Networking activities

It’s important to carve out enough time for networking in your programme. For example, if you take 15-20 minutes from the academic programme and devote this time to a conversation exercise, you start a dialogue and promote knowledge sharing, which generates the added value that participants expect when attending in-person events. Setting aside time for networking does not compromise the academic side of your programme – it enhances it. Because it gives participants the opportunity to nurture existing collaborative partnerships and to make new contacts. 

We often think about networking during an event, but it’s also important to consider it both before and after the event is held. Here are some ways you can do this.

Experience shows that the sooner participants start talking to each other at the start of an event, the more they communicate with each other during the event. So it’s important to design a programme that engages people in conversation as soon as possible. 

By scheduling a networking activity early in your programme, you’ll ensure that participants warm up their conversational skills and find it easier to start making contacts. At this point, it’s not important that they talk to the ‘right’ people – just that they get warmed up.

Try using the drawing exercise, the ‘one, two, many’ activity or the ‘chat ‘n’ swap’ icebreaker (described above) to kick off your event. 

When you give participants something to ‘point at’, you create a shared point of reference that can form the basis of a conversation. This could be something that you (as the event organiser) arrange or something that the participants help to create. 

Simply adding ‘Coffee and networking’ to the programme rarely works as intended, because participants are left to find somebody to talk to – and something to talk about – on their own. Many people find this challenging and far from enjoyable. So it’s important that you create a networking space in which everyone can participate.

You’ll need to facilitate this – either partly or fully. By facilitating dialogue, you create a safe space in which the same rules apply to everyone and participants are encouraged to talk, but you avoid seeming intrusive or coercive.

For example, if you put a conversation starter (perhaps an origami chatterbox) on the table but don’t facilitate an activity that includes it, very few people will start using it. But if you put a facilitator in the room, who puts people into pairs and asks them to use the conversation starter for five minutes, you create a safe space in which people can easily start talking to each other.

Creating variety and changes of scenery helps to ‘wake up’ the participants and means they talk to more people. 

To encourage participants to start conversations with each other, you need to make them feel comfortable and safe. Remember that it’s not always the stylish, formal settings that encourage people to start talking. Try to get a balance between formal and informal settings in your programme. For example, a formal reception with sparkling wine and canapes isn’t necessarily the right way to go if you want to create a relaxed and casual atmosphere. It’s a delicate balance, because, in a conference context, it is of course important to maintain certain standards and avoid a ‘team building’ approach. The key is to put people at ease and to make them feel part of the group without compromising on the academic content and your professional delivery.

The venue itself – the rooms, furniture and set-up – makes a big difference to how participants experience a conference or event.

As soon as they enter the venue, participants form their own ideas of what’s to come. Think about the physical space when planning your event, and decide on the best way to stage the activities you’ve planned (such as group discussions and workshops). Consider whether the rooms you have available are suitable for the networking activities you have planned. Perhaps you need to adapt the activity to the space – or the space to the activity.

Think carefully about who the target group is for your conference or event. This will help you to communicate effectively with them, but it will also help you to design a conference programme and networking activities that they will find useful and enjoyable.

• Do the participants know each other?
• Are they from the same university?
• Are they national or international?
• Do they have the same area of expertise?
• Are they members of academic or technical/administrative staff – or both? Do they all work at universities?
• How many years of experience do they have?

Your answers to these – and other relevant – questions will determine which networking tools and activities you should use and what their purpose should be. Put yourself in your participants’ shoes and imagine what they need and feel comfortable with.