Haveo · What to say at a networking event when you don't know anyone
The mistakes that actually cost you something
Almost none of the usual advice matters. The three that actually cost you are: never following up, trying to meet everyone, and asking for something before you have given anything. The rest is etiquette nobody is grading.
Not following up
This is the only one that costs something real. An evening of good conversations with no message afterwards produces exactly nothing.
It fails for a mechanical reason, not a character one: the detail is gone by the time you sit down to write. Take the note on the night.
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Trying to meet everyone
Twenty introductions leaves twenty people who cannot say what you do. Two real conversations leaves two who can.
Circulating feels productive and is the most common way to end an evening with nothing.
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Asking before giving
A request in the first conversation puts the other person in the position of saying no to a stranger, and most will avoid that by not replying at all.
Ask a question they can answer instead. The person who answered a question is the one who thinks of you later.
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Talking only to the person you came with
A friend is a place to hide, and a pair reads as closed to everyone else in the room. Walk in together and split at the door.
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Staying too long
An open-ended evening has no success condition, so it ends in the feeling that you should have done more, regardless of what happened.
Decide the end time before you arrive. Leaving on it, having done the thing, is what makes the next one answerable.
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What does not matter
A slightly awkward opener, forgetting a name, not having cards, leaving early. Saying something a bit odd and then thinking about it for a week.
Nobody else is keeping that record. You are the only person in the building running it.
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Rehearse it before you walk in.
Haveo builds your intro, lets you practice out loud with an AI coach, and keeps your notes one tap away in the room. Free on iPhone and iPad.
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