Tips for Making Meaningful Connections at That Next Virtual Networking Event
Virtual networking events have become a common occurrence in the online office. These events combine the social element of an in-person mixer with the convenience of social media, offering a venue for online connections between professionals.
When done effectively, virtual networking is fun, dynamic, and engaging — but if it’s not done effectively, these meetings may feel like they lead to dead ends. How can you host an online meeting that’s meaningful for participants?
The answer is in the details. Investing in little embellishments like a Zoom virtual office backdrop can recreate the energy of an in-person meeting while giving you an opportunity to show off your style. Bring variety to the virtual world with virtual backgrounds.
Look Your Best
Another important element of an online networking event is the way you choose to present yourself. Everybody jokes about logging onto meetings in their pajamas, but when it’s time to make a great first impression, you should put a little more effort into your appearance — even if your colleagues won’t actually see most of it.
Consider wearing what you would wear to an in-person networking event — business casual, with polished grooming. Instead of physical business cards, you can prepare links to your most important online platform profiles such as LinkedIn, your personal website, and any social media profiles that you want to share with other attendees.
Looking your best is about more than just polishing your appearance. It’s also about ensuring that your surroundings look their best, too. Even if you look great, you won’t make a great impression if your background is a messy room filled with dirty dishes and laundry on the ground.
Still, it can be stressful to scramble to clean up your background when you have a networking event happening soon. Rather than stressing, you can learn how to use virtual background in Teams so that your background always looks its best.
Perfect Your Elevator Pitch
It’s important to present yourself and your surroundings in a good light, but an emphasis on style can’t compensate for a lack of substance. You need to be verbally prepared to network, too, and you can accomplish this by working on your elevator pitch.
It might feel a little different to deliver it on a Zoom call instead of in-person, but the principle is the same — you need to introduce yourself, present your values, differentiate yourself from others, and explain the benefits of your work. It’s important to be engaging and succinct so that you’re respectful of your audience’s time.
Before you launch into your elevator pitch, you should check the Zoom virtual background requirements, too, to ensure that your computer meets all of the criteria. Even if it doesn’t satisfy the requirements, though, you may be able to find another way to install your virtual office background before your networking event. Your audience and attendees will appreciate the effort you put into the event when you invest in unique details like a virtual background for online meetings.