Tuesday was the 18th Web Innovators Group meeting.
The Scene
A free meeting of over 600 people. The event is sponsored by the Venture Capital firm Venrock. There are a lot of VC’s on the floor as well as folks in every related Internet line of business you can think of. Most attendees are in the mobile and web communities. You could bump into a graphic designer, someone in PR, banker, entrepreneur, mobile platform programmer, social media specialist, newspaper writer and so on. A lot of early-stage company folks come to see others like themselves.
The event includes five minute presentations from three “Main Dishes”. The audience gets to ask each presenter two questions. Often the audience yells out, “How do you make money”. Some speakers are confident in their revenue models, others, not so much. Most of the time, the crowd groans at the answer.
Before and after the “Main Dishes” there are pioneering “Side Dish” presenters around the perimeter of the room. Here innovative web companies present their products and services to an eager audience one on one.
How to succeed
Be social. Reach out to meet new people from beginning to end.
I remember leaving the ballroom at the end of the event and this gal simply asked me what impressed me. I answered and she and her posse and I ended up at the dinner table. I made a few interesting friend, many of which I now see regularly. Leave a comment if you can guess any names here.
The ballroom is packed. It is hard to move around. It is very loud. But, just remember, everyone is here to meet new people. Why not be one of those people?
I met some new people that were very interesting and talked with some great friends as well. It’s these repeated small touch points that allow relationships to grow over time.
This is also a very good venue to find a job or employees.
One of the better advantages of attending is to find a group to go out with afterwards, so that you can really get acquainted.
The next Web Inno, as it is affectionately called, will be on September 15th, 2008 at 6:30pm in Cambridge. Come out and see what’s new in technology and meet someone new.
