Plan Your Meetings

Don’t take the time out of your busy schedule and spend money to attend an expo, conference or any networking event only to stay in your comfort zone. Move around, introduce yourself to new faces, and pleeeze don’t sit with friends and colleagues from your company or association.

At the recent MPI World Education Congress (note the word “education”!), several groups stuck together at luncheons, cocktail parties and seminars, even saving whole tables and turning away others who tried to take a seat. The barriers were up, and they’ll never know (nor will their company or the association they were representing) how valuable that new contact might have been.

Don’t make the same mistake: Stride forward confidently, take a chance and be the first to sit at an empty table — inviting others to join you. Talk to exhibitors, ask questions at seminars, and you’ll enhance your expo experience (and that of your fellow attendees).