8 Secrets For Making The Most Of Networking Events

Avoid going to the random ones, be strategic.

Usually, I will skip almost all the big networking events. It’s not worth my time. It’s not the event. It’s me. I’m just not good with strangers, really. It is what it is. I am making peace with the fact that I’m not good at dealing with people whom I do not know in a big networking event. The awkward feeling is just too much for me. I tried a few times to go to a couple of events organised by prominent government-related start-up enablers a few months back, but I felt completely lost. After 10 minutes there, I just went home. Two events, so two times I went home early. I guess that explains why my circle is not that big, but not that small either. The size is just nice for me.

I gained nothing from them. Since networking event is crucial for entrepreneurs like me to go deep into the business network, and there are not so many events done at the micro level, I decided to organise one. This was years ago. I started informing my LinkedIn community that I would be having coffee at this cafe or at that cafe, and I asked whoever was available at that time to feel free to join me there.

This year, I put a little bit of effort into making it more structured. Things are going great so far. After more than 6 sessions I hosted, here are my…