Tips to make the most of your Meetup networking

I’m an organizer for the WordPressKC Meetup Group and attend lots of other Meetup Groups. Over time I see so many missing opportunities of ways to make it easier for others to learn more about you AFTER the meetup or etiquette mishaps.

So here is a list of my top tips and reasoning behind them:

• Make sure to have your Meetup profile filled out:
  You do this by going to https://www.meetup.com/account/.
  • Have a close up photo of your face on your profile.
    After the event, Meetup sends out an email asking you to “Stay in touch with the people you met” with an easy one click button to say “Good to see you”.  People remember faces way better then names, so if you have a photo that is far away, with multiple people or your business logo, this makes it hard for someone to connect your face with your name and remember you.
  • Have your first and last name listed.
    With many common first names it really important to put your full name including full last name and not initial, nickname or business name. Some Meetup groups take attendance so it also makes it harder for the organizers (ME!) to match the name they wrote down for you.
  • Fill out the bio and intro.
    Meetup gives you the option to have a ‘Bio’ for your whole Meetup account and a “Profile” for each of the groups you are in. This is an easy way to let people learn more about you and you can tailor it based on the focus of that group. What you have on there can jog someones memory to what you offer and this shows on the full member list.
  • Have a link to your website.
    Make sure to have “http://” not just “www.” in front of the domain so its clickable on mobile devices. Unfortunately its not clickable on the computer but at least there its easier to copy and paste. You can see how I’ve done it on My Bio and my WordPressKC Profile.
  • Connect the buttons to Facebook and Twitter.
    Just another way to make it easier for others to connect with you without having to figure out which ‘Jane/John Smith’ you are.
  • Make sure your location is current.
    I’ve seen people that are many states away from a prior move, or just Kansas City when they are really from Overland Park.
• Updated your RSVP if you aren’t coming.
  If you aren’t going to be able to come to an event that you RSVPed for, make sure to change it to “Can’t Go”.  This helps organizers plan for seating. When there is a limited amount of seats and we cap it at say 30 people, anyone else gets put on a wait list. But once we’re at the event only 15 people show up. We call it the rule of 1/3 or 1/2. It keeps other people from coming.
  • If you are bringing a friend, make sure to +1. Then there are the record breaking times that 18 RSVP and 25 show up including guests. It’s hard to cram that many in a room booked.
  • Going back to that “Good to see you” button, if you didn’t go, you add more faces for people to have to filter through to see the ones that ACTUALLY came.
• Have lots of business cards.
  Yes, this can be debatable in a growing eco-friendly world and just one more then to manage, but I still feel its very good to have. The business card makes it easy to do raffles and for others to remember who they met. You can also use business card service like https://www.camcard.com or https://thehaystackapp.com to take pictures of the card then hand back to the owner. Here is mine: Haystack.
  • I personally always have my photo on my business card (see it here) so that it connects my face to my name and makes me much more memorable (if the purple obsession isn’t enough LOL).

• Bring a notebook and as people introduce themselves, write down their names and note what they do.
  I write down the name in the order people are seated and it there is a business card exchange, I keep the cards in that order too.
• When you introduce yourself, make sure to say your full name slowly and clearly.
  When I’m writing down names, its easy for me to miss a name (someone might cough or I’m distracted).
• Get a magnetic name tag that you place on your upper shoulder, so people can see it while sitting.
  I’ve created one that is a 3″ x 4″ printable and slides into a vinyl holder that I can also put an extra business card behind it to have on me at all times if I left my purse or phone across the room. There are also places like www.blingnamebadges.net that you can order just ONE not 10 or 100.

So there’s my tips. Let me know what you think in the comments or if you have any that I missed.