Having a powerful event mobile app along with a well-designed networking dynamic will help you deliver a valuable experience to your guests. Apart from that, you’ll encourage your attendees to interact more and actually find people who can bring them real value. How can this happen? We’ll discuss it in this article.
Clear parameters, agency, and autonomy: This is what your guests need for a satisfying networking experience.
Clear parameters refer to a specific face-to-face interaction framework. And I’m not talking about setting up a cool event bar and hoping that people will talk to each other while waiting for their cocktails.
This is a legit networking “setup” that can be fruitful, but it will only work if your attendees have previously interacted with each other.
Obviously, this makes things easier, since they know that they have one goal—to network—yet it doesn’t ensure the quality of their interactions.
What I’m referring to is designing a networking activity that will allow your guests to meet one-on-one with other attendees and talk for a short period of time.
Agency, meanwhile, is all about inviting people to take action in deciding which people they want to meet during the event and send meeting requests for one-on-one interaction.
Finally, autonomy refers to the ease with each an attendee can navigate their networking experience without having to rely on your indications. This also means giving your guests full control over the connections they’ll be making during the event.
How can you ensure all these elements?
First, you must be willing to ditch the idea of using coffee breaks as networking dynamics and go for one-on-one meetings between your attendees (aka B2B matchmaking).
And second, you must be willing to use a powerful event mobile app that will provide your guests with the infrastructure they need to navigate their networking experience with confidence.
Here’s how it works:
Step #1. Help people articulate their agendas and goals
Normally, you register your attendees through a form. You have to get their names, email addresses, and other critical information. But in addition to asking them to complete the registration form, you’ll also have to prepare a networking form for them to fill out.
What’s a networking form?
Compared to a simple registration form, a networking form focuses exclusively on what your attendees are looking for or have to offer during their interactions with other guests.
To make this form as efficient as possible, you’ll have to formulate the questions according to your networking profiles.
But before that, you must assign the options “I’m looking for” or “I’m offering” to each profile.
If your networking profiles are “Investors” and “Startups,” you’d enable the “I’m offering” option for entrepreneurs or startup representatives, while activating the “I’m looking for” option for business angels and VCs.
You’ll also need to think of a series of questions for each profile.
For example, the networking form could include questions or information requests for startups such as, “Describe your products or services,” “Add your pitch presentation,” “What is the investment amount you need?” “Describe your business model,” etc.
Step #2. Match the offer and the demand
By using the right B2B matchmaking tools, you can ask your guests to specify their networking preferences and interests when they register for the event.
By enabling the “I’m offering” and “I’m looking for” modes, along with the answers to the questions you asked, you’ll help them correctly articulate their networking goals.
Having this information, you can create different attendee profiles and segment your audience into groups. Subsequently, you can decide which group profiles are compatible, which lets people from one group request meetings with people from other groups.
Step #3. Give your attendees the opportunity to choose and take action
Once you set up the networking parameters (meeting requests and durations), you can invite people to connect through the event mobile app, add their credentials, and visualize the list of guests alongside with the “meeting request” button.
When people are on the app, they can scroll through the list of people and see whom they’d like to meet.
Note that the system, knowing what their profile and networking preferences are, will display only those attendees who are the best match for them. Subsequently, people can take action and request, accept, or even meetings.
Step #4. Provide a networking navigation tool
Once everyone has engaged in the process or requested and accepted different meetings with people of interest, you can display their agendas on your event mobile app.
When attending the event, your attendees will need to check their app each time they move on to a new meeting. This lets them know exactly when, where, and whom they’ll be meeting next. This simple networking “navigation tool” gives them full control over their experience.
Networking with confidence
Most of the time, networking is one of the most feared moments at events. This happens because people have no idea whom they’ll meet, how they’ll interact, and how meaningful these conversations will be.
By changing the format and going for a B2B matchmaking dynamic, you’ll make sure to connect the offer and demand. Moreover, you’ll need an event mobile app to guide your guests through the networking experience without stressing them out.
