Unpopular opinion: Networking events are mostly a waste of time

I went to 3 of them in Chicago last month and only got one real lead out of it, but a casual chat at my son's soccer game landed me a solid referral. Has anyone else found better results from random daily interactions than forced networking?

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nancy9293mo ago

You're lucky that soccer game worked out, but for most people those random chats are just small talk with zero follow-through. The three events I went to this year each had 50+ decision makers in one room, and one handshake got me a contract worth more than my entire year of "organic" referrals.

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david1233mo ago

Three networking events in one month and you walked out with a whole contract, @nancy929? That sounds like an outlier, not the norm. Most people I talk to leave those things with a stack of business cards they never touch and a headache from the free wine.

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