By Matt Anderson
Great Lakes Bureau Chief
(Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky)
The best networkers start their own groups and often get the biggest rewards. Katie Felten is doing that with her free monthly LinkedIn Live networking events in
Like most successful ideas, it started from sensing a need in the marketplace. “Back in 2004 I was one of those people who would accept invitations to LinkedIn and would then do nothing. By 2006 I started getting more curious about it and looking for authors on the subject and reading blogs about it.”
Quite quickly she was getting branded as the “LinkedIn person”, was being asked for an overwhelming number of coffees to explain it and so decided to create an event around it. These happy hour meetings started in November 2007 and now meet on the first Monday of every month from 5:30-8:30pm (deliberately picked as a day that would seldom conflict with other networking events).
The format Felten uses includes a lot of open networking, microphone introductions, and about 15 minutes on a different LinkedIn topic each time. The meetings now attract anywhere from 50-100 people. While the introductions take time, the advantage is that it helps to identify all attendees. This helps you avoid missing out on meeting those one or two key people you might well not have run into otherwise (I never really recognized the value of this exercise before!).
On the surface, the benefits to these events are very similar to other networking events. However, the online networking component, LinkedIn, adds a different dynamic. While it’s helpful to have another topic of common ground that you can talk about with strangers; for those who understand the joys of connecting, you can get business ideas finding out how others are using it. It makes following up easier. You can even find yourself a new job!
Those who attend become part of Link Up Milwaukee which has almost 2000 members now and is the largest group in
Why might you want to consider doing something like this in your area? “For me the number one benefit is being in a position of leadership where people almost instantly give you more credibility. I’ve been in a lot of groups; and when I started this, I was amazed at how quickly I was known as the LinkedIn Person. There are presidents of corporations – people who would never take my call – who are calling me.”
LinkedIn is growing fast which is good if you’re using it. If you’re not, the competition is jumping in fast too, so the choice is starting to get overwhelming about all the sites you could use if you had 12 days in your week!
Katie Felten, president of MKE Live www.mkelive.com , teaches workshops on LinkedIn and is looking to take LinkedIn Live events to other
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