A Networking Secret Successful People Don’t Share

Ever wonder how some people just get to know everyone in town? Or how no matter what networking event you attend the same power networker somehow shows up working the room like a Jedi? It’s because they know what’s going on around town, and so should you.

The secret they don’t tell you is: they rely on a monthly checklist. Checklists are simply records of procedure for repeatable tasks. And there is a lot of research around how Checklists are saving people’s lives.

Building Your Own Networking Event Checklist

To help you stay on top of your network in the face of a busy schedule, set aside one day each month to run through your checklist in order to schedule some networking events to attend.

For example, on the first Sunday of every month, I run through my event checklist so that I’m at least aware of and can make choices about what events I attend that month. As soon as I find an event I want to attend, I immediately add it to my calendar.

Create your checklist by listing out every place online where you can find local events. Create a document with active links to these sites so you just have to click down the list. This simple task saves you time from researching the event sites every month. You do it once at the beginning and just follow the checklist after that.

The following is an example of what one of my event lists looks like (of course you should build your own list based on your industry and interests):

• Execunet: First Monday of the month from 7:30 to 9:00
• Ivy Networking: Third Thursday of the month from 8:00 to 9:30
• Social Media Club: Find out what speakers are coming this month
• Portland Connect: LinkedIn calendar; usually meets for happy hour
• PDX Mindshare: Marketing professionals; find out who’s speaking this month
• LinkedIn Events: See if any events are in my area
• Plancast, Calagator, and Upcoming: Check sites for local listings

Use this list as a basis to create your own event checklist. Then schedule one day per month to run through it. It will save you time and frustration. More importantly, if will help you become a more confident networker.

For more great advice on how to network for your next job, check out my new book, Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies