 Ready if you are I am ready. Yes Welcome to the road to go West Canada's event for event professionals I'm your host Alex Plaxton and today I'm talking with site selection specialist Lee Ann Calderwood Who is going to be at go West 2020 for the third time this year, which is crazy And I'm very excited because today we're talking about Networking tips and tricks and things that you can do to better network for the events Thanks for having me Alex. Glad to be here The first question I kind of had is, you know having attended last year By myself, I'm the only person in my company going for those who were going solo What are some tips networking opportunities that they should take advantage of? Yeah, you know, there's a lot of us who attend solo and I think it's a Misnomer that all of us in the meetings industry are extroverts and can meet people easily But for us introverts Alex and for some other people out there These shows can be quite daunting So a few things that people can do to kind of gear up for the show is to engage with The audience via social media before even showing up in January So taking a look at the Twitter and LinkedIn hashtag of hashtag go West 2020 looking at the Twitter feed and seeing who's engaging there and Starting to almost meet virtually some of those people before you meet them in a large room It almost creates an icebreaker of sorts and you can make connections Almost right away when you do that now go West also has a ton of great Smaller networking opportunities that I really encourage introverts to take part in on Sunday There's quite a few smaller events leading up to the larger reception on the Sunday night As well Monday night and Tuesday night have some smaller more intimate Receptions that people can go to so that introverts can connect more quickly and not be overwhelmed by the large groups of peoples Yeah, I mean, I know that you and I met online first Before we ever met in person and so it's it's funny because when you meet online and then you meet in person It's like give me a look. I feel like I know you It's so true It's so true and I think introverts really need to leverage social media for that very reason is it does create a persona that you can connect with right away when you meet in person and That saves you having to find those awkward Conversation starters. You've already got something to talk about and something to connect on Well, I think the other side of that also is a lot of the speakers and a lot of the attendees are so active on Social media that you do have that opportunity to try and network with them before you're ever on site Exactly and go west did a really good job of outlining who all of those speakers are so again for introverts Who want to connect with some of those speakers are influencers before the event? It's all online at go west live comm so I encourage introverts to go over there and See who's who in the zoo so that when you walk in the room and you see that person You've already got a conversation starter and it takes people away from those Conversation starters of hey, where did you get in now? You've got something more meaty and more conversational to talk about Yeah, for sure and for those who maybe aren't so social media savvy What are some things that you can do face-to-face to kind of make it to network on your own terms? It's taken me quite a few years to to I guess develop that skill myself But the big one is the conversation starters if you haven't met online I know we all default when we go to these events by saying hey, when did you get in and I'll be honest after the 10th or 12th time of hearing that it just becomes kind of old So I encourage introverts to find questions that just dig a little bit deeper So for example, maybe turning that hey, when did you get in question to hey? Were you able to arrive early and enjoy the destination or did you see anything in your travels today that you really? Thought was cool or what are you looking forward to this week the most at go west or what speaker? are you hoping to meet when you're here and the biggest piece of advice I think I have for introverts is Being introverted does not mean we're not confident so walking into a room and you know head held high shoulders back Being a confident person and being approachable will help break the ice So much easier than walking in and being the wallflower on the wall We can't avoid these networking receptions. They're at our events. It's what we do for a living But if you approach them as a confident person versus being an introvert or extrovert You'll find people are being drawn to you and of course that helps break the ice as well That's true, you know, and I think go west is also unique in the way that They do a lot of their programming too They have a lot of open space for you to kind of pull up to a corner and just meet with one or two people and not have To be inundated with a million people all at once any last tips before we go for You know if you're networking and you're going to go west. What what is something that you can prepare for? Yeah, you know, I think going online and looking at the schedule and maybe the list of attendees Once the mobile app is out is probably the best way to identify some people that you want to meet so that you can create Networking with intention and create those questions in advance Even reach out to them in advance to see if they have time to meet with you before the larger receptions So now you can actually walk into a reception Almost arm-in-arm with someone that you already know and you can play off of each other's strengths when meeting others in the room Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the road to go west today For those of you at home, please join the conversation online using the hashtag road to go west Tell us how you're preparing for road to go west give your networking tips and for more information on go west 2020 Please go to go west live comm we will see you back here next week