Conference Commando: Networking with Nametags

Posted on September 28th, 2006 by Sacha Chua

Whenever I go to a networking event and see people without nametags or
with nametags that only have their first names, I see all these missed
opportunities to help memory and enrich conversations.

Nametags are essential at networking events. Hardly anyone can be
expected to remember everyone’s names after such brief introductions.
Nametags help other people discreetly remember your name without
embarrassing them by asking you again.

Here are some tips I’ve picked up from books and from experience:

Wear your nametag high and right.

Always wear your nametag high on your right shoulder. This is where
the eye is naturally drawn to when you shake hands with someone. Make
it easy for people to read your nametag when they shake hands with
you.

Give your first and last name.

Make sure there’s enough space on your nametag for your first and last
name. This makes it easier for people to remember you when they review
all the business cards they’ve received and the notes they’ve taken.

Tag yourself.

And why stop at names? You want people to remember what you do, too. I
find that “Sacha Chua, Tech Evangelist” starts more conversations and
is remembered better than just “Sacha Chua”. Make it easy for people
to find out and remember what you’re interested in by adding a tag line
or some keywords to your nametag. Use a second nametag if necessary.
You can repeat some of these keywords on your business card or e-mail
signature to reinforce people’s memories.

Bring your own nametag.

For serious networking, always bring a nametag with your first and
last name and a tag line. Many events don’t provide printed nametags,
and your preparation will set you apart.

Do you have any other tips for nametag success? Please e-mail me at
sacha@sachachua.com, and I’ll add it to this entry!

On Technorati: networking, conferencecommando

More posts about: conferencecommando, networking // Add Comment »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/3880

On This Day...

2011: Getting better at working at the office — I’ll be working on a new project with a local coworker soon, which means I’ll probably come to the office [...]
2010: Book: Getting to Yes — (c) 2010 David Prior – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Roger [...]
2009: Weekly review: Sept 20 and Sept 27, 2009 — zomg, just realized I’d skipped the weekly review for last week. Hmm. Clearly, I need to sort out my task [...]
2008: Learning sewing and French — Sewing is turning out to be surprisingly fun. I finished the wool jumper-dress (Simplicity 4097), learning how to work with [...]
2007: The Kitten-ful Life — One of my friends has the absolutely best setup for kittendom. She fosters kittens for the Toronto Human Society, taking in [...]
2007: When there’s more than one way to do things — Writing about Emacs turns out to be difficult. There are so many ways to do something. My goal for this book [...]
2007: Work permit on its way — A CIC official called me two days ago to clarify something on my application for a post-graduate work permit. When we [...]
2007: My SecondLife interviewbot is coming along nicely — I’d have given up on the Linden Scripting Language long ago if Stephen Perelgut hadn’t wanted this bot so much. It’s [...]
2006: Emacs: Animation in presentations — … and because this is just so endearingly old-school and crazily Emacs, here’s what’s going to be my title “slide” for [...]
2006: Emacs: BBDB rapid serial visualization — And because it’s good to quickly flash through records once in a while to refresh my memory… (defvar sacha/bbdb-rapid-serial-visualization-delay 1 "*Number of [...]
2006: Emacs: Show only people whom I haven’t pinged since… — One of the things I want in a contact management system is a quick way to find out who I haven’t [...]
2006: Emacs + LinkedIn: Another totally idiosyncratic bit of code — The following code should not be run until you’ve backed up your Big Brother Database and sacrificed a chicken. It goes [...]
2005: On the Philippine Question — An excerpt from the speech of Senator George F. Hoar, in the Beveridge-Hoar Debate on the Philippine Question, delivered in the United [...]
2005: Voice messaging network — Also via Social Software: Yackpack is a pretty social voice messaging thing. Web-based, so it doesn’t hurt to try it [...]
2005: More collaborative software — Via Social Software: Gobby is a cross-platform collaborative editor. Finally!
2005: Jotspot Live — Via TechCrunch: Jotspot Live now open. It’s a hosted wiki for simultaneous collaboration, with slick AJAX and great editing. Interesting…
2005: Collaboration — Also via tech.memeorandum: Chris Pratley: Working as a team with a shared notebook Interesting support for collaboration…
2005: Cognitive analysis of tagging — Rashmi Sinha: A cognitive analysis of tagging Yay! Another paper to add to my research question. Makes sense. Figuring out exactly where [...]
2005: Learning changes — Via Weblogg-ed: Connecting for Life comes this blog post on Elearnspace: Connectivism, which points out that learning these days isn’t [...]
2005: Forrester Consumer Forum report — The numbers are in. 10% of consumers read blogs at least once a week, 6% use RSS, and 4% use [...]
2005: Solopreneurship and the Tipping Point — Small Business Branding: Content Management suggests a curriculum for the solopreneur. The stuff I’m interested in makes up for of [...]
2005: Finding names: the 100th monkey — Charo inducted me into the 100th Monkey club. it’s something we talked about on mensaphilopen about how certain people, given the [...]
2004: THE LAST PROMISE — “I’ll love you forever.” He pressed her fingers to his tear-stained cheeks. She pulled her hands away. “No more promises. That way, [...]
2004: How to be a programmer — http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html Picked it up off my http://del.icio.us/inbox/sachac/ . Wonderful stuff. =)

sacha chua living an awesome life