Luckily, I've found a GREAT way to make my time spent at events much better. I call it: Prenetworking I spend about 30 minutes prior to the event going through the list of attendees and reaching out ahead of the event to suggest that we meet while we are there. try to do this roughly about 2-3 days ahead of the event. I've never been able to walk into a large group of people and feel like I can "work the room." Sure, I've read various articles on this stuff, but honestly, I still struggle with meeting interesting people.

He talks about a bunch of the different networking events that occur in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California. In his post, he mentions the following events / event organizers, and you should visit his post for a bit more on each of them. LA CTO Forum Dealmaker Media Digital Family Reunion Startups Uncensored Social Media Club, LA Twiistup Mindshare LA LA Hadoop Meetup Dorkbot Geek Dinners LA Cloud Computing LA Web Application Developers LA PHP Developers In

Last Saturday, I was a panelist at the CalTech - Social Networks event. It was a really good event with lots of interesting folks in attendance. It is almost universal that there are opportunities around social networking. Generally these are oriented around: Niches & Content Oriented Networks You see I would guess that there was about 100 people - on a Saturday in Pasadena. That shows some interest in the topic.

Frequency: Multiple times a month, in Los Feliz, Carlsbad, Burbank, Irvine Cost: Free Review: You'll need a free membership to Xing to see the details on the community page Added 10/2/09 by Todd Zebert Name: Challenger Networking Group (CA) Sites: www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2037237 home=&gid=2037237 Self-description: "This networking group sponsored by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. This is will be a continually updating post. I'll be creating additional lists for educational, chamber of commerce, etc. Organizational representatives: please contact me directly for updates, etc.

This past week has had an interesting confluence of events that's led me to conclude that I want to start doing a lot of visible networking among the tech / web crowd here in Los Angeles. I want to take you through a bit of what brought me here, because I think it will help explain what I mean by visible networking. Networking Events – Questionable Return on Your Time Last week I posted about Networking Events in Los Angeles and Southern California and received back some interesting comments, some of the best from a LinkedIn Group. Several of the comments there echoed what I've been feeling: Person 1: I have attended a plethora of networking groups and have also found it harder and harder to continue to be motivated to go. Person 2: Very discouraging (few if any happy with their networking efforts) but not unexpected.

Just a quick note that I'll be moderating a Technology Council Event : Social Networking as a Business Strategy May 19, 2009 - Culver City Social networking media are used on a daily basis to grow businesses and expand career opportunities. Individuals use social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo as career-advancing tools, even more useful in a down economy. Corporations increasingly see social media as a key PR, communications and marketing medium. Social networking sites and microblogs are used not only to build company brands, but to foster

A while ago I posted about Secret for Networking at Events - Prenetworking where I recommended that people should look at who's attending the event prior to going to the event in order to make their networking more effective. Since I posted on this and since I've been using this approach for quite a while, it has become pretty obvious that part of the reason that old school organizations / event producers are not getting the value of providing this kind of list. I've received a lot of positive feedback on the post. And I think it hurts them in attendance.

See also Networking & Social Media Job Search Webinars, Teleconferences and Podcasts , and Other & Indirect Job Networking Opportunities . Name: Networking For Professionals (NFP) Sites: www.networkingforprofessionals.com , Industry Insights Blog , Success Square/Coaching Blog , Events Blog , City Chat Blog Self-description: "Get Connected. Networking For Professionals is a dynamic business networking organization that powerfully combines online business networking and real life events. This is will be a continually updating post. I'll be creating additional lists for educational , chamber of commerce, etc.

My friend Mark Long recently asked me about networking in Los Angeles. This past couple years, I have been doing a ton of networking. Rather than write something just for Mark, I thought I would let everybody else know what the good, tech-oriented networking events are in Los Angeles. For the tech-oriented networker, there is one primary thing Mark is a CTO, see, and his company, PortBlue , was recently acquired (congrats, Mark!). After transitioning to the new team, Mark was left to wonder, what now?

Another busy week in Los Angeles with a few good events to check out. Brought to you by the team who produces Startonomics and Dealmaker LA, this hands-on “workshop-style” event will allow entrepreneurs to drill down on the key issues we face when laying the foundation to build and fund their company. Anyone interested in the convergence of art, commerce and technology will benefit from the creative, educational, and networking opportunities that NEW NOISE presents. Tuesday October 6th Dealmaker – The Workshop