Never have an awkward silence or boring conversations at networking events again. Here are 5 questions that will let good conversation flow and allow you to connect with and help more people at your next networking event.
1. What brings you here? or What made you want to come out to this event?
Everyone is at an event for a self-serving reason. These questions can let you in on the person’s goals and then you can offer to help them however possible, or at least be able to talk more about their field of interest.
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2. What type of people are you looking to meet or connect with?
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3. What are your next steps or next projects you want to work on?
People that go to networking events are generally thinking of “what’s next” for themselves. Find out what their goals are.
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4. What do you think?
(specifically – of the event or the speaker, or venue? Did you get to meet the people you’d hoped to? Get the information you’d hoped for?)
These are great small-talk questions that gives a nice casual feel to your chat. Talking about business for a whole event gets boring; toss these questions in there to help people feel more relaxed. Plus, people generally like to share what they think.
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5. What can I do to help you?
This is the whole point of networking events, but usually people don’t walk around saying “help me with this…” tattooed on their forehead. So take the first step and ask. Surprisingly, people aren’t too shy to answer once you ask. Then start helping and building that relationship!
Those are just a few questions for you to get the ball rolling at your next networking event. Good luck!
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Bring lots of business cards and a pen.
P.S. – get business cards that are 1) blank on the back so you can write on them, and 2) not glossy finish – those are difficult to write on.
P.P.S. – When you take some one’s card – try not to put it in your back pocket when possible. It can make it seem to them like you don’t value it. Put it in a shirt/jacket pocket, portfolio, or your business card holder.
(image: http://www.gtsquared.gatech.edu/images/networking_professionals.jpg)
