A BarCamp is based around the idea that the coffee breaks are much more valuable than the actual sessions… and so the “sessions” consist of self-organized coffee breaks to talk about specific subjects.  There are no highly-paid presenters, there are no hoity-toity sales pitches, and there isn’t a lot of free, but useless, swag.

I’m convinced that the idea of attending people-created BarCamps, TweetUps, going to MeetUp.com and finding local business events, and attending unemployed-centric events is the most effective way to network.  Not only do you get to showcase your skills or share ideas with a highly-energetic and tuned-in audience, but you get to rub elbows with people you never even knew existed!

How do you succeed at a BarCamp?  Well – you take business cards… or set up a free Contxts account so you can share them via SMS text message.  Then, you think about things you are knowledgeable about as they relate to the theme of the conference.  At a WineCamp and know something about vintage port?  Write your idea up on the whiteboard and if people like it, they’ll attend.  Having a creative or funny name for your “discussion” is a big help!

Attend other people’s discussions – listen and pitch in! Ask questions, participate!  Don’t go into a BarCamp with the expectation that it’s all about you – it’s about you SHARING your knowledge with other people. It’s true that what you put in will dictate what you get out of it – the more you share, the more people are going to want to talk to you (as long as you’re not a raving idiot).

Most of all, network! Introduce yourself to anyone and everyone who looks or sounds interesting – write down memorable questions and ask if you can e-mail people later.

You never know, you might just be hobnobbing your way to your next job!

The first is Networking.

Networking is the act of building up relationships with the people you know.  Not the bow-chica-bow-wow kind of relationships, the more meaningful “You can do something for my business, I want to pay you a huge sum of money now” kind of relationships.

According to a February 2009 survey of employers (PDF), over a quarter of new hires are accomplished via networking.  You do this by introducing yourself (and your marketable skills) to people you know, and in turn, they introduce you (and your marketable skills) to the people they know.

Except you can’t just go up to someone and say, “I’m a marketer, will you introduce me to Joe the Plumber who needs some marketing done?”  You have to build relationships.  You have to cultivate trust.  Not just that, but you also have to use the right tools.  Once you build relationships, cultivate trust, and use the right tools – your network will do 99% of the work for you, promoting you by word of mouth.  Sometimes you still have to ask for the proper introductions, but in my experience, this only happens 1% of the time.

Using Twitter and LinkedIn are good ways to start – making sure you have a full profile on each.  You also have to respect the cultures of those networking tools – on LinkedIn, you can’t really connect with someone you don’t know, unless you arrange an introduction through someone you do know.  On Twitter, it’s a common practice to connect with someone you have no ties to.  But god help you if you DM the same thing to everyone or auto-follow like a jerk.

Most of all, networking is a two-way street.  You have to be willing to set up connections for your network as well.  Being selfish is a great way to diminish and destroy your network.  Network the right way – network like a Digital Gunslinger.  Use honesty, transparency, authenticity, credibility, accountability, integrity, and humility to build your networks piecemeal – one person at a time.  Be a digital gunslinger in person as well as online and you’ll bring in all sorts of cool opportunities!

In fact, by building my own network using the same principles, I was eventually able to talk at Ignite Fort Collins #1!  How cool is that?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJLgaAsT4tU