Great Morning!! Hope you all had a great networking week. Let’s prepare for next:

Hey! Andres here,

Welcome to the networking desk! During the following weeks I want to share my process while preparing to host my first “cocktail party” aka a small networking event.

I will be sharing tips as I learn each week while I prepare for it, and then share the results. Hopefully you will be able to start learning as well and host your own (maybe invite me too haha)

Once I gather enough practice, I plan to have bigger ones and invite you (the readers) as well. For now, let’s share the prep process here.

Here’s what we got this week:

• Preparing to host - Basics of a networking event

• Next week events from the community

Alright, let’s do this.

“Lean forward moment” of the week - The 4 W’s of hosting an event

The first W is Why. Why host an event?

Well, the simple answer is that your own event can be tailored and structure to your needs. You can create an event that avoids the chicle question “What do you do?” and instead focuses on personal level connections that last a long time, real people connecting over real life, not selling to each other.

Other than structure, being the host leads to other benefits:

1. Meet Awesome People - Rather than asking one person for coffee and having to prepare or think what to connect over or how to do business, you can connect on a personal level, which is where the true magic happens.

2. Boost Your Reputation - Basically put you are the one taking initiative to bring people together, this immediately makes you more popular and your reputation will the one that brings people together which will also make people talk more about you and connect you to their friends or colleagues.

3. Strengthen Relationships - If you are anything like me, your schedule is probably filled with events and 1 on 1 coffees which makes it hard to connect with old friends, which weakens those relationships, these parties or events will be a great way to connect both of your worlds and keep relationships going strong.

Next up we have When and Where?

A big revelation for me was that the best days to host an event or party are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. These are usually the days when most people are free, as there are fewer events happening on these days. Weekends and holidays are a no no, as well as long weekend.

In terms of duration, you want a 2-hour block, preferably from 7 to 9. This ensures that people have gotten food already, as you don’t want to have more than snacks. The books suggest that dinner events are avoided, as you are limited to moving around and connecting.

The best place to host a party or event is at home as it is intimate and people will be more open, however if you can’t do home, pick a park, library, community center or office.

Finally, Who to invite? 5–10 people of core group, these are people you know will come and will help you get things moving along. You want 15 total to come to the party, so invite 20 to 30 people total.

The book does talk about crowed spaces, but they seem not to be a problem as it makes it more intimate and fun (the author hosted parties in small NYC apartments lol)

Invite colleagues classmates friends neighbors, BUT don’t invite critical work contacts yet until you have done a few events, this will let you improve and not “ruin” critical relationships.

Where am I learning this: I like to be transparent of my sources, this information is from 2-hour Cocktail Party by Nick Gray feel free to check it out and buy it, he also has the first few chapters in audiobook version on his YouTube.

🖥️ Convert more website users into clients

🗓️ Now, the events…

⭐ = My top picks of this week

Thank you for reading! Quick thing before I go:

1. If you are new or would like to read older posts, check out this page. There is a backlog of previous weeks of “The Networking Desk”

2. Know someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Be sure to share it with them! 📩 (just copy the link or forward this email) I will keep putting out great newsletters for them and for you. That’s a promise.

See you next week.

- Andres Inciarte