Geek dinners and networking ideas

Posted on September 29th, 2006 by Sacha Chua

Kevin McIntosh’s presentation on networking reminded me of Geek Dinner. I’ve been meaning to organize one of these for ages.

You know what? These networking/hanging-out events might be fun with a
little more structure instead of the hit-or-miss things that usually happen.

I’m curious as to how a networking event would work with the following tweaks, roughly in order of effort/preparation required:

nametags with best practices
introduction segment, maybe a la silent resource auction
wants/haves
introductions, wants, haves posted/distributed at the event for people who RSVPd
introductions, wants, haves e-mailed before the event
post-event automatic followup a la speed dating, with possible automatic sharing of contact info
pre-event networking plan
an active host looking at people’s profiles and encouraging connections
self-placement so that you can plan who you’ll be physically near, if it’s a sit-down thing like a dinner
planned placement, like that done by truly out-of-this-world hosts at elegant parties

You know, that would be _so_ fun to hack. I’d love to have a venue for trying out my crazy networking ideas.

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