Can a Zoom networking event be as effective as an in-person networking event? You bet! We're going to explore that today on this edition of The Inside BS Show. Hey now, I'm Nikki G, this is The Inside BS Show. Here with me today is Dave Lorenzo, the godfather of growth.

Dave, how are you? I'm doing great Nikki G, and it looks like you're doing great too. How are you today? I'm doing great, thank you. Dave, we talk so much about networking, and you and I do a lot of virtual networking in addition to attending live events, so I really wanted to talk about virtual networking today.

You know, during the pandemic we were thrown into it. There was no networking, so you had to adjust to virtual networking. But now, fast forward years later, and we've come to realize that there are significant advantages to networking online on different platforms, predominantly Zoom.

Why is that? Because it's convenient. For one, you can sit at your desk, you can reach an audience, and you're maximizing the time in your day for doing work and doing any other thing that you have that's on your plate. You also can reach a much wider audience.

You no longer are confined to events in a particular region that you're sitting in. You can network all over the country through this platform. So those are just two of the many benefits from Zoom networking, and we really wanted to give you our top ways to make sure that when you are attending virtual networking events, you are doing so in the most effective way.

So Dave, let me have you open up with what is number one for you in making sure that you are going to knock that virtual networking event out of the bark. Yeah, it really is unfair that this topic got assigned to me when we were doing our homework before this show. So number one is bring great energy.

Here's the thing you're not thinking about, okay? If you're going to a networking event on Zoom, the camera literally sucks the life right out of you. It sucks the energy out of you. So if you would be in person with someone, and you normally are very low-key and engaging in a low-key manner, and you just are used to going up to people and going, hey now, how are you? It's great to see you.

That doesn't work on Zoom. Zoom is the equivalent of being on TV, which means you've got to amp it up 10 to 15 times more than if you were in person. You have to think to yourself, there's a person on the other side of this camera laying on the couch with a bag of chips, and they're eating the chips, crumbs falling all over their chest, and they're in the middle of a snowstorm, and you want to get them to jump up off the couch and run out to get what you have to offer.

That's the level of energy you have to bring to a Zoom meeting, because if you don't, you're not going to be able to hold people's attention. It's so much harder, so much harder to get people's attention on Zoom that you got to bring 10 to 15 times the energy you normally would bring to an in-person environment, because as amped up as you feel in your living room, in your dining room, at your kitchen table, it's only going to come across as natural and normal to the people you're talking to. So bring the energy.

That's number one, Nikki G. Hey Nikki G, did you know you can also get our show as an audio podcast? Of course I know you can get the show as an audio podcast. I'm on it. But does our audience? I don't know.

So those of you who are watching on YouTube, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. Just search up the Inside BS Show with The Godfather and Nikki G, and you'll find us right there. Click the follow button so that you never miss a show.

Now there's a couple of reasons why you're going to want to do that. Nikki G, tell them what the first reason is. You get to ask us questions.

That is exclusive to our podcast listeners. Yeah, we only answer listener questions on the audio version of the podcast. We don't do it on video.

So if you want to hear what everyone's thinking, or if you want to ask us a question, you got to download the audio podcast. The second reason, and my favorite reason, is because you can take us with you. You can have a little Nikki G in your pocket while you're working out in the gym, washing the dishes, or walking the dog.

I love me some Nikki G in my pocket when I'm walking the dogs. I don't know about you, Nicola, but that's one of my favorite things to do. Absolutely.

Take us with you. After you watch this episode here on YouTube, go to wherever you get your podcasts. Click the follow button so we can go with you on your journey, and you can ask us questions.

We will see you, or more like hear you, there. Tip number two, in addition to coming with great, great energy, pick two to three networking targets in advance of the meeting who you want to make sure to connect with. So you will oftentimes receive an attendance list in advance, so you'll know who's going to be there.

If you don't, reach out to the person organizing the event. Ask if they'd be willing to share it. Most often they are.

Identify who on that list would be a great connection for you, and do your homework. Find out what you can about that person in advance so that when you get in that meeting, you have the opportunity to really impress that contact to make sure that you can start off a great relationship and carry it forward with you. So doing your homework is going to include whatever research you can find out about them online.

There's a wealth of information out there. Just a Google search away. Read their bio.

See if they've been in any articles recently. See if they've published anything where you can take something that is a little bit unique and outside of what everyone else is looking at, and you can work it into a conversation. That will be dynamite if you're in a room with them, and you identify something that wasn't obvious.

And it will be obvious to them that you've really done your homework, and you were really thoughtful about making that connection. It'll make a very great impression with them. I love it.

That's great. I love doing your homework in advance. Here's the key, folks.

You shouldn't be going to a networking event if you don't know who's going to be in the room. You don't go to an event just to show up and throw up. That's not our intention at networking.

You go to a networking event with two or three targets in mind. You meet the targets. You've done your job.

Then you relax, and you have fun. The same thing is true on Zoom. Go to a Zoom networking event with the intention of reaching out to two or three people.

You should know who they are in advance. And when you see them in the room, that's point number three. You set up your follow-up in advance.

Set up your follow-up in advance, point number three. When you see them in the Zoom room, hit them up in the chat. Open up the chat and say, hey, Nicola, I was reading your bio, and it seems like you'd be a good fit for three of my clients.

Can we get together after this meeting, either today or tomorrow, to connect so that I can understand who a good referral is for you and make sure I'm making a proper introduction? That's something you can throw in the chat. And Nicola's going to say, well, let her tell us what she's going to say. If somebody hits you up like that in the chat at a Zoom networking event, Nikki G, what are you going to say? I'm very receptive to it, and it happens all the time during meetings.

I love when people reach out and say, hey, great to meet you in this meeting, and they say something that shows me that they're interested in making that connection. It's really exciting to receive a request from somebody while you're in the meeting. Somebody else is interested in networking with you, that's a home run.

I love it. And here's the thing that I need to stress in this. When you hit them up in the networking event, you're going to deliver value to them.

You're not hitting them up in the networking event to set an appointment to sell them something. The purpose of networking is to sell through people, not to people. So you're not hitting these people up in the chat at the networking event to set up an appointment to pitch them.

Do that, and you'll find yourself on the bad list. Nobody will ever meet with you. You won't get invited to other networking events, and you'll be somebody that nobody wants to deal with.

So set up your follow-up during the meeting, connect with the people while you're there, and make sure you can deliver value to them and set an appointment to deliver the value after. That's point number three. Yeah, that's great.

I'm glad you mentioned that. Make sure that you're thinking about them when you're hitting them up in the chat or you're in a meeting room with them. Don't just pitch your services.

You know, you've heard us talk about this before. Think about them. It is about the person on the other side of that relationship you are trying to form.

Point number four. When you are in these meetings, be present. I can't emphasize this enough.

We join these meetings often. Dave, I know that you and I are on the same page. We see this.

We're both frustrated with it, and someone is sitting on the Zoom screen, and their eyes are over here because they're obviously working on a document, or they're sending an email to someone, or they cut off the camera, and they walk away, and they're doing something else in the background, and they come back. You don't think anyone notices? They do. There are people who are simply combing through the gallery, taking a look at that here and there.

Why? Because they want to identify others who are there for the right reasons and who really want to be networking for those reasons. They want to make those connections. If you are completely distracted, it is obvious that this isn't that important to you.

Something else is because it is diverting your attention away from that event. If you're going to take the time out of your schedule to tune in for the event, be present. Maximize that time because if you aren't, you're wasting your own time, and it's not going to be an effective event for you because others are going to see that you are distracted, and you're not fully engaged in that event, and that impression will be left with them, and that may be the only time some of those people will ever interact with you.

Yeah, I think that's a great point, and I'll tell you that I would take it even a step further, and when people turn their cameras off, if I'm running the meeting, that's the first person I call on. As soon as that camera goes off, I'm jumping ugly all over you going, hey, what are you doing? Why is your camera off? You should be involved in the event, and I don't have a problem calling people out for that. You are there to make connections and hopefully establish a business relationship.

You shouldn't be billing your clients during this time. You shouldn't be going through your email during this time. You shouldn't be reading the TMZ website during this time to find out what's going on with the Kardashians and the Royals over in the UK.

Do that on your own time. When you're networking, you're on our time, and if it's my time and your time, it's our time. That's the time for us to make a connection.

It's not the time for you to be doing anything else. Be in the room if you're there for networking purposes. The final point, point number five, is bring a powerful personal brand.

You have to bring a powerful personal brand. Now look, you don't have to have a catchy tagline like Nicki G or the godfather of growth. That's not what I mean by having a powerful personal brand.

The way you show up, what you look like is your personal brand. That is what's at the forefront of everyone's mind. If your camera goes on and you've got a scarf around you and you're clearly covering up a pajama top, that's not cool.

I've seen it. I've seen it. That's going to be your personal brand forever.

You're the lady who wore her pajamas in the Zoom meeting, right? If your camera is off and your camera's back on and your cat's licking your face and you're stroking your cat, you're the cat man. Nobody wants to be the cat man, okay? I'm telling you, it seems like it's a more relaxed environment, but it's not a more relaxed environment. In fact, if anything, you need to look around you and make sure that everything that's in the camera shot is a good representation of you.

Look, you know why I have a step and repeat banner behind me? I have a step and repeat banner behind me because I don't want to be conscious of changing my background or making sure that one of my dogs isn't asleep behind me or there's not a spaghetti stain on the wall. Nikki G's got her albums there. She's got a blue wall behind her because she knows it's going to stay the same all the time.

If you're doing this from your uncle's basement or you're doing it from a hotel room, be conscious of what's in your background because all of that sets your personal brand and it sets the tone for who you are and how professional you are. Many of you have heard the story. Nikki G lived the story with me where I ran a Zoom meeting with my camera propped up on a suitcase, propped up on a luggage rack, propped up on the sink in the bathroom because the makeup mirror in the bathroom was the only place where there was great lighting and there was a blank wall behind me.

That's the lengths you have to go to to make sure everything in the shot is a good representation of you because that impacts your personal brand. So these are your five networking strategies for how to be effective at an online networking event. We do this all day, every day.

I'm talking about online networking, so follow these five tips and you'll be off to a great start. We'll see you here again tomorrow for another edition of our show. Until then, I'm Dave Lorenzo, the Godfather of Growth, and she is Nikki G. See you tomorrow, folks.

Until then, here's hoping you make a great living and live a great life.