Making Great Contacts at Awards Events
Frank Traditi
It's a time for celebration.
Every year organizations, companies and associations take time to recognize
people and their fantastic efforts and results during the past year. If
you read your local paper, business journal, association news or other publications,
you're going to find award ceremonies are always in play. Some are locally
based but you'll also find nationally based organizations doing celebrations
in your town.
Why am I telling you this?
Because these events are terrific places to meet and greet people. Powerful
people. Successful people. People you want in your network.
For example in just one week, I attended three awards events that celebrated
various company and individual achievements in the community, fastest growing
business or significant accomplishments in a short period of time. I got
the opportunity to meet some great people, including the winners of the
awards. Both of these events drew numbers of people into the hundreds. In
fact one event drew over 500 people at 7:00am!!!
Organizations like to recognize individuals and companies for their achievements
through the year or their life. These events are organized to bring together
people who can witness what it takes to be successful.
These events have a place setting at a table just for you.
So what happens at these events?
• There's always a chance to meet people before the event starts
• Everyone is in a good mood because it's a celebration
• Most times the event is a breakfast or lunch, tables of 8-10
• Opportunity to meet everyone at the table and tell your story
• Usually there are several winners and types of awards
• Always a keynote speaker or panel of experts
• Usually a large crowd of people (lots of choices of people to meet)
• Movers and shakers attend - influential people in the community
This is all a recipe for making great contacts. The environment lends itself toward open and productive conversation and relationship building. The reason you're there is to learn how the award winning companies and individuals did it. This is a perfect opportunity to start a dialogue with anyone at the event. Everyone wants to learn his or her secret.
How can you maximize the time you take to attend events like this? It's not really that difficult and can eventually create a big payoff.
Personally introduce yourself to the winners. They're at high point emotionally and are more than happy to hear your congrats and appreciation. Tell them how motivated you were to hear their story. Share in their excitement.
Meet the special guests or panelists. They are usually high-powered, influential people. Recently I met the Executive Director that oversees all aspects of USA Olympic Women Basketball teams. I'm a business coach, she works with many sports coaches - we had a direct connection. She had some very insightful words for being a winner. She is now in my network.
Guaranteed there will be at least one mover and shaker or center of influence at your table. Make it a priority to spend a moment or two talking with this person. They'll be more than happy to talk and maybe even share their network with you.
Introduce yourself to the team that put the event together. Let them know how good a job they did. Remember - they had to talk to several key people in the community and within companies to pull off the event. This is potentially your connection point to those organizations. Take it step further - volunteer to help in their next event.
Sit with people you’ve not met before. Introduce yourself and tell them what you do. Remember your "elevator speech"? This is where that comes in real handy.
A good resource for finding award events is to check out your local business journal or newspaper. They generally list them in the events calendar. Visit www.bizjournals.com and select the city nearest you. You'll find the local journal and a couple of great links on events and networking. You'll find these kinds of events listed.
Also look in your local newspaper for networking events. You should find award ceremonies listed.
Make it a habit to reserve a seat at these events. You'll meet great people
and make great contacts.
Copyright © 2006, Frank Traditi
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