Steve

Let's face it. During hard economic times, everyone has to re-evaluate their spending habits and try to stretch their dollars further. With respect to networking, it's always been the norm to attend trade shows and set meetings with AMs. Although, this can get very costly with traveling expenses, hotel expenses, incidentals, and sponsorships.

I would have liked to attend the CAP London show simply to meet many of my business contacts personally and have a beer or seven. I chose not to attend mostly because I have decided not support any CAP events. Also, since I am an admin here at PAL, and Jeremy's business partner, I felt as though I was not be welcome there. No worries though as I didn't feel like flying for 24 hours this weekend anyway.

I have always been the type of person who is always looking for better ways to do things. I plan to attend a physical show or two, but am looking forward to a new frontier of networking. Virtual networking will allow me to get in front of many more affiliates and AMs than any physical trade show because of its structure. It's online, so anyone with a computer, electricity, and internet access can attend.

Also, the benefit of transcription of every conversation I have with an attendee is also appealing. We all have gotten back to our hotel room after a few hours at a physical trade show with 50 business cards. The struggle is trying to remember what each of those conversations were about. Not any more.

Instead of two or three days of networking, I can do it all year long in a virtual environment. The lead generation alone will make these events worth it. Plus, with more and more people choosing virtual networking for its effectiveness, I am excited to join the virtual networking revolution.