6 Ways How LinkedIn Groups Can Benefit Event Organizers, Meeting Planners and Association Managers

Many (professional) organisations have a hard time to keep their organisation interesting enough for their members and are also continuously looking to attract new members.

Starting your own LinkedIn Group can both add to the value of the membership and attract more members in many ways:

1. An online presence next to events will help members to keep in touch between meetings.

2. Members who can’t attend many meetings will still be able to contact each other.

3. The LinkedIn Group is an extra platform to help each other and to discuss trends.

4. Some potential members might have never heard of your organisation. They can get in touch with you and become a member of your organisation after finding the LinkedIn Group.

5. It is a good and free alternative to a forum on your own website. Many organisations have a hard time building a successful community because they don’t have a critical mass of people who participate in discussions. As a result people won’t visit the forum anymore, the negative spiral continues and they also hardly ever visit the website anymore. Since people use LinkedIn also to connect with other people and to build their network with other people than the members of your organisation they keep using LinkedIn and once in a while visit the LinkedIn Group.

6. Free membership of the LinkedIn Group might generate interest in a (paid) membership for events.

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

Network Event Of The Month

August 27 is the day for the third edition of In Shape for September.

10 top speaker  from Flanders will inspire the participants to get their career, business or themselves to the next level in order to make the last trimester of the year the best ever.

These are the topics and the speakers (note: the whole program is in Dutch):

– Managing Without Time (Paul Meert)
– How to think like Da Vinci (Bernhard Lernout)
– I-CPI (Patrick Maes)
– Value Thinking in Business (Peter Coeckelbergh)
– The Real Life Experience as a real CEO (Tony Mary)
– Hoe hoog leg jij de lat? (Wim Vandeven)
– Stilte ik spreek (Sylvie Verleye)
– Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken (Jan Vermeiren)
– Survival of the Smartest (Bert Verdonck)

By the way, this day won’t only be an inspirational one, but also a super networking day!.

More information and registration: www.in-shape-for-september.be.

Have a great networking day !

Jan

Why Become a Member of LinkedIn Groups?

People are used to coming together in clubs and associations in real life. Sharing ideas is also one of the first things the Internet was used for.

So I encourage you to become a member of one or more Groups or start one yourself. Once you are member these are the benefits of belonging to one:

– By asking questions in the Discussions-forum you are able to receive help from the other members.

– You can see the Profiles of the other members. This gives you direct access to additional people who might not be in your first, second or third degree network.

– You can contact other members directly. Many people don’t allow to be contacted directly (they disable that option in their Account & Settings). However, the standard option in every Group is that members can contact each other directly. Almost nobody knows this option can be turned off.

– By answering questions in the Discussions-forum you not only gain visibility, but you also have the opportunity to show your expertise. As a consequence, your “Know, Like and Trust” factor increases. When you answer questions, make sure you give good answers and don’t make it a sales pitch.

– By sharing articles in News you also raise your visibility. Again don’t make it a sales pitch. It is OK to share links to your own website, blog or article that features you as long as it gives other people more insights or helps them in some way.

– When responding to a question in the Discussions you can add the URL of your website. This gives your website more visibility and helps to boost your ranking in Google and other search engines. However, don’t overdo it. One, maximum two lines.

– Some extra advantages of being a member of a Group which also organizes meetings where the members can meet each other face to face:

1. You can ask who else is going so you can make a decision if it is worthwhile for you. You can also make arrangements to meet other people there. This helps a lot when you are not comfortable in new environments.
2. If you have never been to a meeting, you can ask about the past experiences of other members and which expectations you can have
3. You can make arrangements to car pool so you don’t only save some money and are friendly to the environment, but also can maximize your networking time.
Remark: Tips about how to prepare for live networking events, what to do when you are there and how to follow up, can be found on the networking CD, “Let’s Connect at an Event”.

I strongly encourage you to become a member of one or more Groups. I also encourage you to be an active member: help people and share insights. This will make you more attractive for other people. They will make contact with you and consult you in your area of expertise, whatever that may be.

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (of in het Nederlands: Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Make sure you download your FREE light version.

Boost Your Business Card

I just read this article about 15 Brilliant & Clever Business Card Designs.

Great examples of how creative one can be to turn this inexpensive piece of paper into an even greater marketing or personal branding tool.

However always be careful that people understand your message and that they are not offended or put off by it (for example the “We love your money” business card).

Also read this previous blog post about the importance of business cards and look at this overview of other networking and referral tools.

Have a great networking day !

Jan

Networking Event of the month: Contacten bij de Vleet

This post is in Dutch since it is a Dutch conference.

Op 26 februari 2009 is er het netwerk evenement “Contacten bij de Vleet” in Groningen.

In de Euroborg zorgen organisatoren Josee Camfferman en Birgitta Tijhaar voor een uniek evenement in de regio.

Tijdens deze eerste versie van hun Noordelijk Netwerk Seminar heb ik zelf de eer gekregen om niet enkel netwerk tips en strategieën te komen delen, maar ook iedereen direct te laten ervaren wat de kracht van een netwerk is.

De deelnemers zullen dus niet enkel geïnspireerd naar huis gaan, maar ook met een heleboel waardevolle contacten.

Wellicht zie ik je en zorgen we samen voor contacten bij de vleet?

Jan

Jan Vermeiren, oprichter van Networking Coach en spreker over netwerken en referrals

Networking Event: David Allen (Getting Things Done) Making It All Work Seminar

David Allen, the author of the best seller Getting Things Done, the Art of Stress Free Productivity is coming to the Netherlands (Feb 19) and Germany (Feb 17). See http://www.life-architect.eu/gtd_roadmap.html

It will be a great event where you won’t only learn about how to get things done, but also will meet interesting people. For me one of the principles of getting things done is to leverage your network. So it’s going to be an excellent networking event as well!

My friend Nathaniel Stott of Life Architect, who organises these meetings is also conducting a survey about stress and effectiveness at work. People who take part in this survey have the chance to win a ticket to one of the two seminars. This is the link to the survey:  http://www.life-architect.eu/survey/

If you are interested in the principles, but can’t make it to the events, there is still hope 🙂 Nathaniel also promised me 5 copies of David Allen’s new book “Making It All Work”. Of course I’m not going to keep them for myself. So send an email to connect-with-us at networking-coach.com and we will randomly chose 5 winners.

Have a great networking day !

Jan

Founder of Networking Coach

Networking Event of the Month: Brian Tracy in Antwerp

The networking event of the month November is Brian Tracy’s High Performing Leadership Seminar on Nov 19 in Metropolis (Antwerp, Belgium).

This is an excerpt from the program:

In a one day session, Brian Tracy will talk about High Performance Leadership, where he reveals a series of proven strategies that you can use immediately to get better results in every area of your business.

During this interactive presentation, you will learn how to think strategically, manage time more efficiently, select the right people, communicate effectively and build peak performing teams. Brian’s session will be highly informative and interactive, loaded with both funny and motivational content.

This session of High Performance Leadership is even more special; since it’s the first time Brian Tracy is presenting live in the Benelux. Don’t miss this opportunity: Seats are limited to 740 leaders, business owners, managers and high potentials.

In this seminar, you learn how to manage, motivate, think, plan and act like the best business owners and executives in the top companies worldwide.

More info: http://briantracybelgium.com/live.aspx

I personally already learned a lot from Brian’s material and still can learn a lot from it, so I do not only recommend this event, but I will be there myself (this time not as a speaker, but as a member of the audience).

Why is this a good networking event? Because only people who will learn about leadership will be there. This means high achievers and people who are willing and able to make a difference through helping each other.

Thanks to Byron Soulopoulos, CEO of Brian Tracy Benelux, readers of this blog receive a discount: they only pay 445 euro instead of 495 euro for the business tickets. Follow this link to get this discount.

See you there?

Jan

Founder of Networking Coach, author of the network book Let’s Connect and networking speaker

Gratis tickets voor KMO Marketing Congres en Network Economy Congres

This post is in Dutch because it is about two events where only Dutch is spoken.

Binnenkort zijn er twee interessante evenementen: het KMO Marketing Congres en het Network Economy Congres.

Het voordeel dat ik heb als spreker is dat ik vaak een aantal mensen mag uitnodigen en op de “VIP lijst” zetten. Zo ook bij deze twee evenementen.

Maar waarom niet een aantal lezers van de blog en van de nieuwsbrief VIP maken. Of anders gezegd de VIP status op dat evenement toekennen, want voor mij zijn de lezers altijd al mijn MIPS (Most Important People) geweest 🙂

Even wat meer informatie:

KMO Marketing Congres (10 oktober, Edegem, België)

De slogan van dit congres is: Kom en ontdek hoe u op 1 dag binnen uw KMO maximale resultaten kunt behalen met een beperkt marketingbudget.

En als je naar de sprekers en onderwerpen kijkt, dan zie je dat dit geen holle slogan is: de kracht van netwerken, impact van Google op KMO business, hoe effectieve teksten schrijven, een 100 maal efficiëntere website in 10 stappen, zo haalt ook een KMO voordeel uit een relatie met de pers, kan ik als KMO verdienen aan YouTube, LinkedIn, Ecademy of Facebook?,…

Meer info: www.kmomarketingcongres.be

Network Economy Congres (15 oktober, Rotterdam, Nederland)

Ondertitel: Net-Anders-Werken. De netwerk economie wordt langs verschillende kanten bekeken in diverse presentaties en workshops.

Wat komt o.a. aan bod: Net(anders)werken … Netwerkeconomie … Lifehacking … Netwerkmarketing … Meer rendement uit netwerken … Slimmer samenwerken … Hyperlink revolutie … Sociaal kapitaal … Netwerken voor professionals … Communities … Out of the box … Networking society … Netwerkmanagement … Netwerkgame … Strategische partners … Nieuwe allianties … Personal branding …

Meer info: www.networkeconomy.buzzychain.nl/

Voor beide congressen mag ik 5 tickets weggeven. Stuur een e-mail naar connect-with-us at networking-coach.com en deel één netwerk tip voor mensen die naar een congres gaan. Uit degenen die een tip hebben gegeven worden dan de winnaars getrokken en per e-mail verwittigd.

Have a great networking day !

Jan

Oprichter van Networking Coach en spreker over netwerken

Get in Shape for September

On August 26 the second edition of In Shape for September will take place in Kasteel van Brasschaet.

No less than 13 top speakers from Flanders will inspire the participants to get their business, their carreer and themselves back in shape to make the last trimester of the year an outstanding one.

These are just a few examples of the topics and the speakers:
– Radical innovation in sales and marketing (Patrick Maes)
– Find time and how to deal with it (Paul Meert and Paul De Bruyne)
– Unconventional smart: Life Hacking (Bert Verdonck)
– Transformation as source of motivation (Wim Van Acker)
– Transform stress in energy (Tim Vermeire)
– Powerful Presentation Techniques (Sylvie Verleye)

Other speakers: Bert Van Driel, Jan Mouton, Katharina Mullen, Peter Tuybens and Nathalie De Regge.

I will also do a one hour session about Everlasting Referrals. So if you haven’t seen me speak before and you can’t make the introduction session about referrals on September 23 this might be an excellent moment.

Trends magazine wrote an article about the first edition (in Dutch).

By the way, this will not only be a day that will inspire the participants, but also a super networking day.

More information and registration: http://www.in-shape-for-september.be

See you there !

Jan