While a large part of relationship building is leveraging your existing network to meet
new people, it’s still important to attend events. In doing so, you are providing yourself
with an additional opportunity to meet new people and to strengthen some of your
existing relationships.

Face time is so important to building a strong network. The more events you attend, the
more you will see some of the same people. This will allow you to get know those
people even better.

At the same time, you need to put yourself in situations where you can meet people you
would probably never have met otherwise. Take the time to attend a variety of events.
Don’t just attend the same events each month.

Attend Events in Your Industry

While it should be self-evident, it’s always important to attend events in your
professional industry. You will see some familiar people at these events such as clients,
partners and competitors.

In order to get to know people better, you need to interact with them on a regular basis.
If you don’t do business with them regularly, talking to these people every month at an
industry function is very important for your relationships.

Another essential reason to attend an industry function is to keep up with the people
and trends in your space. Talking with people is a great way to learn about the trends in
your industry.

At the same time, if you need to hire some new employees, find new clients or want a
new job, industry events are the place to find people and opportunities. Make sure you
attend some industry functions every month.

If you work in the technology industry, you would have had a great time at the recent
TECH cocktail 3, which was a mixer for Chicago’s technology community.

Spend Time With Fellow Alumni

Most universities have local alumni chapters in some of the bigger cities such as
Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Seek out the local chapter in your city. If you don’t
have a local chapter, consider starting one. Before you start a chapter, you
should work with your university to find out how many alumni are in your area to make
sure you have a large enough audience.

Assuming you have a local chapter, make an effort to attend alumni events. If you have
both undergraduate and advanced degrees, you will have at least two universities from
which to choose.

However, if you only have a strong affiliation with one school, focus your efforts on that
school’s alumni initiatives. Regardless, alumni events are a great way to interact with
people who have at least one commonality: a degree from the same school.

In networking, it is important to find similar interests with people. Have fun and mingle
with your fellow alumni. Most alumni like doing business with each other. Take
advantage of these opportunities.

Support a Worthy Cause By Attending Charity Events

In addition to attending professional events, make an effort to join a cause and attend
some charity events. At charity events, you be supporting a worthwhile cause and you
will have fun and meet some great people.

Every once in a while, it can be a nice change not to attend a business event. Most nonprofit boards and volunteers are comprised of people in the business community.

In fact, many boards are made up of very influential business professionals. By
attending these events, you will get a chance to meet some of these people. In most
cases, you normally wouldn’t find some of these people at regular business events.

In general, you will meet some interesting and new people at charity functions. If you
believe in the cause and like the people you meet, consider volunteering on a
committee. Volunteer work will help you to bond even more with the organization and
the people involved.

Have Fun at Social Events

A great way to have fun and still build relationships is to attend social events.
Individuals and organizations put on these types of events every month. Much like
during the holidays, social events are designed to let you unwind in a non-business
environment. Most of these events take place in bars, restaurants, museums or art
galleries.

As your network grows, you will be invited to several of these functions a year. If people
invite you, make an effort to attend as many of these as you can.

At social events, you will have the chance to get to know people more on a personal
level, which is a major part of relationship building. The more you know about someone,
the more you will be able help and do business together.

Final Thought

In order for networking to stay fresh for you, you need to try new things and mix them
up. Make it a goal to attend new events every month. You never know who you will
meet.