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Think Spring a night of fashion, music, and SPRING with Minneapolis Models, Boutiques, and Stylists.  Special appearances by DJ I and DJ EVE

FRIDAY, APRIL 18th $5 at the door until 10pm $8 after (portion goes to Domestic Abuse Project)

$3 martinis 9pm-10pm
loaded gift bags to the first 200 guests
butlered-passed desserts

More information visit www.minnage.com 

Liz Ryan the The Savvy Networker on Yahoo! HotJobs talks about the “5 Networkers to Avoid.” This is a topic I have thought about, but never organized in anyway. Ryan assigns the titles The Steamroller, The TMI Networker, The Carney, The Lamprey, and The Black Hole. My most frequent encounters are with the TMI Networker and the Black Whole. I’m curious who you run into. Leave your comments below.

Jimmy May is one of the most connected person I know. It’s funny I met Jimmy a number of times before I really met Jimmy. Long before I wanted to make an art of mingling I met people without connecting the significance they could have in my life. The first time I met Jimmy was at my buddy Noel’s annual 80’s party. Over time I met him again and again but never made th effort to connect with him. In learning the art of networking this is so important. I cannot stress enough to establish common points of interest with anyone you meet. That said after running into him a number of times I finally stopped him one day at Stella to make a connection and exchange business cards.

Since that day I have been a part of the Jimmy May list. The list is over 6,500 unique people strong. The great thing about it is they make up all parts of life including: teachers, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, students, moms, and pretty much any other profession you can imagine.

The purpose of the list is to connect with other people who care about being part of a community. Some people are looking for jobs, some try to sell their furniture, and other send out announcements. Everyday over 10 people use the list as a resource to make something happen. Jimmy describes the purpose of the list is “people helping people.”

I encourage anyone who reads this to signup by going to Jimmy May’s website www.thesocialfly.com. If used it will change your life.

Friends.  Mingle is taking a couple months off to start reborn in 2008.  In the meantime check back for a blog entries on networking locally and globally.  We want to keep an open dialog with those who find the need to mingle and be more connected then you are today.

If you walk around in a social gathering thinking, “I’m boring and nobody’s going to find me interesting”, that becomes a lot more likely to happen.I don’t care how tongue-tied you’re feeling at the time — find *someone* you’re comfortable talking to. (We’re assuming you’ve already implemented the tip from the last article to warm up first. Right? Right.). Start small and expand from there.

Now, chances are that this person knows at least one other person at this event. So, after you’ve had a pleasant exchange with the person, you say, “Who else do you know at this event? Shall we go say hi to them?”

And then you proceed to go say hi to the next person and double the number of your acquaintances at the event.

Guess what? You can do this again. You can also break away and start another nucleation site (which is my preferred technique). Before you know it, you know half the people in the room.

Before I leave, I want to remind you of the 5 principles from the Tao of Social Networking.

1) Accept all invitations.
2) Show up.
3) Accept all contacts. Talk to *everyone* and get contact info.
4) Follow up within 24-72 hrs — a simple email is often enough.
5) Give back by inviting people to an event of your own, or connecting them to an event they would be interested in.

Many thanks go out to The View, Martini & Rossi, and VState Clothing Store for helping to make another successful Mingle event.  We thought the event turned out to have a great crowd,  with a good diversity to meet many new people.  Drawing winners of the VState gift certificates will be notified via email this weekend.  See you around.

So Friday night I was at this big ol’ mixer. I’ve been co-hosting these for some years now, and about 300 people show up each time, to give you a sense of scale.

Although the events are open to anyone, whether single or attached, 95% of the people who attend are single. And they are there primarily to meet new people — preferably members of the opposite sex.

Now over the years and dozens of these events, what I’ve found most remarkable is how ackwardly they go about meeting new people.

>> Read more

If you are interested in networking with the best people in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area Mingle is for you. Sign up below to get on our exclusive email list where we contact you about any exciting Mingle sponsored events.

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