Hello! My name is Andres. Welcome to another week of networking events:

Welcome to the networking desk! This week I am continuing with my series on the book 📖2-hour Cocktail Party by Nick Gray, I wanted to dedicate an entire email to name tags as I believe they are crucial in connecting and getting to know people.

By the way, if you want to read last weeks’ email on the 4 W’s of hosting an event, you can check it out here.

I have to admit it, even after going to a ton of events I still feel intimidated if the environment does not seem welcoming, like no one greets you or helps you find a name tag, or introduces you from the start.

I believe name tags help a ton with this, so let’s dive into it.

Here’s what we got this week:

• Name tags importance and how to use for your own events

• Events happening next week

“Lean forward moment” of the week - 🪄The Magic of Name Tags

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of name tags are? No? Yeah, maybe it is just me… lol

No, but really… Name tags change dynamics on any event in a big way, they:

1. Reduce social anxiety and make introductions easier

2. Show it’s a safe opportunity to approach strangers

3. Place everyone on equal footing - even celebrities and public figures have to wear them

Having a name tag (specially if they all look the same) show that guests have not walked into a room of best friends who already know each other. They’ve walked into potential new connections.

They actually humble people and put them on the same level.

When they don’t have them at networking events I use mine which I got from PowerCore (a close networking event)

I actually love this name tag because it holds my business card. It helps people associate my face to my business card and if I ever run out of business cards I have an extra one I can take out, ha!

It was really hard to find one similar to this online for you guys to get, but I found this one on Amazon which is a pack of 10 but hey, same idea.

When you host your own party or networking event - have them all be the same, here’s a link to the one they use in the book. When you host, make sure to only use people’s first name, and you are the one writing them, makes people feel welcome and helps to make them more readable.

I love when someone seems genuinely interested in getting my name right, so help your guest fill them out with their first name and introduce them to someone new! Because everyone has name tags, you won’t mess up their name :)

Something about people’s names:

As you may have heard, a person’s name is the sweetest sound they can hear, so help that sound happen more often by having more name tags around ;)

What about if you forget someone’s name, what to do then?

I’d say tackle it head on (it gets easier if you make it a joke too, just don’t do it all the time to the same person) “can I confess something? I don’t remember your name. Will you please remind me?” It’s normal to forget a name is awkward to pretend you didn’t, and being sincere brings you closer together to the other person.

🖥️ 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