Actividades: Relational cocktails, brunch, parties, speed dating adapted to business… The possibility to get in touch with other professionals and to broaden one’s network is an excellent claim to encourage people to attend an event, especially in the business context. In the same way, professional associations (see article in “Apuntes” in eventos Magazine 10) offer networking opportunities as a key value. Based on the survey on the Market eventoplus 2007, there is an increasing demand of this type of event. You can see the main feature article in eventos Magazine 10). Here are some different formats of networking events: Festive atmosphere A relaxed atmosphere gets attendees out of the traditional working atmosphere of meetings and promotes social and professional networking in a different surrounding. Dedicate the first two hours to a cocktail with ambience background music (a key element for a relaxed atmosphere) to allow people to chat comfortably. Afterwards, turn the music up and offer drinks and turn the event into a party. Use activities to encourage people to interact. When people attend an event on their own they usually need a bit of encouragement to start talking to other attendees (especially in a festive atmosphere). As the host, make sure you make the effort to introduce the attendees to each other and then you can leave them to interact. Relational breakfast or brunch Invite professionals in the same sector to debate on a subject of interest during a breakfast or brunch. Preferably small groups (20 people maximum) to ensure conversation will be fluid and everyone has the opportunity to give their point of view. The goal is to bring professionals together (give them the opportunity to meet with other colleagues), and to share their opinions and insights on various subjects or themes, so that the conclusions of the debate can also be of help in their respective works. A double benefit for socially network and professional knowledge. Mini-exhibition On its own or as part of an event, an exhibition brings together professionals in the same sector who can showcase their service or product to other professionals, as well as interact and establish business relations. A good way of doing B2B networking and promote conversations around one’s product. Interaction in the open air In the open air or organise a sport as part of the event program. Golf is, for example, a good relational sport; another option is a regatta, which can be combined with a gala dinner and will help attendants to feel closer to each other the emotions of the day. You can also plan a pre-event meeting where teams can meet up before the D-day to already start getting to know fellow team members or even to discuss the strategy of the activity such as a war game, get trained together for an Olympics game, etc. Speed dating Speed dating originated from the blind date concept. It is a great way to meet other professionals, especially if you have a hectic schedule. “Speed dating” events are exactly what they sound like; they speed up the professional relationship process. Or rather, the initial process to determine if you want to invest more time in a company and see if there is a compatibility with your company’s interest. The traditional system used in this kind of event is five minutes interaction time in each table and then the attendant goes to another table to talk to another person. In this kind of format it is better to know what the attendants expect before hand, what they are interested in so that they can get into the context of the meeting directly. Also, attendants know beforetime who will be there, and what kind of business profile they will be meeting. Group activities Networking events can also be held among employees in the same company, especially among those from different departments where staff does not have many relational opportunities to interact among themselves (apart from Christmas parties or summer farewell, and many times, employees in the same department tend to stick together). It is not only about having a good time all together but to interact in order to share insights, opinions, doubts, etc. related to others activities, and to improve the general work ambience. You can use traditional activities such as getting attendants to find “their other half”, organise people from different departments into teams for a gymkhana, treasure or scavenger hunt ... Another option is gastronomy activities such as wine tasting or cooking classes for employees from different departments. Organisation of the event A networking event also needs of creativity in the initial communication and in the invitation to capture the attention of attendees from the beginning; provide guests with all the necessary information on the event (such as who will be attending, the programme of the event). It is important to prepare an interesting list of activities for the event keeping in mind the main goal of the event (and possibly the reason why guests will want to attend the event) and promoting networking as much as possible. Post-event follow-up A networking event is a good excuse to make post-event follow up, not only to measure the impact of the event but to offer attendees the possibility to keep in touch after the event. Organise forums for debate on various subjects of interest for the group, or create a blog to keep promoting business relations established by guests at the event and invite other professionals or experts on subjects to publish their posts so that they all can publish their own commentaries… Promote the continuity of the event: choose one day a year and have the group meet again and continue to strengthen social and business ties.