January Luncheon Recap: We all Took a Spin in the Blender!
What happens if you take a bunch of marketers, toss them in a blender and turn it on high?
No, it doesn’t make a horrible mess- it brings business people together! At the last AMA luncheon, Alice Heiman put everyone in her “Biz Talk Blender” and the results were awesome.
We know how it is. Sure, the AMA luncheons are the best networking opportunity in town and sure, most of us are marketers (we’re supposed to be natural networkers, right?) but what usually happens? Most of the time, many of us come right in, sit down to eat and leave soon after the speaker ends- totally missing out on valuable networking opportunities! From time to time, even the most natural networkers are guilty of this.
But on Thursday, everything changed.
Even before entering the luncheon I joined my fellow AMA’ers in getting a FREE head shot from Digiman photography! Free! Now if that doesn’t put you in a good mood…
I walked into our banquet room at Harrah’s and it was packed & electric with activity. No one was sitting down. The entire crowd was furiously meeting as many people as they could. Immediately, Alice greeted me personally.
“Hello! Here you go,” She handed me a copy of what we were going to cover in the blender. “you do have business cards- right?”
And with that I was caught. Two months into my current position, I hadn’t gotten around to ordering cards! Alice charged me with meeting as many people as I could and getting their contact info. I may not have cards, but this I could do.
All the AMA members and guests were great. People were laughing, meeting one another and finding out about businesses they previously didn’t even know were in Reno. I witnessed several “introverts” introducing people to each other like networking experts.
As Alice’s talk started, it was clear she isn’t your usual speaker. Not content to stay on the stage, she walked through the tables asking questions, sparking debate and spurring us to collaborate on subjects like “how to create a sales culture.”
We all talked. We learned about each other’s businesses. We found out who could make business cards for guys like me who don’t have them yet!
If you skipped the luncheon you missed an incredible opportunity to meet local businesses as well as pick up powerful networking skills. At the next lunch you’ll easily be able to pick out who attended. They’ll be the ones who don’t rush to eat- who meet everyone they can - and who have business cards!
