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Last month I finally realized most networking events are just speed dating for your wallet
I went to this big Phoenix Chamber mixer downtown about 3 weeks ago. Paid $35 to get in, shook maybe 40 hands, collected 15 business cards. Got home and realized nobody actually listened to what I do. They just handed me their card and moved on to the next person. I spent the whole next week following up and got maybe 2 real conversations out of it. Has anyone else noticed that the smaller meetups with like 12 people actually lead to more work?
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tarag2823d ago
Oh man, this hits way too close to home. I went to one of those big downtown mixers last fall and literally walked out with a stack of fancy business cards and zero clue what any of those people actually did. It felt like we were all just playing a game of passing each other off. The small meetups are where the real stuff happens, I swear. I joined a local group that caps at 15 people and we actually talk about problems and solutions instead of just swapping LinkedIn handles. Way less exhausting too, and way more likely to turn into actual paid work.
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betty_palmer23d ago
The capped groups are where it's at. I had the same experience at a huge conference once, felt like I was just handing out business cards to people who would probably toss them in a drawer the second they got home. You walk away from those big things tired and know nothing more than you did before, just a handshake and a fake smile. But a small group of 10 or 15 people, everyone actually has to contribute or you just sit there in awkward silence. It forces real conversation about the hard stuff, like how you're actually pricing your work or dealing with a tough client. That's how you build trust and get referrals, not from a stack of cards that end up in the trash.
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