Networking event report

Networking is a socioeconomic business activity. Many business people think business networking is a cost-effective method of generating new business. Networking is very important to impress potential customers and inventors. On the other hand, it is also a very significant way to meet new friends. As “Forget Networking. How to Be a Connector” said: we all know people like them, people who seem to know everyone. They’re always able to help -- or if they can't, they know someone who can. You meet them for the first time and in 15 minutes, you're talking with them like you're childhood friends. They're successful, smart and funny, with a likable touch of self-deprecation. And they're interested in everything. Who are they? Connectors. To be a connector means I will have more opportunities to share my business ideas with other people and find my business partner.
September 16th, I attended a business event – Inbound 2014 in Boston. Inbound 2014 are 4 days of inspiring events. This year Inbound had over 10,000 attendees including the most innovative and successful business leaders and thousands of marketing and sales professionals from almost every industry imaginable and from all corners of the globe. INBOUND's purpose is to provide the inspiration, education, and connections you need to transform your business. Through inspiring keynotes, innovative talks, educational breakouts, hands-on lessons, and tons of networking I learned how the INBOUND experience, and namely my content. The event has a great lineup of speakers, including keynotes from Martha Stewart, Simon Sinek, and Malcolm Gladwell, and a ton of other smaller sessions led by HubSpotters, marketing industry thought leaders, and others.
In the “How To Launch & Grow A Business” session, I met two new marketing friends, Dan and Allison. Dan is a marketing planer working at North Shore Medical Center, Allison is a young marketing specialist working at an IT company in England. We introduce ourselves with each other, had a great talk about our business ideas. And I found that the effective communication with people of different cultures is really challenging. People from different countries have different value. For example, Americans value directness, and tend to say right out what they mean. For other cultures, such as Chinese, which concerned with saving face, such directness can be embarrassing. Americans look each other directly in the eyes, which may be considered impolite in other countries. On the other hand, if someone does not look an American directly in the eyes when having a conversation, the American may consider this a reason for distrust. Therefore, to be a connector I still have a long way to go.
I think different value/culture is also an influence on business too. When we writing business plan, we should take different value/culture account into the plan. Especially for the business related to global marketing. For example, if we use the business canvas to indentify customers and determine their needs, we should consider their cultural value. Asian and American are different. Asian girls prefer use whitening products to make them look whiter. However, American girls like to get suntanned which could make them more attractive.
Contact information: Dan Peterson: Dandengpeterson@gmail.com Allison Conrad: Aconrad@gmail.com