Warning: Don’t Let Time Prevent a Pre-Event
Unless you are Superman, you can’t be everywhere at the same time. When it comes to real world events, I use a hack. I open up my time window and give myself some room to breathe. I call this simple hack pre-eventing. It’s how I now get more from real life events.
PreEventing is really simple. It’s the idea of creating value before an event. Talk to people before you get there. You have a perfect excuse – your co-attendance is a connection. An excuse to talk.
Every attendee is equally pressured. They are also investing in attending (time, money and opportunity costs). So help them be more effective and let them help you too.
See who’s attending an event. See who you know and who you’d like to know. Prioritize.
Connect with before the event. Talk on the phone or skype or a Google Hangout. Take the pressure off the event. Help each other during the event. Have a clearer idea of what you each need. Become each other’s ears and eyes on the ground.
You collaborate to maximise the experience. It’s a win win for networkers.
Take this Triberr event as an example.
- I made a list of most of the people attending with a little bit of help from Dino Dogan, Triberr’s co-founder.
- I tagged the people I knew and who I’d like to know.
- I shared the list on Twitter, in so doing I helped promote the event too. Promoting an event is great way to win the support of the event organizer. It’s also a great way to get noticed. It’s an ice-breaker.
- I embedded this list in my blog (below)
Mythbusting the Blogosphere Webinar via @Triberr - PreNetworking List
Who do you know on the list - tag them Who would you like to know - tag them
Why not share the fact your user Triberr by embedding this list on your blog
Why not make lists of your tribe.
- crowd rank
- curated
- alpha
- newest
- queue
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Nick Kellet - @NickKellet
Co-founder @listly. Founder @gifttrap & @AnswerSets (now BOBJ/SAP). I create & curate ideas. I love software, games & life. Do you? http://linkd.in/kellet
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Miles Austin - @milesaustin
The Web Tools Guy. Sales & Marketing Technologist, speaking & writing on web tools that improve business. Author of popular Fill the Funnel blog.
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Jure KLEPIC - @jkcallas
Takes “poking” to a whole new level. A common sense approach in #socialmedia that gets results. Educator & Speaker with Edge. #youmatter http://bit.ly/Twaylh
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Dino Dogan - @dino_dogan
Founder of http://triberr.com Lousy Martial Artist & Recovering Engineer. Songwriter & Biz Blogger. Quiet Reader & Loud Speaker. Global Force for Badassery. Hi.
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Disincentive - @fetadesu
Book blogger from Poland.
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Mark A Hultgren - @MKWeb
Building a Better Business model
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Sheena Reithmeier - @916HomeValues
California Realtor, runner & future triathlete. HATES Alzheimer's disease & cancer. LOVES, everything , sushi, music, under armour, & random acts of kindness.
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NoraCloherty - @NoraCloherty
Jayhawk Fan and Art Lover.
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Cora Ramos - @CoraJRamos
A paranormal fiction writer. I bring the unexpected, the twist, or a surprise at the edge of reality. Novel and short stories.
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Emily Rose - @emilyroseartist
Visual Artist, Photographer & Designer - Founder of A'la Art, where we are creating an empire for artists, by artists, for more follow @ala_art
The list has now been viewed over 1,000 times even prior to me writing this post and embedding the list
That’s it. That’s Pre-eventing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Why don’t you try pre-eventing the next event you attend.
Image Credit : JdHancock via Flickr.com and Creative Commons
Nick is co-founder the social curation platform Listly, that combines crowdsourcing, content curation and embedable lists to drive high-level community engagement, live inside your blog posts. Connect with Nick on Twitter · Linkedin, Facebook and G+ and follow his writing via his other guest posts and on his blogs at NickKellet.com and blog.list.ly
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