Photo-A-Day #1593
This is the big season for conferences for me and I know that I’m going to meet many people. The reason I know this is that I don’t mind going up to someone and talking to them and I’ve noticed that people come up and talk to me. So what makes one person be approached over another?
Here are some tips to be more approachable.
1. Be Aware of Your Body Language. At a conference you are out and about away from your computer and in the real world so your body language is a huge factor. Are you smiling, do you look people in the eye? Are you fidgeting? Are you clenched up and tense? As someone connected online so much you might find that you are going to see something on the Twitter screen and want to tweet about it and you’re going to be tempted to whip out your phone and do that even while you are talking to someone. Bloggers often let that go but you should be aware that it can be a major turn off for people talking to you. If it is something that you really want to tweet say to the people that you are talking with, “Did you see that tweet? What do you think of that?” Instead of talking to everyone who isn’t in the room talk to the person right in front of you.
2. Use Your Eyes. Are you looking all around the room and not looking at the people that you are talking to? Do you keep your eyes down, are you glued to your computer, hiding behind a camera or a book? Use those eyes to look into the eyes of the other people in the room. Give them the time and attention that you do your Tweetdeck and Facebook. These are living breathing people who have knowledge that you do not. Every single person you meet have expertise in something that you do not, try and find what that expertise is.
3. Talk Less About Yourself. Listen More About Others Ask questions of the people that you meet. What is your blog? Why did you start it? Probe and really find out who the person is. I did not ask enough questions of everyone that I met at Affiliate Summit and I think I missed out. I tried really hard to do it but I wasn’t always successful. But those times when I was successful it was great and I made some fantastic friends.
4. Smile
5. Approach Others Even if you are not Being Approached. If you are headed to IZEAFest you are really in for a treat because this is a smaller event with a cut off of attendees in the 100s. This means that you should be able to meet at least 1/5 if not more people who are in attendance. But not everyone is going to approach you. You might even think that you are a small fish in a big pond and someone is a big fish that you cannot approach. That is crap, you can approach and talk to everyone because as I stated earlier you can learn something from everyone int he room which means that everyone in the room can learn something from YOU too.
6. Have Fun. These events should not be hard or scary. Everyone I’ve met in affiliate marketing or blogging so far has been so willing to help me out and if you are going to treat everyone as a person and be cool then you are going to have fun.
BONUS – Have You Met Ted? No not the charismatic Ted Murphy, I mean the tactic that Barney uses on How I Met Your Mother. Introduce people and help make those social connections with other people, help out those friends who might be shyer and need a moment for some help. If you are talking to someone who is a blogging about photography and you know another person in the room who is a good photographer then introduce them. Build up quality people and that can help build your credibility.
Do you have any tips for being more approachable?
I love this post! I was on both sides of this at two different conferences in the last week. At Affiliate Summit, I felt comfortable and it was easy to talk to people (like you and Ted and karaoke!) because I felt in my element. But then at Blog Indiana, I didn’t know anyone and felt like I was in the “out” crowd. It made me realize even more that at all times I need to appear approachable and take the first step if others are not approaching me.
.-= Look at what Tricia wrote blog ..Want To Be A Trust Agent? Find Out How =-.
Tricia,
Thanks very much for commenting on this. We didn’t get too much time to talk and I wish we had more. Congratulations on winning the trip to Orlando from MarketLeverage. I hope that you are using that to attend IZEAFest. Are you on SocialSpark? Let’s connect there too. I just read that you have been to 7 Affiliate Summits, wow. That is incredible. I can’t imagine that you’d be out of your element at Blog Indiana, especially after all those Affiliate Summits. But I can also see that it takes time to build up that confidence to say hey there I’m Drew and who are you? I’ve only begun to get more and more adept at that. These lessons above are also personal reminders to me to try and do each and every time I go to an event.
We were actually already headed to Orlando late in October for a quick Sunshine Rewards member meetup and then a family Disney Cruise. So I’m just going to combine meeting Market Leverage with that. 10 days away from home in row. ACK!
I have to start paying more attention to SocialSpark. Once upon a time I did and then let it slip. Good reminder. 🙂
We’ll absolutely have to connect more. Isn’t it funny how you can run around in circles that overlap in so many ways and then all of a sudden they all come together?
.-= Look at what Tricia wrote blog ..Want To Be A Trust Agent? Find Out How =-.
Very nice post buddy.You know, I’ve been surfing quite a bit through blog after blog after blog, for some of those “special” articles one hardly ever sees….this is one of them~!
Nice Job.
.-= Look at what Samson James wrote blog ..IPower Review =-.
Tricia,
If you decide to get back into SocialSpark please consider joining my IZEA Insider Crew. It is the “I’m Not A Famous Blogger” Crew. If you couldn’t guess from my shirt at Karaoke. LOL. That was something that I came up with during IZEAFest last year. I was a moderator for the Big Money Bloggers panel and while up there I thought to myself “I’m Not A Famous Blogger” what am I doing up here?
So I take it from your response that you won’t be at IZEAFest, that is too bad, how about Blog World Expo?
Samson,
Thanks for taking the time to stop and comment on my blog. Glad this made it into one of the special posts that you found.
Absolutely Great tips Drew! All of them.
.-= Look at what Baba wrote blog ..Welcome to FeedBurner =-.
Baba,
Thanks. The photo is what inspired me to write it.
Wonderful post with terrific ideas, Drew. I wish I was not as shy as I am. There are so many great bloggers out there!
Karen,
You are going to be at IZEAFest right? You have so much to offer, I hope that you put yourself out there and meet lots of people. If you’re with me I’ll pull the “Have You Met Ted” move and put you in front of folks.
I love how you combine phot of the day with a worth while blog post.
Great article. #1 and #2 drive me bonkers. When #1 happens, I usually text message the person I am talking to and “Hey, this seems the best way to talk to you, so what were we talking about.”
When #2 happens I ask them “are you looking for someone, can I help you find them?”
I have a shy streak at times, it is so weird. I go to the tweetups around here and feel like it is high school all over again.
.-= Look at what Buck “Daddy” Rogers wrote blog ..Looking for Sponsorships to Conferences and here’s why =-.
Buck,
Great ways to deal with 1 and 2. I think you’ve got a lot to offer and remember that everyone knows something so you’re an expert and so is everyone else, no need to be intimidated.
Thanks, can’t wait to show my offers at IZEAfest
.-= Look at what Buck “Daddy” Rogers wrote blog ..Looking for Sponsorships to Conferences and here’s why =-.
Buck,
I can’t wait either.