If you’ve gone to leads groups or Chamber events, you’ve probably noticed that you can’t learn very much about someone in 30 seconds. Also, a roomful of strangers trying to sell you stuff you don’t need isn’t usually the most conducive environment to building real business relationships. If you’re a classic introvert, you might even find this setup somewhat intimidating.

If you’ve been attending business networking groups for awhile, you may have heard of a “one-on-one.” The basic idea is that you meet for coffee with another business owner for 30 to 60 minutes and get to know each other’s businesses a little better. This has value to an extent. You can build relationships this way if you meet with the right people. One obvious drawback: you can’t meet with everybody one-on-one.

The “think tank” is a middle-of-the-road option. The basic idea: get 3 to 7 people together for 2 to 3 hours and brainstorm about how to help each other more proactively. I’ve done this now a few times, and I’ve learned some things about how to do them effectively.

1. Pick the right people.

2. Make sure it’s the right combination of people. Pair up people who are most likely to be glad they met.

3. Send out one-line e-mails introducing the participants to each other beforehand.

4. Summarize your findings and send them out to everyone in an e-mail after the fact.

As I develop this model, I will be sharing what I learn. I’ve already found that it’s an easy way to get introverts talking and start stimulating team thinking.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm and is filed under brainstorming, networking You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.