A big part of any conference or corporate event is networking – meeting other people in your industry so that you can learn from each other and maybe help each other in a variety of ways. The setting of a good Phuket meeting hotel certainly helps the process of building connections, but it’s really on the individual to make things happen. Here are a few tips to consider attending your next big event.

 

Bring business cards

Sounds obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget. More importantly, bring plenty, particularly for big conferences with large numbers of attendees. The last thing you want to happen is that you meet a very important potential client, partner or mentor, only to find that given your last card away.

 

 

Do some research

You obviously know your industry well, but it never hurts to do a little check before you show up at the Phuket meeting hotel. Who are the keynote speakers and what have they worked on in the past? What topics are being discussed in the conference and how do they impact you? What are the most recent trends in your industry? Who has said they will attend the meeting on social media and are they a potentially important contact? A little bit of preparation to answer some of these questions could increase your networking effectiveness.

 

Listen to people

Remember that networking is a two-way street. You’re not just there to convince everyone around you of how amazing you are – this is not a sales pitch. You are there to expand your network of colleagues and friends. That means listening as well as speaking. There is always room to learn new things, even if you’re one of the top people in your industry. The person you talk to at a conference may have some unique insight you never considered, but you have to give them the opportunity to share it.

 

 

Be interested

You can’t fake curiosity, so this is more a point of choosing which events and conferences you attend. Time spent at a Phuket meeting hotel where the interests of the speakers and potential contacts are completely different to yours is time wasted.

 

Be you

Building a business network is exactly the same as building a network of friends and, in both cases, the most important thing is to be yourself. Your comfort and confidence will show and people will see you as more approachable. Furthermore, the contacts you make will be of higher value and more likely to help you out or become a client.