Yesterday I received an email from a man who had taken The Link System® Training at least two years ago. He wanted to let me know he had answered a blog question relating to the usefullness of industry conferences. Many people were frustrated with the "Same (stuff), different powerpoint", aspect of them.

The Link System® Grad said in part: "I agree with (others) in evaluating the value of a conference based on what you can do before, during, and after relating to the attendees to maximize the value. Content you can get elsewhere. The in-person contact and out-of-office attention you can garner is hard to replace. I use criterion I learned from Mel Kaufmann, a networking pioneer and inventor of The LINK System®.

1. Get all lists you can prior to the event (registrants, sponsors, exhibitors, partners, etc.) and identify high value introductions and connections.

2. Research these contacts and leverage existing relationships for direct introductions and referrals whenever possible prior to or at the event.

3. Arrive 30 minutes early to every speaker session, meet and/or assist the speaker and sit in front next to someone you don't know. Be ready for the speaker to introduce you to others and vice versa."
Thank you to Link System® Grad, Jon Cline. http://www.successrabbi.com/

Last week I took a client's staff through an exercise related to the same topic. They were sponsoring an upcoming high-visibility awards dinner. Prior to the event, we went through the entire attendee list and discussed potential Link possibilities with each...who had connections there, etc. It gave them new ideas on how to leverage their sponsorship investments. The Link System® teaches us networking & relationship-building strategies we didn't know we didn't know!