This subject has come up a lot over the last few years as we have all gotten to know ourselves more and more. I am writing this article as a retrospective for myself on how I handled needing to “up my game” at several industry events this year. If you are an introvert like me, this article will help you prepare to be more effective at events. If you are an extrovert by nature, I hope it helps bring some focus to how you can prepare for and then follow up after events. And if you are an ambivert—quit showing off! 

Aren’t we tired of hearing how hard it is for introverts to be out and about in the world again? Some had a good thing going during lockdown. They were able to spend time in their homes, hopefully surrounded by the people, animals and things they love and have allowed into their lives. I was still out and about during COVID and remember lamenting to a friend about how I would be so good at a lockdown, and I really felt like I was missing an opportunity! Of course, this was said tongue in cheek, as I am so thankful to work in an industry that was able to stay open and service clients during that challenging time. 

I am an introvert; I prefer quieter settings with folks I know very well and can have direct conversations with. At a larger gathering I will happily talk with one person all night, as if we are the only two people there! But this year, I was lucky enough to land a new job that requires me to be more social, more out and about and frankly, more in tune with a lot more people than I have been in the past.  

As I knew that I would be going to more industry events, I decided I needed to get myself prepared in a way that only an introvert can—by giving myself assignments and tasks to complete for events. 

I immediately reached out to Jim Ryerson at SalesOctane. He had been the keynote speaker for RIA’s International Restoration Convention & Industry Expo in 2023, where he had been asked to focus on networking. As a result of our conversation, Jim and I spent a lot of time talking about “know before you go.” 

There’s nothing I’m going to share here that is groundbreaking and really, the advice is coming mostly from Jim, as my advice for networking events might just be, “Bleh, stay home!” If you like these suggestions and want to dive deeper, salesoctane.com has some great content you can take a look at. 

For networking events to be a success, the key is always preparation, so you need some goals. Here are the goals I set for my events this year.

• Introduce two people to someone else I know at the event.
• Meet two new people myself.
• Interact with at least half of the vendors exhibiting.
• Identify two people I could help in some way.
• Schedule follow-ups within a week of my return.  

These are pretty basic, but as a task-minded person, they also have a lot of layers. How do I just walk up and meet someone? What do I say to finish a conversation without feeling awkward? What do I say when I follow up; I just talked to them! 

Peopling is hard. 

There are so many ways to capture and share information now. Business cards, digital business cards and contact sharing tools on our phones like NameDrop on Apple. Of course, I wanted to be confident in what I was doing, so I brought business cards and practiced NameDrop with friends and family ahead of time. Getting my own digital business card may be my first action to work on for this year’s events! 

Here is another tool I found to help myself along. We use Outlook at my company, so in the “To Do” area I was able to set up a list of people I knew I wanted to meet. I was then able to easily add notes after I had chatted with them. When the event was over, I had my list of follow-ups ready. 

Here are the actions I took with the folks I spoke with:

• Added them into our CRM (if they weren’t already there). 
• Recorded my interaction with them.
• Sent them an email based on what we talked about.
• Connected with them on LinkedIn. 

This process usually led to having a follow-up call within about three weeks of the event. 

I know enough about myself to know that directly after an event, I need some quiet time. As much as I’d like to think that I will use my flights back home to crush all my follow-ups and notes, I actually need that time to read, listen to something or just sit and stare out the window. Knowing this, I blocked off an hour of time during my first week back in the office to get my follow-ups done.  

For those of you extroverts who hung in here with me through this article—thank you for taking a moment to understand how some of us struggle through what you all do so naturally. But I think the framework I built for myself around having goals and then setting aside time for follow-ups can work just as well for your social brains! I know you get joy from all the people time but making sure you are focusing on the right people and continuing those relationships will be key for you!  

I am certainly not an expert on these topics, but I also know I am not alone in having to really work at staying connected during events. I am lucky to work in an industry where events are attended by a warm and welcoming crowd, and I am now someone who gets to help pay that forward. See you at the next show!