If done in an organized fashion,
networking activities can be both productive and a refreshing break
from meetings. For a successful networking game, take a page out of
a professional’s playbook. Here’s how two companies that specialize
in communications handle their own networking events.
Vanco, a London-based firm that designs
and manages global communications networks, incorporated the
concept of speed dating into its annual meeting. Mandy Moss, global
events and brand manager, asked each staff member to list six
colleagues -- people known only from phone or e-mail
conversations -- that he or she wanted to meet face-to-face. Moss
matched the responses, set up 172 rendezvous points and gave each
person a schedule for four meet-and-greets. In a span of 40
minutes, the Vanco employees had 1,302 five-minute
conversations.
The Call Center Networking Group, a
Dallas-based association that hosts programs for call center
managers, plays a version of bingo: Each square bears the name of a
sponsor, and an attendee can only check it off after trading
business cards with a company representative. Another game: Each
attendee is given a playing card and has to find four conversation
partners to make the best poker hand. The goal is to bring people
together in a fun way, says Lela Carter, director of membership for
CCNG. “There are always a couple of people who are pretty shy and
who are really going to sit back and take it all in if you don’t
make them participate,” she says.