Coming off of two great conventions last week, DWF and IUSA,  it’s a great time to think about how to build your network.  There are still people who think a good stack of business cards is all you need!  Sorry gang, if you’re just collecting cards that doesn’t cut it any more.   I’m not sure it really ever was very effective.

WPPI, PMA and a whole series of state and regional conventions are around the corner, so check out the following ideas and see if any of them work for you:

1) At every program/workshop/class you attend make it a point to get to know the people sitting around you.  If you’re all there to listen to the same presentation, then right off the bat you’ve got something in common.

2) Never go to breakfast, lunch or dinner by yourself and never go with the same people every time.  Getting together with old friends is terrific, but see if you can bring a new person into the group each time you head out.  You don’t have to make it into a major event – just the casual time over a meal.

3) Get to know the people who sell the products and services you need.  If for example, you just started using Pictage, then how great would it be to put a face with the name of the person you’ve talked to previously at the company?  This industry is built on relationships and actually meeting somebody you’ve worked with will buy you so much in the long run.  Even better is meeting the key executives of the companies whose products you use.  Just at IUSA alone, I saw Mike Hanline from WHCC, David Drum from H&H, Rex, Bruce and Bill from Marathon Press, Jim Collins and Simon Anderson from Pictage, Steve Troup from Buckeye Color, Adam Fried from Simply Canvas and Maureen Neises from Graphistudio, just to name a few.  These are the people driving the bus and they’re at these shows because they want to meet and talk to professional photographers.

4) Diversity is the key to having a great network.  Work to develop a network of people with skills who compliment each other.  For example, let’s assume you do a lot of commercial work, but lately have had a few requests to shoot weddings.  Get to know a few wedding photographers whose work you respect. 

5) Use social media to set up meetings in advance.  Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedin, whatever – use social media to find out who’s going to the same programs you are.  Social media gives us all incredible reach, but it’s even better when you can actually shake somebody’s hand who you’ve been talking to on line or reading about.

6) Talk to the speakers!  I know most people get a little shy when it comes to a Q&A session at the end of a presentation, but there’s nothing stopping you from going up to speakers after the program and introducing yourself.  There are even a few speakers, like Bambi Cantrell, who makes it a point to get to know as many people in her program as possible, BEFORE she even starts.  She wants to know her audience just as much as they want to hear her program.

7)  Stay in touch!  This is the hardest part of maintaining a good network, but you’ve got the most vehicles, e.g. Twitter and Facebook, to make it happen.  Stay connected – and it can be done as easily as a Direct Tweet or an email message.

You’ve got to network to build your Network!  During these first three months of the year there are so many opportunities to meet new people and companies who support the products you need.   Meeting other photographers, from your own backyard or other parts of the country and world,  is  one of the very best reasons to attend a trade show or convention!  You snooze you loose!