Social Networking for the Socially Distanced

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Brochu (00:00):
The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue, a
thing distinctly hard to say andharder still to do. A
rat-tat-tat- tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat tattoo tattoo
tattoo. A quarter to two todayat a quarter or two to two. A
thing distinctly hard to say andharder still to do.

Staceyann Van Horne (00:20):
Wowwwwwwww.

We ready?
Listen, if you're going to be aprofessional podcaster with me-

Staceyann Van Horne-Doria (00:27):
That was so much.

-you just have to be ready for your morning
exercises.

Yo that was so much. I don't
even... Wow. It's so damn early.

Yes.

Staceyann Van Horne-Dor (00:43):
Welcome to Well Seasoned the Podcast. I
am Stacey.

And I'm Patrick.

Let's be honest with the people. We
recorded an episode and wedidn't like it so... We're here
Again. Because we only delivethe best. Right, Patrick

That is correct.
I feel like in the last episode- the episode that will never

Nope.
Mmm mmm. Not doing it.

-- we weren't as prepared for that episode, we
were kind of rambling. But Ithink we've cleaned up our act
and yeah, and here we are back.

We cleaned it up for six o'clock in
the morning, yeyah. Have yourecovered from WEC?

You know, I have, and I didn't feel like my
conference, quote unquote,hangover lasted as long as it
normally does, because you'renot talking as much as normal.
And I know that we did our recapepisode already. But as I've
digested the conference a littlebit more, there are some things
that I thought about that wedidn't really talk about in the
actual recap episode. And one ofthose things is, it was great to

(01:47):
be around people. But it wasweird. It was awkward at times.
And as a I'm doing my quotationfingers, guys, leader in the
industry being an MPI chapterpresident, you know that we're
here to advocate for gettingback in person. But at the same
time, there were some momentsthat were just awkward.

Yeah.

Being around that many people and people are
in masks and people are behindPlexiglas and you wearing your
mask and you can't hear andyou're like what, and I remember
a few times tun Stacey, this isthe WEC that I knew the least
amount of people. And Stacey waslike, No, Patrick, you probably
know a lot of these people.
You're just not recognizingthem. Because you're, you're
only seeing from their eyes.
Yeah, I think that's probablytrue. And I found that in my

(02:29):
reflection going back. And Ifeel like people were in their
pods of just people that theyknew which I normally advocate
totally against.

Yeah.

But in this particular scenario, I get it.
People wanting to be aroundpeople that they knew and
trusted that had also beenstaying safe. There were some
moments that were just awkward.
I mean, what did you feel?

I felt the same way. Unlike you, I
can stay with the same personthe whole time, because I'm
afraid of meeting new people.
But this one was very extreme,just really not knowing anyone
and I'm someone who I need tosee the face because I'm not
good with names either. And so Ifelt like extremely handicapped
because I had nothing to go offof. Yeah, I will say it's funny

(03:10):
though. The one thing thathappens after every single
conference, is I lose my voiceand I lost my voice for like two
days. And I don't know how thatwas.

It's probably because you were trying to
scream through the mask.

Staceyann Van Horne-D (03:23):
Probably.
And you know, taking off themask when you can't hear because
that's how it works. But it wasa weird WEC. I didn't get to see
half the people I would love tosee. But with all that said,
they did a great job executingthe event.

Oh, absolutely.
And I think what I'm saying, youknow, isn't really a reflection
of how the conference was done.
And I know that's what you'resaying either but I think the
conference was absolutelyspectacular in what they did and
how they did it. There werethings that we talked about the
last episode that we didn'tthink about that they did. Shout
out to Lori Pugh and the rest ofthe team over there at MPI

(04:00):
Global to put this on

PUGH.
PUGH PUGH!

Pew, pew, pew

Staceyann Van Hor (04:04):
Pewpewpewpew!

But you know, there's nothing that you can do
about some of those awkwardmoments. So...

No.

You know what, Stacey? At the end of our recap,
we actually recorded that duringWEC so I was promising everybody
that I would give a recap of thefinal event because Stacey
wasn't going but I drug Staceyout of that hotel.

Yeah, man. I'm big mad.

I dragged her.
She was kicking and screaming

and I was upset. I was mad.

And then Stacey gets on the bus. Stacey's like,
okay, okay, okay, we're on thebus and she looks so tired. And
then all of a sudden, Stacey'slike, so how long is the ride
out here and somebody was like30 to 40 minutes.

And I lost it.

You're going from Grapevine to Arlington. And
she absolutely freaked out andwas like No, and she threatened
to just get right back on thesame bus and turn around.

So bad.

It was at Arlington. They had like a
little area in-

Texas Live.

-yeah, in between the Texas Rangers
Stadium and the Cowboys Stadium.
There's this big Texas Livevenue. They had a live band
going on.

The band was amazing.

Yeah the band was great. Stacey stayed a lot
longer than I thought, they haddifferent bars at different
beverages at them. Everybody wassocially distance wearing masks.
I remember those little tacos.
They were really good. Yeah. Andthey came with a little mini
bottle of tequila. And all I wasthinking is man, they were
really trying to get us. Alittle bitty taco came with a
whole bottle of tequila. Theyhad that. And then after you
left Stacey, they had fireworks.

Shut your face!

Yeah, behind the band there were live fireworks.
But it's funny because one ofthose event things I'm not sure
if they told the band what wasgonna happen.

Oh!

Because as I'm watching the band, the lead
singers are going they're doingtheir thing. The drummer's fine,
but the horns I see them likelook behind them, like what the
heck?
They're like tapping each otheron the shoulder and pointing.

Oh my god!

Nobody told the band, you know, and it was like
pop pop pop pop.

Yeah, no, it was nice. I found myself
at a table where nobody elsewas, sat myself right there. And
then I was like-

with Petey Pete! Shout out Petey Pete!

Pete you get shout outs in two
episodes? Y'all. Okay,seriously, y'all need to really
call Pete Cancila with CaesarsAtlantic City property. Shout
out to Pete. He is the best.
That's my shout out for the day.
Look at me!

Not a sponsor yet.

Oh my god. But give Pete a call. Great
property, great person. GivePete a call.

Not a sponsor.

Oh my god. Can't stand you. But I was
like, I'm tired. I want to gohome. I had to wake up at 330 to
catch a six o'clock flight.

Petey Pete was big time with you guys. He took
you and another friend of minethat was there with you guys.
And you guys, instead of takingthe shuttle back, you guys took
a little UberXL Black.

In style. Ow. Ow.

Meanwhile, you guys know how I am. I was
literally the last person on thevery last bus leave.

Staceyann Van Horne-Dori (06:51):
That's why I wasn't messing with the
I'm like you go ahead and stayby not playing with them. Of
course you were the last personmy god.

So Stacey, let's get into today's topic. Oh,
happy anniversary, Stacey. Happyanniversary. This is our 10th
episode.

Awwww.
I'm like What? Oh, god do I needto call Rocci?

The look on her face, guys.

I just had some fear like Oh no.
Thanks, Patrick.

Happy 10th episode. This is officially our
10th episode. And I'm so happy.
And for those of you guys thatare dedicated listeners and know
that I had a counting error on apast episode where I was like,
oh, Stacey, this is like ourseventh or eighth or whatever it
was. I know I got some messagesabout that. That was because we
recorded those out of order fromwhich one came out. So I was
still right on the number ofepisodes. It was just which one

(07:44):
came out before the okay.
You-You people, you people. Youknow who you are.

You call people out now. Mmm mmm.

So anyway, Happy 10th episode,

Oh happy 10th episode, but I'm
gonna let those people know thatyou called them out.

Put some respect on my name.

Oh. I hate you so much Birdman.

Inside joke.
Okay go ahead.

The episode we're bringing to you
guys today has to do withnetworking. And we thought that
was really important becauseevents are starting to come back
together again. We just lastepisode talked about MPI WEC
event that was in Grapevine,Texas. And we're all doing these
online networking sessions orjust online events. And, you

(08:32):
know, it's really important thatwe still continue to network,
even as the networking fieldchanges, from physical to
digital to hybrid. Usually, wewould start off with asking
people about how they wouldintroduce themselves at first.
So if you're in a typical event,it might be Hey, Patrick, how

(08:54):
you doing? I name is Stacey. I'man event planner, corporate
event planner. I work for thismedical company, I stay pretty
high level with it.

The elevator pitch.

The elevator pitch. Exactly. But
what makes that elevator pitchactually memorable? I mean, the
same thing you hear 10-15 timeswhether you're in person or
you're in a virtual world, andwe're corporate planners, we're
suppliers, nonprofit, but whatactually makes that memorable to
the person? Do you actually feellike you made a connection? I

(09:25):
dunno know, Patrick, how youdeal with that elevator pitch.
Is it memorable to you? I turnPatrick with this because this
is where Patrick excels and thisis where I struggle is
networking, right? And I needthat common person. So Patrick,
when you hear pitches like that,does that stick with you?

If it's an insincere, it's like they're
line in their scripts orwhatever they're doing, it's not
memorable to me. I wouldn't beable to remember of that Stacey
and she works for whoever sheworks for and I don't quite
remember what she did. I like toconnect it with things. When I
do mine, I like to keep itunscripted. And I actually
relate this back to, if you'reever in a restaurant and you

(10:04):
have a server or somebody, theycome up to you and they sound so
scripted, my wife and I, wealways call it the server voice,
then they go back into theirscript, every once in a while
you can get them kind of out ofit. And then they go back into
their script. And then they'reback into server voice.

Server voice also comes with a head nod
tilt.

Yes. Oh, yeah. I don't want to hear the same
script, whatever. Make itmemorable when you're doing your
elevator pitch. Stacey and I, weactually did a session at CITE
Global in Vancouver in January,we had a crowd of about 200-250
people. And we had all of themstand up and do their elevator
pitch, whatever their stockelevator pitch was. And then

(10:43):
afterwards, we talked to themand said, hey, what was
memorable about that, and peoplein the crowd had a hard time
remembering who was at theirtable.

And that was over, what, one minute?

Yes, later, and they couldn't remember. And then
we had them do it again, and tryto find something that is
relatable. Talk about somethingpersonal about yourself. I have
a French bulldog, oh, I have aGerman Shepherd, not the same
thing. But hey, we were both dogpeople, things like that. So we
were trying to encourage peopleto find that common ground. And
I know that's hard. And it canbe awkward at the beginning. But

(11:15):
that's something that westrongly encourage, because then
you're going to be more likelyto actually remember that
person. And when they tell youwhat they do for a living, or
how you guys can work together,collaborate, you're going to be
more open to it and morereceptive.

It just shows that your elevator
pitch can't be a stock pitchkind of how they say, you can't
send the same cover letter toevery single company, you got to
customize it per company, yourelevator pitch needs to be
personal to you and that personthat you're meeting. So we want
to share some stats in regardsto networking face to face, and

(11:48):
how that can translate into avirtual world or a hybrid world.
72% of people say theirimpression of a person is first
made by appearance, and/orhandshake and that works in both
a physical and virtual world. Soin terms of appearance, don't be
that person in sweat pants at acocktail reception or with

(12:10):
stains all over their shirt wheneveryone's looking all fresh and
so clean. Don't be that person.
Also, we talked about the wetclammy handshake all the time.
And that is not how you want tobe remembered is by that weak
handshake. And then in thevirtual world, we always say be
cognizant of your background, becognizant of what you're doing.
If your camera's on and you'reeating rice krispies, remember

(12:33):
that, because you don't want tobe the person on the Zoom call
that's eating. You don't want tobe the person on the Zoom call
that has inappropriate thingslining up behind them. You have
a bike in clouds, which for somereason the clouds is what's
getting me.

Oh, no, it's a map.
it's kind ofwashed out. There's there's-

That's not a map.
Oh, it's a map.

Yeah. Stacey's looking at my background behind
me guys.

And see this is the memorable items.
Memorable thing. So yeah, it'sreally important when you're
networking. Everything matters.
Your your appearance matters.
Background matters. It allmatters.

I talked about this in a previous episode, too.
It's a personal preference, butI like to get dressed up even
when I'm working at home. I liketo feel professional put on a
polo. I have shorts on right nowbut I'm wearing a polo so I look
presentable to people get out ofyour pajamas feel more
comfortable. Unless of courseyou're at an event like SPINCon,
where they have pajama parties.

Oh, well okay, SPINCon.

That's the thing. Shout out to Shawna
Suckow and her team over atSPIN.

Mmhmm.

Unless you're attending a conference where
something like that's happening,where if it's a Zoom event or a
virtual event, and it's dressedlike this or whatever, make
yourself look presentable, makeyourself look professional,
because still, that firstimpression is just as important
on a virtual or an in-person asever.

And in our last session, just that
WEC somebody was saying thattheir company now, because we're
in the Zoom world, they have toupdate their company guidelines
to include work appropriateattire for Zoom calls, because
they see that people are takingadvantage of the fact that
they're at home, and of courseyour home so you're dressed more
relaxed. If you're working witha casual team, you might be okay

(14:18):
with T-shirts and jeans. They'resaying that people are noticing
that they're so comfortable thatthat's now translating to the
external customer as well orpeople are just not dressed
appropriately. So don't be thatperson. Don't be that person
that the company has to changeyour guidelines because you're
so relaxed. Also a networkingstat, one in four people do not

(14:40):
like to network. I am them. Theyare me. I hate networking. And
it's hard. It's really hard,especially if you're in a room
by yourself. You don't have yourcommon person, a Patrick there
that loves to network. If I goto an event by myself, I stay by

(15:02):
myself. It is something that Iliterally have to force myself
to do. Or as long as I have oneperson, I am okay with talking
to people, but I really am notokay, networking on my own.
Where Patrick, on the otherhand, excels in a room where he
knows no one, he wants to getout there and talk to people.
And I know we've told our originstory 1000 times, but that is

(15:26):
how we met. I was at a largeevent by myself sitting at a
table by myself. And Patrickbeing the person that he is,
when he goes to events, he doesit right. He's not here to meet
his friends. He's there to meetnew people, he saw me sitting by
myself. And that's how we met.

I highly encourage it when, knock on
wood, hopefully things get backto normal here pretty soon, but
when you're attending your nextevent, walk into a room, I walk
into rooms at these conferences,and I'll see tables of all of my
friends. And I try to find atable with as many people that I
don't know. And I just sit thereand do my thing.

Yeah.
And in a virtual world, thatchat box is your networking,
it's a lot easier for me toengage in a chat box, it's to
engage in person, I justattended another event, it was a
virtual event. And people werereally active in the chat box,
connecting with names that theyknew or just saying hi to the
group. I felt comfortablejumping in there and just
saying, Hey, everyone, Staceyfrom Reno, I'm looking forward

(16:20):
to this event. Everyone kind ofjust jumped in and said, Yeah,
looking forward to it. Nice tomeet you. It's snowing out
there. And the conversationstarted that way. So it's a lot
easier if you're like me, andyou struggle in a virtual world,
use that chat box and get toknow people.

Another stat that's interesting is 41% of
networkers want to network more,but they don't feel like they
have enough time. And that'slike me, in a regular world
without COVID, I felt that way.
I was like, hey, I want to getout and meet as many people as I
can get to as many programs as Ican as many conferences. But
then when you're going to theseconferences, you have a lot of
follow-up and things to do. So Ijust didn't feel like I had

(16:59):
enough time to be able to go toeverything that I would have
gone to. So I needed to figureout what things and try to
really value which networkingevents I was going to. Fast
forward into the COVID world atthe beginning of this I was on
every networking event virtuallythat I could possibly get to.
And then after a while, it justbecame too much. Because then I

(17:19):
started having a lot of followup, oh, hey, you do virtual
events. Here's a quote. Hey, I'mlooking for somebody to do what
you're talking about. Here's aquote. So I had a lot of things
going on. So my strategy wasworking. But then I found myself
going, Oh, well. Well, now I'mout working on this quote until
eight, nine o'clock when Oh,there's another event, I could
go meet somebody else I had toway off let me get through this

(17:41):
or let me get to this otherevent and have somebody at my
office helped me with this orwhatever the case may be, so,
41% of people that like tonetwork want to network more,
but just don't have enough time.

Adding on to that, especially now, I
don't want to say homeschoolingbut homeschooling your children
or virtual learning, it's evenharder for you to find time to
do all that. I mean, right nowwe're recording at six o'clock
in the morning, because this isthe short window where Patrick's
babies are in school. So yes, itbecomes difficult. And you have
to look at all the sessionsthat's out there, look at all

(18:16):
the events that's out there andreally weigh which one means the
most to you. So you might havethat standing happy hour meeting
that you have going on, but youreally wanted to go to WEC
virtual hybrid events. You needto prioritize that because the
happy hour meeting might be thesame people you're always going
to meet. The next meeting is themeeting where you're going to

(18:37):
get to know someone new, or youmight pick up some new
information. So you do have todo some work with prioritizing
your schedule, but it is worthit. 68% of entry level
professionals value face-to-facenetworking more than online.
It's true. And especially, asevents come back, it's going to
be even more. In our one sessionwe had at WEC. When we asked

(19:01):
people whose first time it wasat WEC, I want to say about 60%
of the hands went up.

Oh, easily.
Easily.

I mean, that was minimum. And it's
because face-to-face, orcamera-to-camera, you can get to
know someone you could readtheir facial expressions, you
can play into it, you could seethat they didn't like this joke
and adjust accordingly. Or fac-to-face, what we talked about.
e went to MPI because we wantedo see what an event would lo

(19:29):
k like in a post-COVID world. Yu can't do that virtually righ
. You can't experience the nw table settings or how they'
e serving food or what's hs breakout rooms. There's s
mething about being onite and learning. You kno
, we're experiential learner. We're learners that want to t
uch and feel. And so it'really important that we do

(19:49):
ake the time out of our schedue to do t

I think there's a stat out there that's almost
100% of people say thatface-to-face meetings are
essential for long term businessrelationships. And that's simply
because people want to dobusiness with people that they
like, know and trust. So inorder to, like, know and trust
somebody, you have to reallyknow them. I will say, going
into some of this COVIDlockdown, I was worried about

(20:13):
that online. But I've made somevery, very good friends from
just some random networkingevents that I popped into some
random MPI chapters throughoutthe country that I popped into.
And now I'm texting basis dailywith some of these people that
I've met at these events. So andthis were just random people
that I was able to come intocontact to, it's all about
building a relationship. I thinkat the end of the day, the real

(20:35):
thing is it's not justnetworking, it's building
relationships. That's what thename of the game is here,
building those relationships.
And those relationships can turninto if you're on a supplier
side, they turn into businessdown the road. If you're on a
buyer, or in this case, aplanner side, those turn into
people that you trust to helpyou facilitate your event. And

(20:58):
so you're feeling morecomfortable and more confident
than just hiring somebody offthe street that you don't really
know, if you just put out fivebids, and you just pick the
medium or the cheapest one, andyou don't know who these people
are.

Yeah.

Knowing who you're doing business with is
the name of the game here.

And talking about building
relationships, buildingrelationships do not happen over
the course of a three day event,or over the course of a week,
right, because I am using us asan example but I have many
people that I can use anexample. Patrick and I met in
what was that 2015?

2014

14.
Our first event wasn't until2016. It was two years before I
did an event with Patrick. Butfrom that two years, it was a
lot of networking, a lot ofmeeting other people, connecting
others to others in industry.
So, probably brought each otherbusiness indirectly before we
started working together. Butalso, by the time I started

(22:01):
working with Patrick for myfirst event, Patrick knew my
business, Patrick knew myquirks, my wants, my needs, and
we were able to say okay, basedon this, this is how we're going
to execute a flawless event. Andwe did. Same thing with
hoteliers, or just othersuppliers in general. There's so
many in the industry that I metat a networking event. And maybe

(22:22):
we didn't do business togetheruntil a year or so later. But we
kept that relationship. And it'smore than just, clearly, over
the course of the year, you'renot just talking about what you
do and who you work for and howlong you've been at the company.
You're starting to talk about,oh my gosh, I was at this event,
I didn't like this or this iscrazy when I saw this, just

(22:44):
getting to know a personpersonally, because then when it
came time to see business, and Iknew that we both mutually had
each other's best interest atheart.

I think, just like you, there are multiple
situations in my portfolio thatI could point out to and some
specifically here in the COVIDtimes that I had some people
that I've been bidding on thingsa few times over the years here
and there, not really felt sogreat about those bids that I
put out with them that... I knewthem, but they just for whatever

(23:17):
reason gave me the opportunity,which is great, but we weren't
able to work together because ofone thing or another. I actually
was thinking about it. There wassomebody specifically from a
Connect event back in 2013 or 14that I was in communication
with. That person never gave mean opportunity but I stayed in

(23:37):
such close contact with themthey just happen to see
something random that I put onmy Facebook page, gave me an
opportunity to bid on it and Iwon the business. And that's
somebody that I met seven, maybesix, seven years ago.

Yeah.

And then out of the blue, it just--but I kept in
contact with them for the pastseven years.

Yeah.

Just Hey, whatever, whatever. And also one
other thing that especially onthe supplier side we're very
guilty of and I'm calling us allout. But we're very guilty of
going through those conferenceslooking at those name badges.
Oh, is yours a blue name badgeor red name badge? Are you a
buyer or a supplier? Oh, you'rea supplier, you're not going to

(24:14):
do anything for me. Go awaysupplier, go away. But I can't
tell you enough, again, in thistime, when it was more crucial
than ever, how many suppliershelped me out during COVID. And
a few examples. One specificsupplier that I met, I was with
them a few times over the yearsand I happened to be with them

(24:37):
the day that they received aphone call that they got a job
as a corporate meeting plannerand they switched sides but I
was close with them prior tothat. That was just a complete
coincidence that they switchsides right before COVID this
happened and they came to me andI was the person that they
liked, knew and trusted. Anotherone actually an event that just

(24:57):
happened last week. That was arecommendation from supplier, a
supplier said, Hey, you guys aregoing to be doing this virtual
event, you have to call Patrick.
Those suppliers can be just ashelpful and influential to you.
And more important to you thaneven some of the planners
because they can introduce youto multiple people multiple
things.

Same thing on a planner side, we're
not in competition with eachother, we're all working
together. Bringing up Pawntra asa sub planner, right? And so
she's able to work with anotherplanner and supply things and
we're working together. We haveto look at this industry as one
cohesive big family. Because wealways say how small the

(25:35):
industry is, no matter where youare, or where you go, you're
going to run into that personagain. It's more than, like you
said, the color of the namebadge and the title because
connections and networking, itdoesn't follow the lines. It's
open to everyone.

Yeah, I like to say to network with intention go
out if you're going to networkhave a game plan going in. We
didn't really talk about ittoday as much. But Staceyann and
I, when we do this networkingsession that we've done a few
times, we always talk aboutnetwork with a buddy. That's
always a great thing to do. Yougo out with a buddy. A, it's
less awkward for the two of you.
If you're one person and you'rebreaking into a group of five

(26:09):
people, everybody's in thatsituation, either on the side of
the five people or the oneperson and you're like, Oh, this
is kind of awkward. Who is thisperson? Or, Hey, guys, I'm just
trying to be in theconversation. And then they're,
they're having their insidejokes or whatever, it's easier
to do that, believe it or not,with two people go in with a
friend if you know somebody at aconference, buddy up with that
person and say, hey, let's takethis on together. And hey, I

(26:30):
don't know anybody at thisconference, or maybe they know
everybody, and they canintroduce you or maybe they
don't know anybody either. Andit's easier when two people go
into a situation, not in acliquish kind of way, but tag
team. I've also transitionedthis into the virtual world,
gone into some random networkingevents for different
associations in our industry,and said to a friend, Hey, why
don't you join me? I'm gonna beon this Zoom 5pm happy hour.

(26:53):
They're like, Hey, who do youknow? And I was like, I don't
know anybody. Why don't you comewith me? And then we got on, we
were talking in the chat, peoplesaw us and started engaging with
the two of us. And we're like,oh, you guys know each other? It
became like a tag team scenario.

It kind of grew from there. Yeah,
and I mean, especially in thisCOVID world too where we're all
wearing masks. In an in-personevent, it's even more scary for
someone who doesn't network,because now you're not even
seeing faces. You're only seeingeyes. So you might be walking
past someone you don't know. Andit's even harder to kind of
network. So going in tag teamingand having that person there, it

(27:27):
does offer that extra level ofstability. A big thing about
networking is that you're notnetworking with the people you
already know. How's thatexpanding your network? That's a
lunch date.

And another thing after the networking
event, 70% of people don'tfollow up with the people that
they meet. They have what I liketo call the rubber band syndrome
where they get all your cards,you put them in a rubber band
and and then you put them in adrawer, I'm sure that a lot of
you guys listening can open upthat drawer in front of you and
have tons of business cards ofpeople that you've never reached
back out to. When I go to aconference, a little insider tip

(28:04):
here, I take my cards and Iwrite notes on every single one
of them. Every night when I goback to my room, even if I'm in
person, you guys will see mewith my little Sharpie fine
point, I'm writing my notes onit.

He does have a Sharpie in every
size at a conference.

And then I get back to my room and I'm like,
okay, write out more notes orwhatever I want to do. And then
I separate them into differentcategories. Again, I tell you to
follow up with everybody but Iobviously, being a supplier,
want all of my buyers first. Sookay, here's my buyers. And I'll
put a rating system on one tofive, who I feel like is the
most important because when I'mgoing back to do my follow-ups,

(28:38):
those are the people that I putthe most importance on a very
customized follow-up. 90% of myfollow-ups are very customized,
but I go through and I'm sayingOkay, these people, I want to
customize your all my buyers.
Then I take suppliers and Iseparate them out into different
categories. And even those --because I have some suppliers
that I'm like, okay, thatsupplier can still bring me
business or you know, I have anopportunity here, or maybe I can

(28:59):
help them and there's somebodythat I can help down the road.
So I have those suppliers. Andthen I have other suppliers that
I know will never do anythingfor me. But I still follow up
with every single one of them.
Say, Hey, this is what I do wemet, if there's ever anything I
can help you with, please feelfree to reach out to me. I'm an
expert in this, this and thisand I'm in this region, if you

(29:20):
happen to be coming in the area,reach out to me if you're
visiting. And you'd be surprisedhow many of those people
actually reach out to me whenthey come into that area. And I
introduced them to somebody andthen all of a sudden, you know,
maybe a planner friend or buyerfriend got that connection
through me and then they're Oh,thank you so much for
introducing me to Pete shout outPete from Atlantic City.

Not yet a sponsor.

But different scenarios like that, I think is
very important. So make surethat you follow up with
everybody, no matter if you feellike they're going to do
anything for you or not. Younever never know. Yeah. And
Stacey, I'm sorry to ramble herebut there's one other point that
I like to bring up. I talk aboutthis all the time. It's called
connecting dots. And you'veheard me talk about this before,

(30:03):
Stacy. Yeah, there is a greatTED Talk out there, I encourage
all of our listeners to go outand find it. It's called active
networking. And it's by a guy bythe name of Mark E Sackett. Mark
E SACKETT. Mark E Sackett. He isnot a professional speaker, by
any means, but his TED Talk oncollecting dots is one of the

(30:26):
greatest things I've ever heardwhen it comes to networking. And
what he means by collecting dotsis finding that meaningful
connection for people. So again,if I'm collecting the dots, and
you guys can't see me becausethis is an audio podcast, but
I'm doing all this kind ofcrazy, hand movement here. But
you have a dot over on yourright that dot is Stacry and

(30:47):
Stacry is a buyer and I knowspecifically the things that
she's out looking for. And thenI meet a venue over here on my
left. That venue is in ageographic region that I know
Stacey wants to plan an eventand in my head, I'm connecting
dots. So I might say, hey,Stacey, I saw this person from
this property, they might be ofinterest to you. Or another
example, Stacey, I know somebodythat's doing virtual game shows.

(31:11):
I know you have a virtual eventcoming up. Let me introduce you
here. So connecting those dotsare the most important thing
because then Stacey's gonna comeback and say, Oh, you know what?
Patrick was very helpful. Hewent above and beyond what he
had to do for me. I reallyappreciate what he was able to
do.

As a matter of fact, I think I have a
real life situation where youdid exactly that. I think you
introduced me to Zach atParadise Point in San Diego. I
think it wasn't even that youknew Zach. I think it was that
you were just like here's theSan Diego booth. Yes at IMEX and
that's how we kind of met.

That one and then the Louisville one.

And Louisville. Oh my gosh,
Louisville.

Louisville. I introduced you to Louisville and
then you did an event inLouisville, Louisville, not yet
a sponsor, but Louisville-

-did sponsor session.

They kind of owe me for both of us. But
Louisville has actuallysponsored two of our sessions.

Yes.

At IMEX and now at WEC. So shout out to you guys
in Louisville.

And one of them they gave us dranks.

Yeah, they did build your own Mint Julep in the
room, which was pretty cool.
Thank you.
Thank you, Louisville for thosemint juleps.

So okay, let's talk about it. He
kind of gave some informationabout networking and why it's
important how to do it. But nowwhen it comes time to network,
how exactly do we use everythingto our advantage? In person
what's so cool about this, whatI love about this, is when we do
it in a group of that size, wehear throughout the conference,

(32:38):
Oh my gosh, because of you I metthis person, and you see those
connections stay throughout thelink conference. So some general
questions that have nothing todo with just your job. These are
general and it could be specificto you. I'm great at going in
with just random questions andasking people and that's how we
connect. But you know, who areyou? What would you do? Or what

(33:00):
would you rather be doing? Ithink you said, Patrick, that so
many people aren't actuallyliving their passion, right? So
yeah, I am an event planner. Ilove event planning. But if I
had to choose another job oranother profession, it would be
cooking and wine. That's wheremy passion is. Where are you
from where are you based, weknow that people love their

(33:22):
hometown cities. I'm from theBronx, and we'll talk about it
to the day I die. Living inReno, I say, I live in Reno, but
I'm from the Bronx. What are youmost passionate about? Really
getting those questions thatmake people talk on a deeper
level than just the company thatthey're representing at the
conference, you will find thatthat connection will be deeper,

(33:46):
it will mean more. And it willbe more memorable than the
typical questions.

Yeah, and following up on that, when you
mentioned people not livingtheir passion, that's something
that's very important, becausewhen you're really meeting
people for the first time,there's a stat out there about
70% of people not living theirpassion. So find out what that
passion is. I've had scenariosagain, going back to connecting
dots, where I've met people thatwere Hey, Patrick, I'm a

(34:16):
planner. But you know, I reallywant to go into hotels. That
kind of, you know, messes it upfor me, but hey, you know,
that's your passion. So here,let me let me introduce you. And
I've had people changing up whatthey're doing and been able to
introduce people and get themlined up with somebody that they
were able to connect with anddown the road change careers.
And on the flip side, you know,people that were in hotels and
said, I really always wanted tobe a meeting planner. That's

(34:37):
what I've always wanted to do.
Okay, here you go, boom, andbeen able to introduce and
connect people which has beengreat. Find what somebody's
passion is and you might knowsomebody that you can connect
them with down the road thatwill change their trajectory,
and they'll never forget that.

I think that's what we have in
terms of networking, and we hopethat you're able to use some of
that information not only in,like we keep saying, the
physical world, but in thehybrid and virtual world, that
you'll go out there and you'llmeet people. It is very
important that we continue tonetwork throughout our
professional and our personallives. I always say we're

(35:12):
students in this world andnetworking in general, you're
always going to learn somethingnew from somebody else might not
be something you like, butyou're gonna learn something
new. So continue to get outthere, continue to network, step
outside your comfort zone inyour bubble and get to know
someone new. Patrick, you knowwhat time it is.

Yeah, it's time for that paprika. The seasoning
that means nothing.

And also means everything because
smoked paprika is everything.
But smoked. Specifically.
Would you like me to start offwith something that happened
yesterday? I decided after beingwoken up by Milo, my dog, with

(36:00):
his stinky face and breath in myface. I decided to take him to
PetSmart to get a bath. So Itook him there. And I know he
hates water. He hates baths. Hehates nail clippings. He hates
it all. And so I make anappointment online. I go to
PetSmart. And I get there andthey're like, oh, what's your

(36:21):
name? I'm like, his name is Milohe has a 130. And they're like,
okay, and they come back out.
They're like, Can you say yourname again? I'm like Milo.
They're like, We don't have youin the system. I'm like, But
here's my confirmation number...
with the other PetSmartlocation. Oh my god, I'm so
sorry. And they're just like,Oh, don't worry, we have an
opening. So they were able totake him in. And she was like,
oh, his nails aren't too long. Isee that they're sharp. So I'm

(36:43):
not gonna probably be able tolike, drill them down. And I'm
like, oh, he is going to attackyou. He hates that drill. And on
top of the fact that he hatesthe bath. He hates everything.
And she's like, oh, let's seewhat I can do. I go back to pick
him up in an hour and ahalf-ish. And she's like, Oh, he
was such a good dog. I'm likeWhat? She's like, Oh, yeah, no,

(37:03):
he had no problem with metrimming his nails and he loved
the bath actually, like he wasplaying and he was fine. I was
like, Can you just tell me whatsupplement you gave my dog
because I would like to do thattoo. And she's like, He's fine.
He had no problem. And he hadthis cute little like
handkerchief cape thing aroundhis neck. He looked so cute and
he was the most calm aftergetting a bath I've ever seen

(37:26):
him. So shout out to Tristen onSouth Virginia at PetSmart next
to Total Wine, which is why I gothere, because they're next to
Total Wine. So I went and gotsome what? Total wine. And it
was amazing. And so I was soexcited I, in the parking lot,
made my appointment for the nexttime because I've never seen him

(37:49):
come out so calm, so clean. Sheeven brushed his teeth. Bruh.
His teeth are white.

Whoa. Yeah, I think my dog means that
expensive breath that can knockyou out.

Also PetSmart is very affordable on
the wash. Just want to put thatout there.

That's good. Did they have to put Milo out for a
little bit to do the teeth? Didthey - cuz I know for some dogs-
No.
- they don't like to clean? Theyactually like knock them out.

No, I don't think he was knocked out.
But now I have to ask. Because Idid ask us like what did he give
him? She's like nothing. Like hedidn't get a CBD treat? None of
that? Nothing. She's like, No.
So he just sat there and justlet him brush his teeth and
express anal glands andeverything.

Because my dog her dental sticks are not quite
cutting it anymore.

My dog is allergic to those central
sticks and gets the diarrheas.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Oh, no.

So what's your paprika? Besides, I
don't know. Decorating yourhouse?

Besides d ecorating? Well, I've been a
little down lately. Right? I'vebeen-

What I tell you about doing this to
me?

Well, sorry. No, I've just been thinking a lot.
And and I try not to harp on it,but about our industry in
particular and how hard we'vebeen hit with the economic
fallout from COVID. And I'm veryfortunate. But I know that
several people in our industryhaven't been.

Yeah.

Friends of mine who have had businesses for
10-15 years, very successful nowrunning out of money. They had
money stockpiled away or for arainy day but nobody thought
this rainy day would be-

Months.

-months later.
6,7,8, 9 monthslater, whatever we are, but I'm

Yeah.
seeing some of my good friendslosing their warehouses losing
their businesses. You know meI've been so positive I'm an
ever optimist, but just recentlyI feel like some of that finally
hit me seeing them. I don'tknow. I'm sorry guys. I didn't
mean to give you guys a downer.
But you know, it's...
No, Ithink that it hits even harder

(39:52):
because it's around the holidayseason.

Yeah.

You know, you just think about
family time and unfortunatelyall the money that goes into
holidays and you think about allthat, and you think about the
fact that people are depressedright now. They are home,
they're trying to work through,but this is the time when it's
really important to reach out toyour connections. And if we go
back to the, to the actualpodcast step out of paprika for

(40:17):
a second, networking doesn'tmean only networking with the
people that can help you. And wesaid that before. And it doesn't
mean that if a person now losestheir livelihood, that they mean
nothing to you. You know, now'sespecially important to reach
out to those people and makesure they're okay. And touch
base with them. Let them knowthat they're in someone's

(40:38):
thoughts.

That's really it and I think we'll leave it there
but you know, I think with theholidays coming up, I think
Stacey hit the nail on the head.
Reach out to your contacts.
Reach out to them. Hey, what'sgoing on? How you feeling?

Yeah.

I want to be like Ellen. Be kind everyone. Be
kind. Isn't that how she endsher show? Be kind.

I don't know I don't watch Ellen.

Love me some Ellen. Alright guys, peace out
Cub Scouts!

I'm going to hurt you. Take it back.
Peace out Cub Scouts!

All right, everybody.

Okay?
Bye.

Til next time, bye.

Episode produced by Patrick Brochu and
Staceyann Van Horne-Doria. Soundediting by Rocci Doria and song
by Dr. Delight.

All right, Stacey. Yeah. So, since you're
recording so early in themorning, let's practice some
voice exercises to get yougoing. The lips the teeth, the
tip of the tongue. The lips. Theteeth. The tip of the tongue.

Stop it. Oh my god. I'm trying. I'm
awake. Good morning, Patrick.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

24/7 News: The Latest

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Social Networking for the Socially Distanced

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

24/7 News: The Latest

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

Social Networking for the Socially Distanced

Stuff You Should Know