Amazing People You Can Meet at Networking Events

Get ready, it’s the holidays. There will be shopping, holiday parties, and more parties, and friends coming to town, and relatives who are having parties, and on and on.

Rather than figuring out who to avoid, as this article mentions, 6 ridiculous types of people you’ll meet at networking events, how about being on the lookout for some fabulous folks to meet and talk to instead? Take five minutes to plan ahead and choose three of these type of folks to get to know.

Here are six types of people to meet at your next event:

1. The Connector: This person knows many of the event attendees and is happy to introduce you to them.

2. The Listener: I’m not saying lay your “Dear Abby” woes on this person, however, they do listen well and ask great questions. Learn from them.

3.The Storyteller: This person shares amazing, funny, and interesting stories. They can hold you spellbound and often are surrounded by a group. A great way to get to know more people at once. When The Storyteller takes a break, you get to meet the audience. And then move on to the next group.

4. The Historian: This is one experienced person who knows the background of the event and the inside scoop on key people and event happenings. If you haven’t made a plan BEFORE attending the event, this person always has a schedule handy (a la conference mode) or a recommendation and you can determine your next move, speaker to see or person to meet.

5. The Master: This person is not always the host. A VP I worked with was a true master at being a gracious networker. I recently saw him at a wedding – he’s still the master. This is a person who can meet with nearly every person at a gathering, know his or her name, say a positive word and all in under two minutes. And, when he moves on to the next person, the person left behind feels GREAT. I often hear things like, “Hey did you see Tom?”

“Sure did. Do you know he asked me about my son’s football game?”

“Really? He asked me about my book.”

COOL is the mutual response. And the positive mojo keeps on going.

6. The Rememberer: (If you come up with a better name, SHARE!) This is the person who has amazing follow through. She takes a note or two on the back of your business card, then, miraculously, does what she said she would do! And, later, when you are now connected, she sends you a congratulatory note or quick DM or birthday card. And you feel great because you were remembered.

My grandma was truly amazing and gifted at this. She would remember all of our birthdays, our close friends’ birthdays, her coworkers birthdays, their kids’ events and special days, always sending a card with a thoughtful, handwritten note inside… She worked at a hospital and would also send kind little notes up with the dinner trays.

I learned from the best. And you can too at your next event or holiday gathering.

Have you got a type of person you’d like to meet at your next event? Do share.

Want more networking tips? Check out, “Rock Your Network®.” Good luck! I look forward to hearing your stories.

PS: Tip of the hat to my friend Joan who sent me the link to the “Six Types” post.

8 thoughts on “Amazing People You Can Meet at Networking Events

  1. Ridiculous – “Selfless” Self Promoter – This person finds ways to connect with someone on one of many different platforms. He/She has 100’s or 1000’s of connections from all over. The first message you get from this person is about how excited they are to connect and network with you. But, after that it always seems like you’re getting automated message centered around self promotion and not about networking.

    Great – Mr. Followup – This person you see around a couple of different social platforms and they always share original content that drives conversation. Following conversation, you can always expect this person to reply and followup. This is is an online networker you want to get to know. Want to get introduced to someone they know? You can bet that you’ll get a followup message and most likely and introduction.

    Those are two I can think of!

    • Nice work Reed! Hmmm, I don’t think the first one is “selfless” if he or she is continually self-promoting, eh? We should call it what it is and go with “Self-Promoter” and I agree! Spot on with Mr. or Ms. Follow-up! 🙂

      Thanks for your contribution!

      • “Selfless” only in the sense that your first impression of them is selfless. Upon further interaction, you find out it is actually the opposite. Hopefully you don’t experience too many of those, but I’ve had a couple. But I see how that could be confusing! It has been fun commenting!

      • The Connector and Storyteller! I’m gearing up for the the real world upon graduation in May and looking to connect online or at events, these people look like they know how to help. Now this is crazy, but I think a list could even be created for the 6 (ridiculous and great) networkers that you meet ONLINE. Woah, content curation!

      • You are on a roll! I think we’ve got another post with that comment. Online is a terrific addition. How about you start? What’s one great one and one ridiculous one?

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