Hi, I'm Dani Tan and if you are here, you are in the right place. I have to be 100% real. I have tried to record this session so many times and the tech is just teching. So if you're listening to this or you're watching this and you're like, okay, the sound or something is off, send me a DM on LinkedIn please and let me know because I want to make sure that I am delivering the utmost best quality that I can to all of you while still providing information and knowledge. So I'm going to go ahead and kick this off. So today I'm going to dive into how to network at a conference or event. So really how to network in person in general. So before we dive in, in case we haven't met yet, I'm Danny Tan.

I'm a speaker and leadership coach. My background is on so many different things. So my background has been pr, sales, merchandising, e commerce, you name it. I pivoted careers five times, all getting 11 promotions in 11 years. I went from a sample coordinator to a VP at a multibillion dollar company. I had so much fun with my corporate career throughout it. I always was looking to help people when it came to their careers and their leadership as well as when I volunteer outside of work, it's with America Needs you helping. It's a nonprofit that helps first gen college students get internships. So very much in alignment when it comes to career and leadership development. It's totally my jam.

And my clients range from aspiring leaders. So maybe they're individual contributors and they're looking to break into leadership. Or maybe they are just total leaders and now they're trying to really own that leadership position as a management role are executives. So I have folks who are either stepping up and taking over companies. I have people who are VPs or presidents of their companies and they're looking to really refine what it is when it comes to being a leader for their teams, for themselves. And so that's the other piece and the next and the last piece, which is one of my favorites and I have, my heart is super close to it, is entrepreneurs. So entrepreneurs who are either in corporate, who are working on their side business or have left corporate and are now fully in entrepreneurship.

So I love helping this range because the end of the day, even though they may be at different stages of their careers, they all have the same thing in common. They're trying to make a big impact on either their team, their industry, or just the world in general. The Women that I work with care so so much about their impact and for change and for growth and for innovation, that that is the common thread across all of them. They do not settle. They are type A, they are planners, they care, they work extremely hard, they are relentless, and they are bold. And so that's one of the things I love about coaching. So enough about me and all of that. Let's dive into it. So even if you are my client and you are bold, relentless, hardworking, all of the things.

My favorite catchphrase, it does not matter. Networking can feel really weird and uncomfortable at times, especially in person. So I typically talk about networking when it comes to making a pivot in your career or exploring a new career or even just to build relationships to explore what that next step would be in your company. But the thing that I haven't talked a lot about, which has been coming up in coaching and I've been getting questions on, is how do I prepare for this, you know, conference? How do I maximize this conference, or how do I maximize this event that I'm going to, that's going to have leaders there that I'm excited to talk to? So I'm going to break down some of the coaching that I've provided to my clients to see if it hopefully helps you.

So this is what I would say. The first thing I always say when a client comes in, like, how do I prepare for this conference? Is, what is the conference? Do your research. Answer to research the conference, look at their website and see what are the talks that you're most excited to attend and who are the speakers. And I always say, make a short list of the talks that you want to attend. Make a short list of the speakers that you'd either want to meet or go and witness and watch in the audience. And then sometimes these conferences will also have a list of attendees. So look at the list of attendees and see who you know, sparks your interest as someone that you'd want to talk to for, whether it's their background, whether it's their company, whether it's.

Whatever it may be, go ahead and make that short list. So for my conference folks, that is your upfront work that's not to be done. Like when you're at the conference, like, I'm not shaving you if you do. But the big thing is, is the more homework you do upfront or the more upfront work that you do, I see folks kind of start to ease in, like, where the anxiety or the stress might have been high, they start to be like, Okay, I feel a little bit more confident because I have a plan going in, especially if you're like a research homework early. Like, this will help ease it a little bit. So look at your list for the panels you want to go to, the speakers you want to talk to, as well as the people who are attending that you want to potentially meet.

Then what I want you to do is go ahead and start to prioritize what would be the most important ones that you want to go to. We always have the best intentions. Going into a conference where we're like, I'm going to go to all of these events, I'm going to speak to all these people. And then you get there and you're exhausted and you're tired and you couldn't make this one thing and you had to jump to this other thing. So I always say, like, make a plan. Like make your A, your A plan and the B plan. So go ahead and like shoot for the stars, but then go ahead and select, okay, what is actually going to be workable and doable for me? What do I want to make sure I attended and did not miss? The other upfront work that you can do is if there are certain speakers or attendees that you'd want to meet.

You can connect with them prior to the conference on like, LinkedIn or if the app has a messenger and just message them and say, hey, I see you're attending the same conference as me. Love it. I'd love to just chat with you and then insert what it is that you're excited to talk to them about. Because we don't want a billion messages saying, oh, I'm just excited to talk to you because we're going to the same conference. Be specific. Look and see what it is that you're excited about. Is it their background? Is it where they work, Is it their job? And go ahead and share that, because this is the thing. I say this all the time, but I really mean it. Only network with intention. Network with people that you truly are excited to talk to.

Don't do it just for the sake of networking. Do it because you want to build relationships. Networking is not cute when it's not with the intention of trying to actually build a relationship with someone and actually have connection with them. That's why people make. Make it a seem or feel like it's icky because they feel like it's like this exchange that is not equal or that you're asking for something. If you truly are excited about the person, then it's going to be okay, so that's what I will say there. So that's your pre work going into it now you have a little bit of foundation of maybe you've met people before the event, maybe you've connected them before the event. You have your game plan for the event and if you're able to connect with people before, you can make a plan to meet with them when you're there.

Because once you're in real time at the conference or the event, it can be trickier so to try to schedule a time to meet. So sometimes it's easier to do it in advance. So that's what I would say there when it comes to a conference. The other, the post part. So once you have. Sorry, let's talk about during, during the conference, when you're there, when you go to panels that you're excited about or you see speakers that you're excited about, don't just like peace out and run out after they speak. This is the part where you're going to be really bold. Pause. You will walk up to the speaker from that event or the presenter and just tell them, introduce yourself and say that you loved what they spoke on.

Insert something that you actually were excited about. Because believe it or not, not a lot of people go up after. Sometimes there's a short line, sometimes there's no line. But the best way to really just share that you were excited about the person speaking or that you liked one piece that they shared is to go up there and tell them. And trust me, it, it means a lot as someone who has been a speaker and as someone who has done it for other speakers. It's a great way to build a relationship and to meet with someone and just to connect with them and also just to share insights. So I think that's something that's really great too. If for some reason you had to like run to another event and you couldn't do that after, send a follow up, send a connection on LinkedIn, send a message and say, oh my gosh, I loved this piece that you shared because it's good to just give that feedback back and start to practice building those relationships.

And so that's the piece that I would recommend. The other piece I'd recommend is if you're at a conference and you are meeting with people, figure out what is the best way for you to stay connected. Post the event. Don't just say, hey, it's really great. I hope I see you again soon. Figure out. Do you want to connect over email? Do you want to connect over LinkedIn and keep that relationship building and going. So it's not like a one time thing, it can go ahead and build on for the future. So that is like you're in your real time event. So post the event, you can still follow up like I mentioned and connect with people that maybe you didn't get to connect with during the event or before the event.

It's, it's not over. So I think those things are really great. And if you're like really want an added, an added bonus. What some of my clients do, and I do this as well, is just do a little post of a recap of how the event was, what were your takeaways, what did you learn and just share that because when you do that it opens it up for folks to be like, oh, okay, so and so is at this event, look at what they took away from it. And it also gives you another opportunity and chance to just create connection and engage with folks who have similar interests to you. So that's what I say for a conference or just a one off event of what is the best way to really build relationships and network. The other thing I would say is if you are nervous about going by yourself, see if you can bring a buddy with you, see if you have a friend that's going, see if there's somebody you can reach out to.

So you have a plan in place. And the thing that I will say from when it comes to like the, the what's the right way to say it? Like the comfort plan that I always recommend is know yourself, right? So when you're going to a networking event or you're going to a conference, know what you need to feel good. And here are some examples. So if you know that you're going to get drained for eight to nine hours of meeting with people, then don't meet for eight to nine hours. You can still build relationships, build connections and do it for a shorter period of time. So here are some examples I have recommended in the past. Hey, maybe you don't have to go to every single, you know, happy hour or dinner that they have.

Pick certain days that you maybe want to go to dinner by yourself, go to breakfast by yourself, or take a break in your room and take a nap. That's okay. It's better for you to show up in alignment with how much your energy, how much energy you have than for you to completely exhaust yourself and burn out over it. Because then you're going to like brand that this experience is terrible for you, go forward. So try to Experiment and see what you need, whether it is taking a walk outside, having a break, set up so you can take a nap, going to get lunch on your own, and figure out what your energy needs for that. I also always recommend a way to decompress from these events. So when the event's over, don't just go full blast back into your day to day.

Figure out, okay, do I need a day that I'm just going to decompress and it's going to be like a PJs and sushi day? Is it going to be a day that I'm going to go hiking and be in nature? Like, what do you need post the event to really recharge so you're not like still running on all this energy of like trying to meet all these people. And then yes, your follow ups can always come. But I think that's the part that's crucial is making sure that you're making it work. Yes, there are moments you're going to step out and be a little bold, but also you want to listen to yourself and figure out what are the times that you need to just rest and listen to yourself and recharge. And you can still always reconnect and go back in.

So as usual, I hope you found this helpful and if you did, go ahead, leave me a comment, leave me a dm, whatever it may be, you know where to find me and I hope to talk to you soon. If you are somebody who's like, wait a minute, some of these tips helped me and I do want to have a networking strategy or a relationship building strategy that will help me, whether it is in your leadership position, whether it is for entrepreneurship and you're kind of like, how do I get to figure out what that's like and to work with me. com d a n I t a n dot com and you can go on there and you can look how to book a call with me, how to look at my more episodes of my podcast, look at all of my email newsletters and connect with me there.

And I always say explore, do your research, make sure you feel comfortable and then book a call with me and we can talk about what it's like to work together one on one. I also have the second round of my group coming up for next year, so go ahead and just find some time and we can talk about it. But I do think that step one is just being comfortable and seeing what it is that you like or you're interested in, and then we can take it from there. But I will see you again next week, and thank you so much.