How to Throw a Killer Professional Event

Throw a killer professional event:  Whether you started a new business, are looking to expand your network, or simply looking to meet new people, one thing is clear; becoming a resource for the business community can put you on the path of closing more sales.  After all, why try going to people when they can just as easily come to you? 

Keep in mind though that the last thing you want is to throw a professional event and it is not up to snuff.  You probably want this event to represent you and your personal and professional brand in a positive light!

Why is this important?  Why would you want to throw a killer professional networking event?  For two reasons:

1. get your business exposed in front of the right people,
2. become the “go-to” person for professionals in your area.

Planning Your Killer Professional Event

Decide who you want to come to your professional event.

Who is your ideal target audience?  Are you looking for COIs (people who are centers of influence)?  Prospects?  Or the general professional community?  Decide who you want in attendance!

Develop a marketing plan to invite your target audience.

You can use social media, word-of-mouth, or do the old-fashioned pick up the phone and cold call routine.  The point is to make sure you personally invite those who you want to come.  You may even partner with other professionals who offer different products or services but who has the same target audience as you.  You can even ask them to invite their pre-existing clients to the event while you invite your clients.  This way everyone is being exposed to new people!

Find a venue and support local business if possible!

Make a list of all local venues with a private meeting space.  Make sure it’s big enough to host your party and ask to see what rules or guidelines the venue may have.

Pick a day that isn’t typically busy.

Again, the name of the game is supporting local businesses and venues.  Most of the time, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays aren’t as busy as Thursday through the weekend.  The venue will be grateful for the business, and if you negotiate right, you won’t have to incur a room expense!

CHARGE A FEE!

Though this is optional (and largely dependent on who your target audience is), I would recommend charging a fee to fend off anyone who is there looking for a free meal. 

I’ve had this happen before.  I was throwing a professional networking event, had been doing it for years (without charging a fee) and this elderly gentleman came in with what appeared to be two grandchildren.  They made their way over to the food table, made a couple of plates, ate the food, and then left.  THEN he tried leaving me a bad review online!!  The nerve!  Luckily there were a few attendees who saw this and counter-reviewed his comment which he later deleted.  My word of advice?  Charge a fee!

Set the day and time (preferably the same time every month).

If you want to hold this event regularly, I prefer keeping it the same time, day and place every month or every two months.  This makes it easier for people to remember.

Set the agenda.

If you are throwing a killer networking event, keep in mind that people are there to mingle and schmooze with others.  If you get a speaker, and they start rambling on about their business, you are going to watch the energy in the room dissipate. 

I think the key here is to be honest with people.  If you are throwing a networking event, let them know!  If you are hosting an educational event, be sure to market your event as an educational event!  One thing that upsets most people are unmet expectations.  It’s like going to a restaurant, ordering a burger and they bring you a soup and salad.  Sure, the soup and salad may be delicious, but you ordered the burger for a reason!  The same goes for events.  Keep it simple, and let people know what to expect!

Find a business or professional to sponsor appetizers and giveaways.

We typically do heavy appetizers.  Sometimes a restaurant will want to feature some of their finger foods – just make sure the venue you are using is OK with this.  Or another business who has a similar target audience to the attendees may want to pay for the food. 

For our events, food sponsors typically pay $300 and in return, they receive the following:

1. Featured in our newsletter,
2. Social media shoutouts,
3. Their logo on the backdrop at the event,
4. A 30-second “shameless plug” during the announcement portion of the event,
5. And a 2-minute video interview which we air the next day.

As for giveaways, we try to ensure they have a minimum value of $20.  These could be gift cards, bottles of wine, or branded items.

Reach out to your centers of influence.

These are people who know people. More importantly, they are people who know the people who you want to come to your event!  Invite them personally, ask them to let their people know and most importantly, get a confirmation that they will be attending!  That last extra step is important to ensuring you get people in attendance!

Get social!

Post your event everywhere online!  Facebook, the Chamber of Commerce, local magazines, meetup.com, Eventbrite, your local convention and visitor’s bureau.  If there are towns nearby, be sure to post on their local sites as well!

Host the professional event!

Personally, before the event starts, I like to set the room.  I move all sit-down tables to the sides so people can sit down to eat and rest while the center of the room has cocktail tables.  This is so people can grab a drink and have a place to put it down while they are meeting other people.

Since COVID-19, I also disinfect the room before people start showing up, set up the registration table and write out my notes for the announcement portion of the event.  Typically, announcements don’t last more than 7 to 10 minutes and we cover the following:

1. Shoutouts to the bartender/server.
2. Upcoming events in the area.
3. Sponsor segment.
4. Giveaways.
5. Thank the audience for attending.

I usually have the room from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, but I do announcements at 6:30 pm to get them out of the way.  One key component is to make sure that you are memorable and stand out.  We wrote a whole other article on standing out and being memorable here.

Get social AFTER the event!

I know, not everyone likes posting videos and pictures, but it makes a world of difference!  And what’s better is that if you host your networking event monthly, people will start to recognize your handywork! 

After the event, I go through the list of attendees and if there were new people, I reach out to schedule coffee with them.  This way I can get to know them a little better and figure out how to better plug them into our business community.

Rinse and repeat!

Consistency is the key here.  Hosting your own event every month on the same day at the same time helps keep people in the know about future upcoming events!

In summary, the whole point of throwing a killer networking event is to

1. get your business some exposure in front of the right people,
2. become the “go-to” person for professionals in your area.

For more tips on professional networking, or setting up We&Co in your area, click here.

About We&Co and We&Co Huddles

We&Co is a professional co-oping & professional networking business that was founded in Springfield, Missouri in 2020.  While there are many professional networking groups in and around the United States, We&Co focuses on creating small industry-specific groups with five to ten professionals who all have the same target audience but offer different products and services.

In essence, professionals come to us when they want to save time while making more money.  These industry-specific groups are essential pods of professionals surrounded by their ideal referral partners.

These small groups of referral partners (called “Huddles) meet up twice a month for an hour and talk strategy on how to become that one-stop-shop for their clients.  If you are a professional who is interested in joining or launching your own We&Co co-op (or “Huddle” as we like to call them), feel free to shoot us an email at info@weandco.org and a representative will get back to you shortly!