Recently I had the great pleasure of interviewing Richard Saul Wurman; Founder of the  TED Conferences and creator of the WWW Conference.  As one of the most innovative people in the meetings industry he’s changed the face of the conference world during the last two and a half decades.  He had some great advice to share about REAL innovation (and what isn’t innovation).  Below is the first video interview (of 4) and some tips for you about creating the 4 kinds of innovation according to Wurman.

 (To choose which of the 4 videos to watch directly on YouTube click here)

Here’s the first video (“What Innovation ISN’T”) of the 4-part series:

Most people think “innovation” is just a better version of something; this isn’t really the case.  Here are…

The 4 Kinds of Innovation

1. Addition
2. Subtraction
3. Filling a need
4. Finding something in the land called zero

Addition: Putting Together What Already Exists

The “invention” of the car came as a result of the invention of many things from engines to wheels.  The car wasn’t invented as one moving piece; someone put all the pieces together (then Henry Ford created the assembly line to put things together more efficiently) and we had…the car.

With meetings, conferences and trade shows many this type innovation is just a better version of something.  Adding a new type of professional speaker or speaking session, adding a networking portion and such.    You could add a structured networking event or structured networking portion to your event.

What could you add to your next event that isn’t there already?

Subtraction: Taking Away The Things You Don’t Need

Taking things away can also help you create a more unique event.  When Wurman created the TED Conference he started with subtraction.  He took away: panel discussions, dress codes, long speeches and even the podium (amongst other things).

If you want to get more creative with events be sure to think about what you don’t need; don’t have a string of keynote speakers “just because you’re supposed to”.  You could take away the keynote format and replace them with interactive conversations.  You could take away the happy hour.

What can you take away from your next event to make it more memorable?

Filling A Need

There are inherent needs for meetings and conferences; for example:

• Your attendees, sponsors and everyone involved with events and conferences has a need to put together more meetings and business deals.
• People have a need to “press the flesh” and meet in person – online interactions aren’t enough.

This is where addition and subtraction might come back into the conversation; you have to be aware of the needs of your audience.  If you want to be innovative you’ll find interesting and exciting ways to fill their needs that they can’t get at every other event that is vying for their attention.

What are the most important needs of your audience – and how can you fulfill those needs?

Finding Something In The Land Called Zero

This is a tougher form of innovation to jump into.  People are risk averse and naturally fear failure so they just create a better (or different) version of what already exists.  As Richard points out “Nobody wanted the Post-It Note; Nobody wanted instant photography…but they happened”.

How can you begin to navigate this nebulous area of innovation?

Look for gaps. Wurman gives a great example of “a gap”.  Consider air travel.  There’s coach class, business class and first class.  Then think of a private jet.  There’s a huge gap and no amount of “class” in a section of an airplane will be the same as a private jet.  That created a great market for a very niche (and influential) set of travelers by discovering that gap.

What gaps can you find for your audiences?  Where are the voids that you can begin to focus on?

Hopefully this post gives you a few new ideas, insights and great questions to ask yourself (and then answer) that will help you become more innovative regardless of the types of small meetings or extravagant conferences you’re involved with.

What will YOU do differently next time?

“If someone’s going to tell us what the future is – it’s already here…”

- Richard Saul Wurman

When someone does something nice for you, solves your problem, makes an introduction or otherwise helps you out how do you feel?

More importantly: How do you respond?

I’m going to guess your response is something like this: “Thank you!  How can I help you?”

Why Wait?

Unfortunately many of us wait until someone helps us to reach out to help them; we stay stuck in a reactionary position.

We all have things we have to get done, checklists that need to be crossed off and goals that need to be achieved.  We’re all facing some kind of problem or challenge no matter how small or how big.  We all need help from time to time.  If that’s true: Why wait to help other people?  The best way to get help is to give help first.  Think about it…

What if you reached out to just one person each day and asked them “How can I help you?”.  A better way to zero in on exactly what they need would be to ask: “What are you working on today?  Who could help you with that project or what resources do you need?”

Sit back and listen.

Then offer to help connect them to someone that can either 1) solve their problem or 2) help create an opportunity for them.

When You Give Help You Get Help

When you start doing this each day – watch what happens to your life and your challenges.

People will probably respond by asking you something like this: “Thank you!  How can I help you?”

By reaching out to help others solve their problems an an amazing thing happens: People actively reach out to help you solve your problems and find ways to create amazing opportunities for you.  It creates a circle of solutions and gratitude.

Give it a try – who can YOU help today?

Today I spoke with Jonny Imerman (founder of Imerman Angels) to prepare for an upcoming event that we’re speaking at together at in Chicago (“Social Media For Social Good”).  And a really interesting point came up: How many cause marketing campaigns focus FIRST on the benefit to the for-profit company with the non-profit (the cause) coming second or third?  How can you avoid the campaigns that will hurt your cause and focus on the ones that will help your cause?

Putting The “Marketing” Before The “Cause”

I have a LOT of companies ask me to connect them to nonprofits for cause marketing and social good campaigns.  Some of them are great connections.  Some of them just don’t make sense.

What many of these companies want is for the nonprofit to send an email to their (the nonprofit’s) supporters/mailing list and:

• Ask them to change energy companies – the nonprofit will get 10% of sales
• Ask them to come to our restaurant – the nonprofit will get $10 for every $75 spent
• Ask them to buy our services – they’ll give the nonprofit 15% of each referral that closes a sale
• And on.  And on.  And on.

On the surface, they’re giving to a charity.  Dig a little deeper and look at the reality: Companies that utilize tactics like those above are asking the charity to (first) sell to the charity’s supporters.  Then they’re giving a little bit of money back.  They’re marketing their for-profit products and services to a nonprofit audience…

Think about it:

• If YOU sign up for a mailing list to support leadership for at-risk youth – do you want advertisements about your energy bill?
• If YOU sign up to help fight Cancer – did you ask for coupons to restaurants?

Think about the nonprofits also: If they are approached by 5 companies a month – that means they would be potentially mailing their list 5 times a month about random offers.  That’s a great way to lose supporters and potential donors.  Fast.

Yes, this is a polarized viewpoint because I’m making a point…

Real Cause Marketing Means The CAUSE comes before the MARKETING

“Marketing” isn’t “Sales” – they’re closely related but they’re not the same thing.  “Marketing” is about raising awareness about a company hoping that people will take action (often this means buying a product or service).  SO: “Cause Marketing” is about raising awareness about a cause and then connecting your company to the cause (look at which word comes first in there).  When done the right way: Yes, this will lead to more business for the for profit company.  That company just needs to start with the right intentions…

Instead of the company asking the nonprofit to do the marketing, the company should pick a cause – and then integrate that cause into their (the for-profit’s) marketing.

Think about it:

• If YOU sign up for a mailing list as part of your energy bill – would you like to know you’re supporting leadership opportunities for at-risk youth also?  When that happens – will you refer them more business and talk about them helping a nonprofit?
• If YOU sign up for your favorite restaurant’s mailing list – would you like to know your helping to fight Cancer by going there?  When that happens – will you go to that restaurant more often and tell your friends to go there?

What’s Next?

For-Profit Companies: If you want to create a successful cause marketing campaign, put the charity first.  Tell your list about the charity, raise awareness for the charity and make connections for the charity.  Your clients and potential clients will appreciate your company more.

Non-Profits: If you want to be part of a successful cause marketing campaign – put your cause first.  Make sure that the company partnering with you is raising awareness and gaining new business by helping you first.

What nonprofit will you reach out to today?

What cause marketing campaigns are YOU a fan of?

Have you ever played the role of “Monday Morning Quarterback” as an event planner or organizer?  You take part in an event and after the event is over you have great ideas about how it could have been better.  Great ideas that come after an event won’t change the past.  And if attendees, sponsors and exhibitors had a bad experience they probably won’t be coming to your next event.  What if you could have those great ideas about building a better event BEFORE your event takes place?

How can you prevent the “woulda-coulda-shoulda” trap of conferences, trade shows and other events?

In part II of my interview with NY Times Bestselling author Carol Roth (the full blog post is below the video interview); she shares some great insights about building an event the RIGHT way and getting your community involved before any marketing starts  (follow Carol on Twitter here).

(Click here to view the video on YouTube)

Before You Start Marketing Start Listening

Before you start marketing your event you need to build an event that your target audience wants in the first place!  That makes the marketing much easier (learn more about this in my previous post “Marketing Your Event: Social Media Is NOT A Megaphone”).  Social media is a popular marketing tool but often over-looked as a planning tool.

An easy way to get started is with passive listening: Go where your audience is online.  Watch them on Twitter (set up searches in Hootsuite, monitor hash tags, make lists of industry influencers).  Visit Facebook fan pages and groups. Watch & listen.  They’ll tell you what they want in their conversations.  Want to build a really successful event?  Then you have to take it a step further because…

Guessing Is A Bad Business Model For Event Planning

The best marketing strategy in the world will fail if you’re marketing the wrong product to the wrong people.  Yet many events are completely planned without ever asking the (potential) attendees, sponsors and exhibitors what THEY would like to experience at the event.  Kind of backwards…

SO…

Don’t guess, ASK.  This is when you move beyond passive listening to  active listening: Don’t wait for conversations to happen, start the conversations yourself.  Ask questions on Twitter.  Ask questions on Facebook.  Start LinkedIn discussions.  Ask things like:

• “Who are your favorite speakers about (insert your topic here, like leadership)?”
• “What are your biggest challenges with (insert your topic here, like social media)?”
• “What are your favorite resources for event marketing?”
• “As a sponsor, what was the most valuable event you were part of – and why?”

They’ll tell you how to build a successful event that they’ll be glad to pay to be a part of.  In fact, when you build an event the right way your audience stays engaged longer because…

A Great Party Doesn’t Have To End

When you go to a great event (social or professional) and meet great people – do you want to run out the door as soon as it ends or stay afterwards and talk to people?  That’s what the after-party is for – and why almost every event has one.

Here’s are the 3 steps to building and event the right way and continuing the conversations long after the event:

• LISTEN:  Find out ahead of time what people want.
• ASK:  Actively participate in conversations.
• INVOLVE: Give your community what they want and give them opportunities to get involved (by speaking, volunteering and more).  You can have volunteers run your social media for you.  Set expectations that the conversations will continue and tell them where the after party is (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, etc).

Don’t take my word for it.  Want to see this in action?  Check out SOBCon: Successful Online Business Conference. Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker have created an insanely successful event where the conversations never stop and they’re always listening to their community.  Just look at their hash tag on Twitter – it’s active year round.

What conferences or events have you attended that had great communities?

What tips can you share for building a successful event?

Do you ever get tired or over-saturated with email newsletters – even the ones you actually want to read (and especially those email newsletters that you DIDN’T sign up for)?

Me too… SO:

Recently I decided to clear my primary email addresses of any and ALL newsletters, marketing updates, etc.  Those inboxes are now only for personal correspondence from real people. BUT I still want to get helpful information and updates so I discovered a simple way to do just that.  Hopefully this will help you too…

Clearing The Way To A Clean Inbox

Set up a gmail account with a username like (your name here)newsletters@gmail.com. Use that for all your newsletter registrations, services you have (internet, phone, etc) and for any special offers you get from shopping, updates from membership sites and anything else that you don’t deem important enough to HAVE to read the second it comes in. Log in to that account once a day or once a week.  Then watch your inbox clear up and enjoy the ride…

Knowing (Who To Avoid) Is Half The Battle

You’ll get another benefit from this.  Once in place, since all your newsletters only go to your special gmail account you’ll know: Who “That Guy” is after you meet him at a networking event.  You know, the one that thinks everyone that gives him a business card MUST want to be added (unsolicited) to his company’s mailing list.  (Personally: I’m keeping an Outlook folder where I save these messages under what NOT to do).  You’ll immediately recognize That Guy’s email because it will be sent to the wrong email address – your personal/professional inbox – and not your newsletter gmail account.  Delete “That Guy’s” email (if you’re not interested) and permanently unsubscribe from his company’s mailing list.  Who needs more spam?

The Right People Know What To Do

I recently met Nan, who I’m speaking with at an upcoming event in Chicago.  After meeting me in person and talking on Twitter she sent the following email:

“Carter:

Do you mind if I add you to my mail distribution list?  I am not an abuser I promise!

Let me know.

Hope all is well.

Nan”

My response: YES she can add me to her mailing list!  And I’ll actually be reading her updates now.  The people that “get it” will reach out to you the right way.  The ones that don’t… Well…

How do YOU avoid annoying emails and the people that send them?

Have any fun stories?

Do you ever use social media to market your networking events, conferences or tradeshows?

Have you ever had the experience of someone marketing their event to YOU – the wrong way with social media?

Some great points about this came up during a recent conversation with Carol Roth (see the video interview below); who has great insights from both helping spread the word about events and from the other side of the table as a NY Times Bestselling Author & speaker (follow Carol on Twitter here).  Social media can be a great tool; but when it comes to marketing you don’t want to just dive in and and start tweeting, messaging, posting on Facebook or LinkedIn without a method to your madness.

(Click here to view the video on YouTube)

Before You Go Online

Take a step back and ask yourself: What are your over-arching goals?  When you’re planning an event these could be to attract more exhibitors, bring on more sponsors, get more attendees to sign up for your event or maybe a combination of all three and more.  The common thread: They’re all about making your meeting successful for everyone involved.  Your social media strategy needs to be a reflection of this.

While social media can be a great way to create these conversations it is only ONE of the tools in your marketing tool box; it’s not the “end-all-be-all” and it’s not an avenue to quick sales. Remember…

Please Don’t SHOUT: Social Media Shouldn’t Be Used As A Megaphone

“Blasting” blatant sales messages through any and all social media channels is the wrong way to go.  Think about it: If you’ve ever seen someone on Twitter just spam their followers with 10 tweets in a row all about the same event or a Facebook page administrator send an invite EVERY day to the same event: How did that make you feel about them/their event?  Probably annoyed.  Remember – social media starts with the word “social”.  It’s not about having a megaphone and shouting to anyone and everyone around you.  It is about:

• Clearly defining who you want to market your event to AND where they are online
• Creating a dialogue with your sponsors, attendees and their friends
• Helping to facilitate engagement between everyone involved and
• Building a community.

Here are a few ways to kick start that community before the event even takes place…

Creating A Community That Will Market Your Event With You

Create a community around your event.  People are more likely to attend if their friends are involved in planning the event or will be attending the event.  Let them get to know each other before, during AND after the event.  Here’s a few things that should help:

• Save your valuable time.  You don’t have to be everywhere.  Go where your audience is; if they primarily use Facebook – focus there.  If they’re tweeting a lot, talk to them on Twitter.  If they read trade blogs – add those into your marketing mix.
• Create a Twitter or Facebook chat beforehand.  Have a moderator create a conversation on Twitter; give people a specific time & date – then help them have a conversation.  Have people ask questions on your Facebook page that moderators and speakers can answer at your event.
• Take it a step further.  Look at who’s participating in the event and then actively make connections for them:  Send a message (via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or email) saying something like “Hello Tina and John – you two should know each other because (insert a good reason here) – hope you can connect at (the name of your event)!”

Carol shares even more advice in the video above during part I of our interview for the Chicago Chapter of Meeting Professionals International.  She’ll let you know what NOT to do when you market your event and give some great tips along the way…

What tips do YOU have to share about marketing events, conferences and meetings?

Have you have encountered “That Guy” at a networking event or networking meeting?

You know the one…

“That Guy” was one of my first tough networking lessons in Chicago.  There’s a financial firm downtown that teaches its sales reps EVERYONE is a potential client – whether they know it or not.  Get a meeting, push the product then push some more.  Unfortunately I didn’t know this when accepting invitations to networking lunches with people from this firm.

My first encounter went something like this: The rep invited me to meet for coffee to look into networking “synergies”.  During the first 5 minutes of sitting down the sales pitch started. I told him politely I’m not in the market for his products but I’d love to look into other referral opportunities and ways to help each other out.  He must not have heard me.  After another 30 minutes of the product pitch the meeting was (thankfully) over.

Then he asked: “Did you find this meeting helpful?”  I tried to be nice and said “Sure”.

His response: “Great.  Can I have the names of 5 of your friends or family members to call to tell them about my services?”

I just met him.  I didn’t know him, his business or have any experience with his company.  I didn’t need or want what he was aggressively selling. Yet… He wanted access to my trusted relationships…

UGH!

REVERSE NETWORKING AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

No, everyone is NOT a potential client.  For any product or service.  BUT:

A LOT of people could be referral sources for your products or services even if they’re not clients or potential clients.   I wasn’t a good fit for that sales rep’s services but I did (and still do) know a lot of people that might be.  However I won’t unleash “That Guy” on my friends and family.   When someone decides that every meeting is (only) a sales meeting they miss out on a lot of referral opportunities and potentially valuable business relationships.

The important part about getting quality referrals: You need to earn someone’s trust and respect before asking them to open up their database.  You have to build relationships, and that takes time (sometimes it’s a day, sometimes it’s years.  It’s entirely up to the other person).

Networking is building business relationships.  “Reverse Networking” is burning business relationship bridges.  How can you avoid this?

DON’T ASK FOR WHAT YOU HAVEN’T EARNED

Sometimes you just “click” with people when you meet them; other relationships develop slowly over time.  There’s no way to force trust; you have to earn it.

Here’s a simple way to build a business relationship when there’s not an immediate opportunity to do business together (but you think you can do business together in the future):

1. Ask them how you can help THEM.  Who do they need to know?  What problems are they facing that you can solve?  What opportunities are they trying to create?
2. Help them!  Make a connection for them.  You don’t have to open your “golden rolodex” right away; you can introduce them to a networking group, business organization that can help them with leads or a potential mentor to guide them.
3. Repeat

This will help build trust or what I call “Emotional Equity”.  You’re “walking the walk” when it comes to business networking by investing time in a relationship and building the foundation for great referral opportunities.  You’re earning their trust and respect.

Have you ever met “That Guy”?  How did that go?

Who can you build emotional equity with TODAY?

What relationship(s) can you invest a little time in today that will help everyone involved grow their business in the future?

Whether you’re responsible for a $15,000+ speaker budget or finding a speaker to volunteer; the end result is the same for a meeting planner, organization, corporation or sponsor: the speaker can make or break your event.

Here are the two most common pitfalls when choosing a speaker:  Many people pick a speaker primarily 1) based on their resume or job title:  “A nice resume with a list of accomplishments or a great title must mean he’ll be a hit at my event…” or 2) a referral from a friend: “If Joe says this speaker is great, she must be…”

There are a few steps that need to be considered BEFORE picking a speaker, before asking a friend and before writing the marketing copy for your event.

THE EVENT & CREATING YOUR “TARGET”:

You have to know your event and the criteria for a successful event BEFORE even thinking about a speaker.  Who is your target audience?  What specific, niche subject matter do they need to hear at your event to make it a success?  There’s a big difference between an audience of executives that need industry information and an audience of sales people that need motivation.

Create specific event objectives – if you’re planning an event for someone else create objectives with that client.  These will create a “target” for you.  If you don’t know what you’re aiming for you can’t hit the target.

At this point it’s NOT “I need a speaker.”  It’s finishing the sentence “I need a speaker that (your target audience) will love to hear because the speaker will (accomplish specific goals/give that audience specific results)” Let’s look at how to match those goals and results up with a great speaker…

THE SPEAKER & HITTING YOUR “TARGET”:

Once you have your criteria mapped out you can start the search for a speaker.  Remember this isn’t a black & white judgment call of a “good or bad speaker” but rather: Is this the right speaker for YOUR event?

A high-powered, amazing motivational speaker will thrive in that sales meeting but probably won’t hit the target of an industry briefing for high level executives going through a merger.  A speech from the most powerful CEO in the country about climbing the corporate ladder will probably miss the mark with entrepreneurs.  It’s not bad; it’s just not a good fit.

Once you have your target consider these “litmus tests”.  A great speaker:

• Knows the difference between a “book report” and presenting information relevant to your event attendees.  A great speaker inspires, informs and entertains with audience-specific stories and strategies.
• Knows ½ the audience wants intellectual information and ½ the audience wants emotional (funny, thoughtful, heartfelt) stories.  A great speaker delivers both.
• Works hard as his or her craft.  Ask potential speakers what kind of training (speaking, improv, media training, etc) they have taken – and how recently that training was.

As an event planner your last event is how many people will judge your performance (or at least what they’ll remember most) – don’t leave your speaker to chance or just “a feeling” that they’ll be good.  Invest some time, use the strategies outlined here and create a successful event for everyone involved.  Then go out and book more events.

What makes the successful ones successful?  What makes the failures flop?

The simple answer: Successful events change lives.  Failed events were created without a clear, value driven purpose.

WHICH EVENT WILL YOU GO TO?

There’s money in events, we all know that.   Unfortunately, money is the driving force behind many events.  Other unique marketing messages and value propositions for events often aren’t the focus point.  Let’s get into the meat of this – which event would YOU want to go to?  Which event would YOU support?

1. “Hello (your name), I’m holding an event to make money.  Will you be there?  Will you tell your friends?”
2. “Hello (your name), I’m holding an event to (help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and meet other entrepreneurs / help nonprofits connect with passionate volunteers / help college students find mentors / help local professionals make meaningful connections to grow their businesses and have fun)  you get the idea…

Which is more appealing?

CHANGING LIVES…WITH EVENTS?

No, I’m not talking about earth-shattering, light-shining-down-from-the-sky “life changing” moments.  “Changing Lives” simply means that something in a person’s life changes for the better because they attend your event.  Here are three examples: Your event helped make a connection for them; your event solved a problem for them or your event created an opportunity for them.

Focusing on those 3 criteria when creating events can change the way you think about your events – which will change they way you design your events.  How are you facilitating one or more of those things in EVERY event you create?  What activities are you building into your events to guarantee one (or, go crazy and do all three) will happen for your attendees?

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE INTENTIONS MEETING THE ACTIONS

Just to put it out there: If an event is wildly successful the person or company organizing it should make money.  A lot of well deserved money.  What we’re going to look at is how to make that (money) happen.

YOUR INGREDIENTS:

1. Honesty & Integrity: This starts with YOU.  Find a purpose for the event.
2. Clarity & Transparency: Share your purpose with others – if you have a powerful purpose there’s no “sugar coating” needed.
3. Over-The-Top-Value: Give more than expected before, during AND after the event.

YOUR RESULTS:

1. Support & Help Designing The Event: Great minds think alike – people that believe in your purpose will believe in your event – and go out of their way to make it happen.
2. Marketing The Event: People will rally behind a cause and tell their friends verbally, in emails, on social media and more.
3. Sustained Success:  With the right support, creative help and people marketing your events you can achieve ongoing success AND a great reputation to go along with it.

Remember: Just like beauty, “success is in the eye of the beholder”.  Just because you fill a room with a bunch of people each month or each quarter doesn’t mean they are walking away with value and telling their friends that they love your events.  Create an event with purpose, give attendees something new (and useful) to walk away with and repeat.  You’ll enjoy more success with your events and so will everyone involved.

While I recognized a person or two there were a few people I didn’t know – some lived in Chicago (where I live), some worked in similar industries, others I didn’t recognize at all.

NONE of them included a personal message or introduction.

?

Sending a friend request on LinkedIn or Facebook WITHOUT a personal introduction is like walking into a networking event, passing your business card out to every person in the room and hoping they call you back (without giving them a reason to).  Would you do that?

Here’s how you can help THEM connect with YOU…

IF YOU HAVE MET THE PERSON BEFORE

A simple reminder is always helpful and makes you stand out in their mind.  It takes less than 30 seconds to type something like;

“Hello ___________, we met at (this event, this meeting, etc).  We talked about __________. Thought it would be helpful to connect here on (Facebook/LinkedIn) to stay in touch for networking.”

Of course, if you have a more specific reason to connect – something you’ve talked about at length with that person – remind them!

IF YOU HAVEN’T MET IN PERSON – BUT HAVE A GOOD REASON TO CONNECT

One of the great things about Facebook and LinkedIn is the fact that you have the opportunity to meet new people – everyday.  This can (of course) include potential clients and referral sources; but should also include possible collaborators, mentors, power partners and like-minded people in your field of work or interest.

Let’s say you work in or are passionate about the nonprofit arena and search a social network for people who mention “nonprofit” in their profile.  Reach out – and let them know WHY they should connect with you.  Again, in less than 30 seconds you can say something like:

“Hello _________, I came across your profile and noticed that you work with nonprofits.  I’d like to connect because (I own a nonprofit/I also work with nonprofits/I want to volunteer/etc).”

NOTE: Sometimes Facebook just automatically sends the “friend request” without giving you the option to add a personal message.  If that happens – send that person a message separately with a personal introduction explaining why you sent the friend request.

WARNING:  Transparency and honesty are KEY when it comes to connecting.

• DON’T just say “I’d like to network with you…” (What does that actually mean?  Do you want to sell them something?  Do you want to work for them?  Do you want to talk about referrals?).
• DON’T hide your intentions – if you think that person would be a good client for you – tell them that.  If you just want to learn more about their industry and have an idea exchange – tell them that.
• DO be specific about WHY you want to connect.
• DO be brief in your personal introduction.  They’ll respond if they want to know more.

Who are you going to reach out to TODAY online – and how are you going to introduce yourself to them?