleaning up after the event and the last person to leave?
8. What will the theme of the event be? Who is the target audience?
9. What activities will you want people to be doing during the event?
10. What is the agenda for the event?
11. What do you want to give each attendee?
12. What do you want the attendees to leave feeling?
13. Who will be taking photos of the event?
14. Who will be taking video of the event?
15. Will you have a projector? Mic? Lights?
16. Who will be speaking at the event?
17. How will you be promoting the event to make sure that people actually show up?
18. Who will help you promote the event and what do they need to do?
19. How much do you want to spend on the actual event and on the promotion?
20. What checklists do you need to make sure you will be able to prepare the day before and the day of?
21. How will you follow up with the attendees after the event happens?
22. Who will be in charge of collecting testimonials from the attendees while they are excited?
23. What signage will you need? Who will design and print the signage including the step and repeat?
24. How many meetings do you need to have leading up to the event and who will be attending those meetings and making sure they happen? What are the dates of those meetings and the agenda?
25. What music will you be playing at the event? Who will be in charge of the playlist or the DJ of the event?
26. What message will you need to send the attendees the day before and the day of the event? Who will be available to answer questions for people who are lost or need support finding the event?
27. What platform will you be using to get people to register for the event?
28. Will you be charging the the event? What is the early bird special and what is the regular price and what will it cost of people want to pay at the door?
29. What questions will people be asking about the event, where are the FAQs?
30. Who is the in charge of the event and makes the final decisions?

Once you have the answers to these questions laid out in a document, it’s time to start taking action and get into the phase of the event where are you are preparing for the event.

There is ONE person who is ultimately responsible to make sure the event happens successfully and that person needs to rally the troops and drive the vision for the event forward.

That is the person who will keep tabs on what is going with the preparations on a daily basis and make sure that the plan with all the action items are being created.

The best thing to do is to make a series of checklists. Each checklist will have a list of actions with a WHO and a BY WHEN assigned to each item on the checklist. Asana or Trello is great for keeping track of this or you can use Google Keep.

I like to make a checklist for promotion, a checklist of event production, a day before checklist, a day of checklist and things we need to buy checklist.

Decide what you need based on the questions you answered in the planning phase and create all your checklists and start working off them.

The final stage of running a successful event is actually RUNNING IT. Running the event will go smooth if you have a team that is trained and that is prepared with everything they need.

Here are the steps that I like to think about.

1. Welcome: Greeting the people with a unified message when you check them in. “Thank you for coming to the LinkedIn meetup, here is your name tag. Please feel free to grab a drink, we have beer, wine, water and coffee and go meet some people. Keep in mind that our presentation starts at 6:30 pm and we will have open networking after that. Remember to take a selfie with someone and post it on LinkedIn!”
2. The Host: You and your Co-Hosts need to make sure that people are having a good time. Engage all your guests and remind them to do the activities. Ask them what they expect to get out of the event and who they want to meet. Be gracious to the people who come and give them attention. Let people know where the bathrooms are and what is going on so they can feel at home. If you see someone holding bags, tell them where they can put it down.
3. The Meat: You might have a speaker or do a workshop activities. Make sure that people have pens and pads to take notes, remind people about the agenda and make sure that you are on time. Better to finish the presentation early and give people back their time than to hold them hostage. Make sure that everyone is engaged in the main part of the event and if someone seems out of it, give them some extra love.
4. Connections: Make connections with people and encourage people to speak to each other. People are super with others they do not know well so help them be less weird with each other by giving them something to talk about. Encourage people to share a joke, a secret or an experience with other people in the group. If you are doing elevator pitches tell people to keep it super short.
5. GoodBye: Finish off strong with gratitude and make sure people take home the goodie bags if you have them. Let people leave with a good impression and thank them for coming and spending time with you. Let them know how to follow up and if you have future events, let people know when the next event will be.

You have run another successful event.

Please let me know in the comments below if you have any additional tips that you would add to this and what is your biggest take away!

Joe Apfelbaum

Ajax Union

PS: Join our meetup group and meet professionals that are on LinkedIn! https://www.meetup.com/LinkedIn-B2B-Networking/