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:

1. nametags with best practices
2. introduction segment, maybe a la silent resource auction
3. wants/haves
4. introductions, wants, haves posted/distributed at the event for people who RSVPd
5. introductions, wants, haves e-mailed before the event
6. post-event automatic followup a la speed dating, with possible automatic sharing of contact info
7. pre-event networking plan
8. an active host looking at people's profiles and encouraging connections
9. self-placement so that you can plan who you'll be physically near, if it's a sit-down thing like a dinner
10. 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.