Attending conferences and scheduling meetups are great ways to network, but they aren’t the only way. An often overlooked approach is organizing a gathering yourself, which lets you be strategic about who you get to know. Think carefully about how many people you’ll invite and who they should be. It’s good to keep the event small, which makes it more intimate. One strategy is to bring people together who have something in common, which guarantees they have things to talk about. For instance, they could all be alumni of your alma mater, or tech industry folks, or women entrepreneurs. You could also just invite people who interest you. And think about the mix of personalities in the room. Your goals should be to ensure everyone is on equal footing and to create a great group dynamic. So if you know someone tends to dominate the conversation, leave them off the invite list.
Adapted from “How to Plan Your Own Networking Event (and Invite the Right People),” by Dorie Clark
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