How to warm up the networking reception
Let’s face it—sometimes, networking sucks. Picture wandering around a massive trade show. You’ve talked to 10, 18, 34 different people. You’ve just run out of your business cards (oops) and yet when you get back in office post-event, you cannot match faces to the cards you’ve collected. Not to mention, for many people, it’s anxiety-inducing to meet so many people and start conversations!
This common issue for attendees can become both less stressful and far more fun with the help of some creative tools that re-think how we network.
“Ask Me About…”
JabberYak produces products to facilitate attendee engagement and connection through shared interests, gamification and data. Audiences use their technology to select seven personal interests that can then be printed on t-shirts, nametags, virtual backgrounds and more. Planners can take advantage of its AI-generated analytics dashboard to uncover data that will help them to customize events that cater to the attendee group’s overall shared interests and values. These tools help to break the ice in a way that opens up a more personalized dialogue, which can then lead to productive networking.
Read More: Give Me an (Exceptional) Break!
Show Off a Little!
PC Nametag offers customizable products for event attendees, from custom event badges that display an attendee’s name, title and company in creative ways, to badge ribbons that display fun phrases, a certification the attendee holds or express an attendee’s identity and personality in some other way. allowing attendees’ personalities to shine, networking becomes more personalized and fun.
Matching like a Pro
Brella uses AI to match attendees and offer suggestions for the best networking opportunities available to them at an event. Attendees will start by filling out details about themselves, their interests and their company and role. The AI matchmaking algorithm will determine the top matches amongst attendees based on thousands of data points within seconds, and attendees can then reach out to any matches they are interested in and suggest a meeting or plan to connect at an event.
Read More: Why It’s Time to Get Serious About AI for Events
This article appears in the March 2024 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
