Comments for 101 Networking Nuggets Blog http://101networkingnuggets.com 101 Networking Nuggets - by Inspiration Agents Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:00:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 Comment on Do you know how to POTLUCK Network? It can change your networking NOW! by Glen http://101networkingnuggets.com/2007/08/22/do-you-know-how-to-potluck-network-it-can-change-your-networking-now/#comment-2 Glen Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:44:50 +0000 http://101networkingnuggets.com/2007/08/22/do-you-know-how-to-potluck-network-it-can-change-your-networking-now/#comment-2 The Pot Luck works very well indeed! Begin with all attendees introducing themselves in 30-60 second elevator speeches. While the introductions are being made, staff can be pair up folks by drawing business cards collected when the attendees arrive. It's best to have a spreadsheet or list of all attendees to make it easy to draw for the number of rounds (we do four rounds) all at once. If you have an uneven number, one group will have a three-way one on one. After all have introduced themselves, the program leader announces the pairings for the first group. Make sure that you do the first round slowly and that everyone understands who they are paired with before you move on to announce the next pairing. Encourage the pairs to move to an area where they can talk without having to compete with neighbors (yes it's a good idea to have a big room). Give them two minutes to give detailed information about themselves and their company, followed by one minute for questions, and then two minutes for their partner and one minute for questions, finally followed by one minute to "wrap it up". If you have a threesome, it's best if you pair two from the same company together each time since they will be sharing essentially the same information. If you don't have two from the same company, use a staff person to be the extra. Each pairing lasts about 8 minutes. We do four pairings which works out to be about 40 minutes, plus the one minute elevator speeches and instruction - the whole program lasts about an hour and a half. Great responses from the attendees. The last thing is to let them meet someone they didn't meet but wanted to. The Pot Luck works very well indeed! Begin with all attendees introducing themselves in 30-60 second elevator speeches. While the introductions are being made, staff can be pair up folks by drawing business cards collected when the attendees arrive. It’s best to have a spreadsheet or list of all attendees to make it easy to draw for the number of rounds (we do four rounds) all at once. If you have an uneven number, one group will have a three-way one on one.

After all have introduced themselves, the program leader announces the pairings for the first group. Make sure that you do the first round slowly and that everyone understands who they are paired with before you move on to announce the next pairing. Encourage the pairs to move to an area where they can talk without having to compete with neighbors (yes it’s a good idea to have a big room). Give them two minutes to give detailed information about themselves and their company, followed by one minute for questions, and then two minutes for their partner and one minute for questions, finally followed by one minute to “wrap it up”. If you have a threesome, it’s best if you pair two from the same company together each time since they will be sharing essentially the same information. If you don’t have two from the same company, use a staff person to be the extra. Each pairing lasts about 8 minutes. We do four pairings which works out to be about 40 minutes, plus the one minute elevator speeches and instruction - the whole program lasts about an hour and a half. Great responses from the attendees. The last thing is to let them meet someone they didn’t meet but wanted to.

]]>