Blog World, the Secret to Great Networking & Who I Connected With

by Britt Michaelian

(me and @carlayoung of MOMeo Magazine)

Have you ever been to a business event and networked so hard… you lost your ability to speak?

That was me over the past few days. (My voice is still crackling from all that blabbing… days later!)

The event I attended was Blog World New Media Expo (#bwe10) in Las Vegas. There are many reasons to attend these events. You can meet, shake hands and connect with up and coming authors, techies and bloggers. You can listen to panels of experts talk about how they have achieved great results with their blogs. You can hear about emerging trends and see where your business fits into all of these movements. To put it simply, you can really learn a lot and put that info to good use in growing your biz.

However, despite picking up a few key nuggets, my intention for attending Blog World was single minded… I wanted to network.

Business cards in hand, I set out to meet high profile bloggers and make strategic connections. This is something that every business owner must do… attend in person networking events. It isn’t always easy to walk into a room full of people you don’t know and start talking, but it is definitely necessary to grow your business. The key is to talk to people about what they do (not what you do) and to talk about how you can help them to grow THEIR business (Which of course will work in your favor).

One big secret to making the most of your networking: Go to events like this with a friend who is a super networker! It’s all about the TEAM. Now, I have no problem in the networking department. I can keep up with the best of them… But some people are just a cut above the rest when it comes to making small talk and getting results in the connections department and those are the people you want to partner up with at events like this.

My good friend and networking GODDESS, Alicia Dunams is a client of mine and she was also my book coach for Secrets of the Safety Goddess. Alicia is one of those people who is not afraid to walk up, shake hands and strike up a conversation with just about anyone – no matter how “important” they are. So, we were quite a team in Vegas!

Now, it’s time to send follow up correspondence to all of these amazing people. So, I have my work cut out for me and you will too when you return from your next event. Just in case you are curious, I want to give you a glimpse into a few of the people Alicia and I connected with so you can get an idea of the types of connections that you can make at these types of events. (if you have any ideas for how to partner up with these people, feel free to leave it in the comments! I’d love to hear YOUR ideas!)

Keep in mind that the majority of attendees to Blog Wold are male, but the opportunities for joint ventures are limitless – even for a mompreneur! If you would like an introduction to any of these people, let me know and I would be happy to introduce you!

Alicia Dunams: http://aliciadunams.com

Larry Benet: http://www.larrybenet.com/

Deb Micek: http://www.quansite.com

Scott Ginsberg: http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/

Lewis Howes: http://lewishowes.com

Chris Garret: http://www.chrisg.com/blog/

Warren Whitlock: http://warrenwhitlock.com/

Tammy Lynn Gilmore: http://www.thebitsource.com/tech-conferences/sxsw-interactive-history-tammy-lynn-gilmore/

Laura Roeder: http://www.lauraroeder.com/

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein: http://elizabethpw.com

Carla Young: http://momeomagazine.com

Sarah Robinson: http://escaping-mediocrity.com