The Performance Marketing Awards are just around the corner and, before the tuxedos and ball gowns are dusted off, Awards co-sponsor Webgains have asked their team to provide some networking tips to use on the night.

Below you will find the play by play guide of what to do, and what not to do at the Grosvenor House Hotel on the evening of April 29. Business cards are a definite yes; red wine should be avoided by all those without a steady-hand; and Jägerbombs are a no-no unless following the seventh ‘Do’…

Do

  • Remember your breath mints!
  • A good business card goes a long way. One that looks like it was designed by Jimi Hendrix in a post-70s haze does not.
  • If you’re not a natural networker, try ‘hunting in packs’. Do take care to read people though – if you find your target looking terrified, perhaps it’s time to rethink your strategy.
  • Get involved in the competitions – if not for the chance to win dinner on the British Pullman, sharing snippets of 1920s knowledge is a great icebreaker. This is also true of photos so remember to charge your phone!
  • A bit of old-fashioned social media stalking can help you put faces to those names.
  • Get the ‘networking’ out of the way early on. By the time late evening comes around, you’ll have already talked the ears off half the room and it won’t feel like networking so much as talking to a friend.
  • Remember that alcohol is the cause of, and solution to all of your networking problems.

Don’t

  • Don’t be afraid to approach people. Most of them are very willing to chat freely during times like this, and very few bite.
  • If you can’t remember a name (we’ll get to remembering faces later) don’t be shy to ask. Yes you’ve met them 10 times already, but their memory is probably just as bad as yours!
  • Don’t be the one who first decides that a ‘delicious Jägerbomb’ is the perfect post-dinner digestif. It’s all downhill….
  • Don’t slosh red wine over yourself. Or others for that matter.
  • Don’t loiter, never loiter. And don’t throw bread rolls at the competition.

For more information and to find out how you can join Webgains and the rest of the industry’s elite, at a night to recognise and reward truly exceptional performance marketing visit the Performance Marketing Awards website.