Watercooler: Matt's Three Networking Laws

Lot of great comments on my Incubator post. Too late tonight to consolidate, but will definitely do so and respond this weekend. I am coming back late from the Tech Cocktails event tonight which was a roaring success. Great job to Eric Olson (of FeedBurner fame) and Frank Gruber. I think many of us expected 25-50 people to show up at this first tech outing. There had to have been over 200 people from every possible kind of tech firm ranging from Fortune 1000 to start-up.

One of the things that people going to the Valley always comment about is the number of spontaneous but applicable networking events and dinners that go on out there. This has been missing in the Midwest and other regions. There was a lot of discussion and energy at this event. However, most of these events fall flat. So why?...what makes for a useful and sustainable networking event (or series). Here are Matt's Three Laws for Networking Events:

1) Symmetrical Benefits: the event needs to provide symmetrical benefits for everyone attending. People like to attend events where they get as much out of it as they give. Too often, events are set up to attract a couple of Lobsters (key influencers/players) and a large number of aspiring attendees. The Lobsters get little out of the event other than a lot of email the next day requesting favors. Whether it is an event for CEO's, managers or Indians, people attending should generally be at the same station in life and able to give as well as take.

2) Common Foundation: people need to be coming from a common experience base and have common issues and interests. Putting people focused on Nanotechnology in the same room as software programmers may make for interesting conversation, but there will be limited takeaway gained by either party. It is also easier for people to talk to others who are interested or dealing with the same matters. Service providers, though I love them and need them dearly on our deals, do not qualify usually.

3) No Dilution: no, I am not talking about the drinks! The people at the event need to be active participants in the common arena. Looking at the % of lawyers or service providers at an event is one quick way to assess how likely an event is succeed. Lot of lawyers, little chance. Also, the more people at the event who are playing at the national level and dealing with key players, the higher the level of interaction will be. Having an event with a number of entrepreneurs will be better than a mixer with a lot of recently graduated MBA's.

These events can take many forms including small dinners, hackathons, cocktail mixers or sponsored events. Dinners work well for the uber-Lobsters; hackathons and events work well for the rank & file. The key is to let a thousand networking flowers bloom. We need more informal events like this for different levels. The next big event will be the Bar Camp next weekend run by Jason Rexilius. It is a Hackathon imported from out west, targeted at hard core techies from the Perl, Python, PHP, and Ruby communities. It kicks off the morning of the 15th and continues through the evening of the 16th. They have 60 attendees and 25 maybes already.

Start planting those flowers early and often. Let's see more informal dinner get togethers and ad hoc cocktails (bring a techie friend).

What do you all think makes for a useful, value-added networking event?

Comments

[Eric Olson]

Hey Matt,

Thanks again for coming and for your support of TECH cocktail! Frank and I definitely appreciate it. I like your three laws a lot and we will be taking those to heart as we look to plan TECH cocktail 2.

We also hope that TECH cocktail will spark more events throughout Chicago and the midwest and really jump start the tech scene.

[Rick Stratton]

Brad Spirrison said there were few service providers and a great group of actual tech company/startup folks. This is promising for Chitown.

Any flashbacks to the old days for you, Matt? Did you, at any time, think you were at a Founders/FirstTuesday/BigFrontier/LOLA event?

Over/under on when the organizers put together a business plan for TECHcocktail? 2 months? 4?

[mbmccall]

Great job Eric! Looking forward to future ones.

The one big difference between this event (and the upcoming BarCamp) is that they fall into the organic "unconference" category. That is to say that they are formed, run and structured by the community itself. They are not put on by third party organizers but rather by people just like the attendees. BarCamp actually pulls its topics from suggestions from the attendees and has them lead the discussions. It is a meeting amongst peers.

Let's hope for no business plans!!!

[David Dalka]

Matt,

You make great points in this post! It would be great for some of the groups you've alluded to (though not by name in a classy way) to learn from this and adapt.

But that is not my focus. I want to change the dynamic and shine a bright light on the talent and leadership Chicago can provide here. I look forward to working with Eric, Frank and others on these issues to engage the world in solving real problems.

Phone calls are welcome, the contact information is on my blog.

[Jonathan Andrew Wolter]

Chicago is seeing alot of activity this summer in the tech and entrepreneurship space. For instance Jimbo Whales of Wikipedia is having a local meetup in a few weeks, as well as nextChicago (a new tech mingling event). These and more are on Techsocial.com, if anyone is interested.