CT TweetCrawl: Networking Without the Eye Rolling
How many networking events have you attended, with favorable anticipation in hand, only to leave with a headache from perpetual eye rolling?
I have attended every type of event, from BNI to Chamber and stale chicken dinner conferences to small industry-focused happy hours. Some of them have been fantastic but most of them, I find, fall flat. The reasons vary but I find that there is one common theme among most of them: the people.
If you attend events with the same people within the same region, event after event, you will get stale. It doesn’t matter how cool the people are, if you don’t mix it up with people who you wouldn’t normally run into in your usual geographical footprint, prepare for the eye rolling.
Fathom wants to change that, at least for our Connecticut comrades (for now – maybe we’ll go big scale some day). A few months ago we started CT TweetCrawl. Every few weeks we take CT TweetCrawl to a new spot in Connecticut for happy hour. So far, we’ve been to Hartford, Farmington and New Haven. Next up is Fairfield, Middletown, South Windsor and ____. 
Sometimes we do workshops on Twitter or other social networking tools, sometimes we have contests like our “Extreme Avatar Make-Over” contest at Agave in Hartford but mostly we throw a bunch of people who normally wouldn’t stumble onto each other in a room together and see what happens.
Here are some of happenings during the event last night at Foster’s in New Haven:
- Fathom decided to buy a gift certificate to Foster’s to raffle off and then Rob Griffin from WitLinx decided he’d do the same. Cool!
- One of our clients, Cellular Chloe, from Wireless Zone, joined us and got to know one of her favorite radio personalities, Bruce Barber.
- My pal Seshu was just nearly not going to attend but I convinced him because I wanted to introduce him to Chris Velardi of local news station Channel 8/WTNH. Chris was very interested in his “Faces & Phases: The Kids of Connecticut” charity project to benefit the CT Children’s Medical Center and they are now talking about booking him for his weekend show on WTNH!
- New CT TweetCrawler Tracie Valentino met Ed Kuryluk and found out they are neighbors. The two also found out that they have similar biz interests as well.
- Small biz consultant Tia Martinson joined us for the first time and found her talking to other small business owners, versus other consultants that she’d find at other events – what a concept!
- We had about 15 new people at this event, with folks coming from Fairfield all the way down from Farmington!
- Best of all, it was fun. People were relaxed. Foster’s gave us drink specials and a beautiful spread of food, from pumpkin fried ravioli to escargot, that never seemed to end. I saw people talking to each other that normally never would’ve never crossed paths. I saw business cards exchanging and lots of “let’s connect on Twitter and Facebook” chats.
Here’s my advice for producing an event that people will create a relaxed but engaging atmosphere – and, honestly, it just doesn’t take much:
1) Have it at an up-and-coming restaurant that understands how important it is to have people from different regions in their place, enjoying themselves
2) Make sure the food is good and the drink specials are special
3) Don’t overdo it with “stuff” – no ceremony, no big speeches – just let people be
4) Promote the event on Facebook or some other site where people can RSVP so everyone can see who else will be there and you will get to know them before they walk in the door
5) Be a hostess (or host) – invite people in, explain the kicked-back nature of the event, and start introducing them to people – make them comfortable
6) Let s&%* happen. Check in on conversations and make sure everyone is having a good time and find out if there are any ideas for making the event better – and then make it happen DURING the event (if possible)
7) Twitter about the event, during the event – then follow up the very next day with photos (ALWAYS take photos) by posting them on your site or FB and talking about the event. The event is never over when people go home – keep the momentum going the next day so that your next event is that much easier to garner a crowd of faithful followers.
So, what’s next for CT TweetCrawl? We have no idea and we like it like that. We will be doing more events for sure. So far our fans are having a great time and making connections they normally wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make. And, there hasn’t been a single eye roll (well, as far as I know).
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Posted by:
Suzi Craig
Email the author:
suzi@fathom.net
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i see some “Changers” having fun at a CT Tweet Crawl.
Kids, mark my words, this will be a big scene in the not-too-distant future. Buckle up, and enjoy the ride!
Suzy,
Thanks to you (and Brent, and Foster’s) for an amazing evening. Great people, delicious food, and thirst-quenching mojitos.
Can’t wait for the next “leg”!
B.
I mean Suzi!
This was the event that really turned the corner for CT TweetCrawl. Only up from here!
Thanks to everyone who joined us – you really made the event! Dave’s cooking and the tasty mojitos didn’t hurt.
Hey Suzie,
looks like you are making it happen with the TweetCrawl. I know some spots in Manchester if you need to hold an event
see you soon….
Ramm
Suzi, I’m kind of ashamed to say that its taken me up until a few years ago to realize people are truly interesting. If you don’t take the time to hear someone’s story, you might miss out on some thing great. Whether its simply a feel good story, or it winds up with you both saying, “What a small world” or a maybe a business opportunity. So Thank you Suzi and Brent and Fathom for taking me out of my element to meet and enjoy some complelling people!