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Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the first ever networking training day supported by BNI in Ireland.

Yes I know that I train business leaders in networking and referral skills, but I just could not let the opportunity pass to meet other networking experts speak as it is always a great opportunity to refresh your skills and access new insights, along side meeting new people.

The speakers were from outside Ireland which was a bit of a shame as they were all part of the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.

Perhaps next time Pat Guiden who is actively involved in BNI and the Referral Institute in Ireland might be persuaded to be one of the speakers.

The day kicked off with Mike Macedonio, co-author of “Truth or Delusion, busting networking myths” (a very accessible and quick read). The other key speaker was Sarah Owens who leads the Referral Institute in the UK.

I was fortunate to be able to speak to them both at the end of the event and record a podcast about networing and referral strategies to grow your business that I will be publishing soon on our new “Biz Growth Podcast”.

Here are three key learnings I’d like to share for the next time you attend a live event:

1. Don’t sell to the room - I was astounded that after being reminded in the morning session, that while many of us dislike selling, most of us do not like being sold to, it only took the lunch break for that learning to go out of the window.

Several of the attendees walked round the room to “sell their wares” and left flyers on the table for programmes they were running.

What a waste of money for those marketing materials and a dint in their reputation. The participants just did what they had been advised not to do – they sold to the room.

You only had to look around the conference room at the end of the day to see how many brochures and flyers had been left disgarded.

I am highly unlikely to attend a training programme based on a flyer alone if I do not know of the course leaders reputation.

2. Don’t dish out cards – at times I am afraid it felt a bit like some of the attendees had a bunch of business cards they were desperate to get rid of.

There were business cards slid across the table to me and shoved into my hand in the wait in-line for the buffet lunch that I am afraid never made it home.

You see I have no idea what these people do and as they had not invested in getting to know me as a person.

So you can be sure I am not putting their information into my data base. They probably would have no idea who I was if I followed up with them.

You might think that shortsighted of me, but for me networking starts with building a relationship and I would prefer to ask for a business card than have one thrown at me.

3. Don’t forget to follow up – I always plan time in my calendar to follow up the day after the event usually by email to the people I met. I am also always interested in who makes reference to me in their blog saying they met me or who emails me.

Of the 30 business people I met out of the 140 attendees, only one person has actually followed up – and that includes some of he attendees who would consider themselves master networkers!

Who was that person? James Kennedy who has a great technology platform that delivers podcasts via mobile phones. You can be sure that I will be connecting with James in the not too distant future to explore opportunties for their technology to support my work in corporate podcasting.

Ending on a more positive note, remember networking’s number one rule – give to your network before you ask for anything from it.

Because I approached initially meeting Pat and Sarah in this vein and offered to assist them in a number of areas, they reciprocated with a wonderful gift.

I had a great opportunity to share some of my knowledge with the 140 attendees of the Networking Day Dublin event in the area of networking and referrals. You see they invited me to address the room with some top tips on how to access, give and use testimonials to grow your business and attract more clients.

What a great opportunity that was to share my experience and of course a little about my business, which meant at the end of the event I had a group of people gathered around me who wanted to know more about our business.

Thank you so much Mike, Pat and Sarah. The day was a great reminder and refresher of some of the skills we need to develop to help us grow our business through networking and referral strategies.