Prioritizing communication and fostering virtual team-building activities support the employee well-being and helps to reaffirm the company’s values and mission in the face of a changing workforce environment.  Flexibility, empathy, and a focus on maintaining a sense of community are key to mitigating the detrimental effects of the pandemic on corporate culture.  Utilizing new methods of virtual face to face engagement like speed networking sessions as a part of a regular leadership cadence are helping Employee Resource Groups to foster a sense of belonging among employees.   

With the sudden shift to remote work for many companies, maintaining a strong sense of corporate culture has become more challenging. Remote work can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection among employees, hindering collaboration and communication.  By implementing speed networking sessions that create 6 to 8 face-to-face interactions in an hour at a very low cost, the company increases the ability for employees to build relationships and foster a sense of belonging within an organization.

For more information on how SpeedNetworking.com is enhancing the ability of corporations to connect, please visit:     

Case Studies

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• Matchmaking: Attendees provide their preferences and goals during registration. Our system leverages a proprietary predictive analytic algorithm that creates a participant’s connections based on shared interests and objectives for connecting.
• Speedy conversations: Participants are paired for brief, focused conversations, typically lasting 5–8 minutes. It’s a fun and efficient way to meet 6 to 8 relevant people in a short time.
• Higher engagement: Participants love the thrill of quick, purposeful interactions that keep them engaged throughout the event.
• Effortless networking: Encourages members to meet more people in less time, expanding their network and opportunities.
• Post-event connections: After the event, participants can continue building relationships with those they connected with by using our post event connection portal.
• Same Platform for both in person and virtual speed networking events: Regardless of the event type, organizers have the capability to ensure participants are matched with new contacts they did not meet in prior events. 
• Experienced Customer Success Manager for each event: An experienced coach helps guide the event organizer every step of the way to help ensure each event’s success and to maximize the efforts of the event organizer. 

A recent survey of association members uncovered a desire for more of these quick hitting networking events to foster meaningful new relationships.    

https://speednetworking.com/big-association-survey-reveals-member-engagement-trends/

Our 12 years of experience has culminated in a total solution of technology and coaching that is unique in this generation of speed networking solutions.  You and your members deserve the best!

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Employee retention is critical to business success. When your top performers leave, their valuable company knowledge is often lost. Your remaining workforce may feel disoriented and unproductive without the previous employee’s expertise. And your talent’s productivity will plummet further when they’re forced to pick up the slack as a position remains unfilled. All this can lead to burnout and future turnover. 

Moreover, it’s costly to replace a departing employee. The cost to replace an individual employee can range anywhere from one half to two times the employee’s annual salary. The recruiting, onboarding, and training costs associated with hiring new talent is outright expensive. 

The cost to replace an individual employee can range from one half to two times the employee’s annual salary.

To make things worse, it can take one to two years for a new employee to reach similar performance to their predecessor. It’s clear that if your employees are constantly turning over, it’s difficult to build an engaging, high-performing workplace.

How to calculate your employee retention rate:

Calculating your employee retention rate can be achieved easily with a simple formula. Just divide the number of retained employees throughout a given time period by the initial amount of employees in that time period, and multiply by 100. 

(Remaining headcount during set period/ Starting headcount during set period) x 100

It’s important that your remaining headcount number doesn’t include new hires. Your retention rate is about the number of tenured employees who stay, not the number of people you’re able to hire. If you include employees who joined your organization during the set period that you’re measuring, you’ll skew your numbers. 

The post Why Employee Retention is so Important appeared first on Speed Networking.

Virtual networking elements at in-person events are table stakes for companies.  In 2023, we will see the influx of virtual elements incorporated into in-person events to satisfy expectations and measure attendee engagement. Companies that fail to incorporate these elements into their event strategies will fall behind in collecting and optimizing attendee insights to better inform their marketing efforts.

According to a recent questionnaire of more than 3,000 respondents declare hybrid events are favored among B2B organizations. Specifically:

• 86% of B2B organizationssaw a positive ROI from their hybrid events seven months after the event date.
• 34% of event organizersexpect to invest more in hybrid events in the next few years.
• 21% of marketerssaid they are procuring a hybrid event platform.
• 57% of respondentssaid they would rather attend an in-person version of a hybrid event than the virtual networking version.
• 25% of respondentsstated they will host between five to 10 hybrid events per year.

Even though the lockdown is over, marketers aren’t throwing away their virtual networking event playbooks and only hosting live events. They learned to meet customers where they are by offering both methods to target and engage audiences.“Virtual networking events have certainly proven their ROI,” said Mike Slater, Founder of Speednetworking.com, the industry’s legacy premium preferred provider of virtual networking events.  As such, event leaders are looking to take the benefits of virtual networking events and translate them into physical ones. For example, attending events where the speaker or panelists are tuning in remotely from around the world, giving in-person attendees opportunity to connect with topic leaders globally. These hybrid events also extend to participants, helping to maximize event attendance and connection.

Marketers must leave behind binary thinking that pits physical and virtual networking against one another.  When it comes to event experiences, marketers must focus on matching personalized content and experiences with individual customers in the format they prefer — whether at a conference center, through a screen or a mix of the two. Moving forward, event strategies will focus on engagement and impact rather than format, reaching attendees where they prefer to interact.

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Organizations that are looking to do DEI better in the new year may consider ditching a few DEI trends that are more of a hindrance than a help and implement a cohesive DEI strategy that works:

A cohesive DEI strategy includes:

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – These may include metrics related to the hiring, retention, or advancement of diverse talent. Or, analyzing data based on feedback (surveys, conversations, etc.) about job satisfaction or workplace culture.
• Providing contributors with a straightforward way to track their progress and performance around KPIs
• Clear responsibilities – Who does what?
• Implementation of new tools to assist Key Stakeholders in managing DEI efforts and expectations consistently – Lay out the action plan and the most effective tools and route to accomplish it.
• Highlighting the tools needed to bring the DEI strategy to life – Perhaps coaching or consulting is needed for the DEI professional. Or there may be a need for added collaborators, access to data, knowledge products. Say so upfront!

The main consideration must be towards leaving behind any DEI initiative that does not inspire behavior change and does not address the root causes and systemic issues that lead to bigotry, discrimination, and inequity in the workplace. Check-the-box, compliance-driven DEI activities are not the best use of employee time or the company’s money.

Contact a SpeedNetworking.com specialist to learn how we have assisted prominent organizations apply strategic internal networking that addresses DEI objectives with measurable results.  Check out our article on how year round events can help your DEI initiatives,  Click here

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1. It’s not Zoom Rooms or Similar!
   Virtual matchmaking solutions are much more comprehensive and offer strategic matching supported by a well-orchestrated process to take attendees through a series of one-to-one private engagement meetings based on pre-defined matching criteria. These solutions save tremendous time on trying to match people up and dealing with the myriad of headaches that can be endured trying to match people together and then place them in a private virtual room.  
2. Solves Inclusion and Diversity Management
   Diversity in the workplace has long since been of paramount importance. Putting aside the social awareness benefit of a great diversity program, the outcomes significantly impact recruitment, retention, innovation, opportunities for new markets, financial outcomes, employee satisfaction and overall corporate culture.
3. Diversifies Attendee Networking Options
   Networking programs are like a financial portfolio; you don’t put all your eggs in one basket and financial professionals strongly encourage diversification. Not all networking programs fit the needs of individuals.  Diversify networking programs ensures opportunities for all types of attendees.  Programs can include buyer/seller, mentoring, leadership training, team building, knowledge sharing, cross department collaboration and much more!
4. Reduce Administrate Time & Stress
   Today’s solutions, such as SpeedNetworking.com, significantly reduce organizers administrative time and reduces stress as the tools today assist with set up, marketing, matching and the engagement of people is an innovative, engaging, and meaningful method.
5. Improve Meeting Quality
   Utilizing match making platforms significantly increases the chances that people meet the right people and helps ensures new smart connections. Additionally, SpeedNetworking.com allows organizers greater control through customization to ensure the best possible matching outcomes. 
6. Increase Attendee Engagement
   Attendees are busy people. When they know there is a solution to help ensure they meet the right people, participation significantly increases as this type of platform provides a greater opportunity of meeting the right people, as such, organizations have seen an increases in participation. 
7. Boost Recruitment / Retention
   Connecting attendees to the right people shows them the organization takes great interest in ensuring matching with the right people is important. In return for the organization’s efforts, attendees show their appreciation in turn by increased loyalty and retaining their relationship and spreading the good word about the organization on to others.  
8. Create New Revenue / Sponsorship Opportunities
   For organizations seeking to increase revenue opportunities, platforms, such as SpeedNetworking.com, offer multiple strategic sponsorship opportunities to maximize their sponsorship dollars and increase the chance for the best ROI.
9. Increase Attendee & Organization ROI
   For the organizers, reduced administrative, production, marketing and sponsorship opportunities supported by increase attendee participation and satisfaction leads to an elevated ROI. Furthermore, with quality reporting, the ROI can be validated to share with other staff and senior leadership.
10. Obtain Real Time & Comprehensive Valuable Data and Analyzing Outcomes
    Identifying a platform that provides smart reporting helps organizers understand the matching needs of their attendees. After reviewing all the data and analytics post an event, organizers can make smarter decisions on how to plan future events as they identify the very specific needs of their attendees.  Additionally, working with a platform that not only delivers the solution but works directly with the organizer to make suggestions for future events….is a no brainer…check out SpeedNetworking.com (we had to end with a plug!!!!)

Interested in learning more about SpeedNetworking.com, we’d love to connect with your.  Please follow “Click Here” to get started to learn how we can help your organization.

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Diversity in the workplace has long since been of paramount importance. Yet we have never before been so keenly aware of the need to create an inclusive culture. With the advancements of social media, movements such as Me Too and Black Lives Matter have raised awareness of the lack of equality across racial and gender divides at an unprecedented level.   These actions have impacted recruitment, retention, company perception and impact to the financial outcomes.    In this article we define three major components:

• Diversity Training Defined
• Notable Benefits of Diversity Training
• Successful Diversity Strategies

Diversity Training Defined
A diversity training program aims to boost participants’ awareness about different types of diversity, appreciating differences among co-workers, and provide knowledge and strategies to enhance employees’ interpersonal and communication skills to help build a positive work environment.  Training begins with developing a comprehensive framework that will work through the entire organization.  You should be offering diversity education to all levels of staff.  The benefits of diversity programs are evidently clear.    Putting aside the social awareness benefit of a great diversity program, the outcomes significantly impact recruitment, retention, innovation, opportunities for new markets, financial outcomes, employee satisfaction and overall corporate culture.

 Notable Benefits of Diversity Training

• Retention and Recruitment Employee Retention Impact
  Retention is one of the most concerning terms to companies and organizations today. Ensuring you are truly fostering internal growth and supporting additional efforts to achieve diversity in your workforce…its absolutely essential.    Mentoring, knowledge sharing, cross-department engagement, and team building are the major ingredients to significantly increasing your retention….and you’ll be surprised to how it impacts recruitment, just consider how more appealing qualified applicants will be once they understand your corporate inclusivity agendas.
• Innovation and Access to New Markets
  Empowering a diverse culture can lead to access to untapped markets. Diverse communities can deliver easier access to markets as team members will better understand different cultures and their purchasing behaviors and knowing the company supports diversity will encourage purchasers.
• Employee Productivity and Corporate Culture Enhancement
  Consistent programming leads to higher employee satisfaction which decreases the need for recruitment, focus on employee growth and over all increasing productivity.    Collectively, a positive and inclusive environment impacts corporate culture, public perception and bottom lines.
• Financial Outcomes
  Reduction in exhausting and expensive recruitment processes, increased employee productivity and access to markets via a more diverse organization can significantly impact the bottom line and minimize stress in your staff.

Successful Diversity Strategies .

• Well Defined Plan for Diversity and Inclusion Training
  Your staff members who will be overseeing your diversity programs are going to need a comprehensive plan to follow to maximize the benefit. Providing a strong plan illustrates to all levels of employees the serious emphasis you are placing on inclusion and diversity. 
• Recommendation of Programs that Foster Inclusivity
  1. Retention and Recruitment
  2. Mentoring Programs
  3. Knowledge Sharing / Team Building
  4. Cross Division Training
  5. Internal Innovation Pitches
     
• Implementing One to One engagement Tools Ensuring Inclusivity
  Technology advancements have greatly provided opportunity to engage our communities.   However, the latest challenge has been ensuring all are participating and engaging.   Hosting zoom calls has been widely popular but fail on inclusivity.   Consider platforms such as SpeedNetworking.com that specialize in structured one to one inclusivity programs and training for organizations of all shapes and sizes.  The benefits are enormous as everyone participates in private one to one engagement based on the matching needs of the client.  This technique ensures participation and is measurable.  Contact us to learn how we have assisted from Fortune 500 to small businesses and organizations with their diversity training. 
• Measuring Metrics and Implementing Improvements
  Tracking your success is critical. Upon creating determining your goals and implementing an application that can clearly track engagement and outcomes is essential.    Holding managers and other team leaders accountable will elevate the organization as a whole.     Ae we all know, many companies outside of the organization monitor and rank a company’s diversity score cards publicly, make sure you are on the top of the list.

Please reach out to one of our team members who can help you implement a comprehensive diversity and inclusion plan.  It’s our specialty!    Click Here To Get Started

SpeedNetworking.com

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Call us crazy, but we are passionate about what we do and believe that everyone should have the ability to host a successful speed networking event (with or without partnering with us). For event planners who choose to produce their own event (although we hope you consider SpeedNetworking.com), we have created a cheat sheet of critical elements to planning and executing a successful speed networking event. 

This is a partial list of crucial items we discuss with our clients.

If you want a more complete list, download our free Ebook.  

Room Set-up:

Tables:

We recommend classroom-style seating for the best results. This is typically done with 72” x 18” tables and 4 chairs (2 meetings) at each table. We’ve provided a diagram at the end of this post to illustrate an ideal room set-up.

Table #s:

Our events include customized schedules that direct participants to different tables, which means our events require table’s. We strongly recommend putting table #’s out, even if you aren’t using customized schedules. It makes the event more manageable and you can help direct people more easily with table numbers as guides. We encourage the use of 12” table number stands as well.

The speed networking event is going to produce a lot of energy and body heat. If you are in a room or designated area, try to make the room cooler than normal at the start of the event. It may feel chilly at first but as the event gets going, the room temperature (and the conversations!) will start to warm up.

Water:

This is possibly the single most important item to have at the event but is oftentimes overlooked. If you can, put multiple water stations around the room for participants to fill up glasses. This typically works better than providing bottles of water ahead of time, as participants often leave these at tables and/or spend time filling up the entire bottle in between rounds.

Audio:

For simplicity, we recommend only having a wireless microphone for the event facilitator (with speakers, of course). This enables you to walk around the room and manage the event while on the move.

Video:

We discourage our partners from incorporating any sort of video/screen at the event. A timer on a video board tends to take away from the event, as participants are more focused on the timer than the conversations. It also gives you more control over the event when you can manage the timing. If you need to extend a round by 60-seconds or cut a round short by 30-seconds, you can do this on the fly without anyone noticing.

Event Check-In:

Pre-Registered:

Our schedules are arranged in alphabetical order by last name, which allows us to easily find individual schedules when they arrive at the event. If you aren’t using schedules, print off the names of everyone attending the event (make a few copies) so that you can track who has arrived and who has not. This Event Video also helps act as a guide.

Info Sheet:

In an effort to expedite the check-in process, we hand out a 1-page information sheet to each participant that explains how the event will work. This is important if you have a first-time event, as it will answer a lot of questions for participants and allow you to focus on running the event.

Mingle:

Participants will arrive at different times (typically over a 15-minute time window) and during this time we encourage everyone to mingle with those around them. After all, it is a networking event! Let them know that this is a “bonus round” of networking before the event starts.

Moderating:

Control:

As the moderator, it is critical that you maintain control and set the tone for the event. Once everyone has arrived and you’re ready to begin, it’s important to provide clear instructions/announcements about the event. Give an overview of the structure of the event, objectives (peer-to-peer, mentoring, buyer/seller, etc.), how to maximize the conversations, and what to expect from participating. Try and limit the instructions to 10-minutes.

Commands: 

One critical element to the success of your event is maintaining control, and as silly as some of the commands below may seem…..you’ll be amazed at how well people appreciate structure.

Begin Round x:

This signals that the round has begun.

Half Way:

Inform participants that they are halfway through a particular round. This gives them an idea of how much time is left and it also is a signal to allow the other person to have a chance to talk.

30 Seconds Left:

Let participants know that the round is coming to an end. They should finish their conversations and exchange contact information to connect after the event.

Rotate:

As you can guess, this signals participants to move to the next round.

Rotation Notes:

Reminder participants to take their personal belongings with them and quickly move to their next meeting. If you are timing the rotations, let them know when they have 30 seconds and 15 seconds left to finish rotating.

Wrap-Up: 

Upon completing the event, it is important to provide wrap up announcements. You should remind your participants to follow-up with their new connections to continue building the relationships. Always discourage them from sending a blanket email to everyone and instead, write a personal note to each of the new connections. We encourage you to host additional networking after the event to allow participants to continue their discussions or meet with others that they did not meet during the event.

If you are not up to the task of running your own event or you simply want to elevate the networking experience for you and your attendees, we would love to talk to you.

Give us a call for a free consultation or schedule a demo to learn more.

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