5 Networking Tips for Women Entrepreneurs
Are you looking for a practical way to grow your network of people who can improve your professional and personal life? Do you want to meet new and interesting individuals? Networking could be an easy solution to your problem. While many events help entrepreneurs broaden their horizons, not all of them are suitable for women professionals. So, why not throw your own event! With just a few simple tips and steps, you can create a successful networking event for women entrepreneurs that will allow every woman attending to feel welcome and safe. Here’s how to do it:
Promote your event
If you want to have a successful event, you need to advertise it in order to attract a good crowd. It’s best to set up a page on Facebook or Instagram and allow people easy registration. Today, you can easily create social media ads that will hit only your target audience without damaging your budget too much. You can also turn to LinkedIn as well as various professional forums, groups, industry press and websites to promote your event. If you have some special guests in mind, a personal invitation is a must.
Find a good venue
You might be tempted to opt for a small and cheap venue, but if you have a good budget to spread around, it’s best to opt for something better. An interesting venue has a better pulling power that will result in more people coming to your event. You can find excellent venues all over the world, especially in bigger urban centers like New York, London or Melbourne. And don’t forget about catering. People usually feel relaxed and chatty around food and you will also eliminate any uncomfortable stomach-growling situations. If you need a good caterer, click here for catering at Hawthorn and see what they offer. Your guests will certainly be pleased with the offer and honored to be a part of your event.
Ask questions
The goal of your networking event is for people to actually network and talk to each other, so make sure to be the one to start by greeting every attendee and chatting with them. Ask a few light questions and help them identify others who might be a good match for them. You can also ask people to note down anything of interest in their registration form so that you can create good matches quickly.
Women are naturally good at building connections by asking questions and engaging in conversation. So, use your natural skills to engage with people, especially when it comes to their careers. If you’re not a great talker, you can just get the who, the what and the why and make your interactions less personal at the beginning.
Mingle for the win
In order to get the best of your event, it’s best to keep your interactions brief and chat with as many women as you can. Your goal is to collect as many business cards as you can. If you wish, you can even make it a game and compete for business cards with your friend (winner gets lunch).
Make sure to follow up
All those business cards you collect are just the start. If you want to develop cooperation with someone or just get to know her better, follow up with a phone call and connect with them on social media. Make sure to get to that follow-up step as soon as you can to show interest. However, you aren’t building a life-long business partnership or friendship just because you called. Follow-ups allow you to keep the doors open, so take the pressure off. If both of you are interested, you can make your contacts stronger and develop various sorts of relationships in the future.
Big networking events work well for new faces and women who are a little nervous to have all the attention aimed at them. The attention will be on other people, so you can relax, talk to individuals and build a good network of people who can help your business or get help from you.