In November 2008 LinkedIn added an Events Feature. This feature allows members to add events they are organizing or merely attending. Since this feature is fairly new and not yet widely used, it does have some nice potential as a networking and marketing tool.
When you go to the events home, it lists upcoming events. You can choose to look at the “My Connections” tab which shows you what events people you are connected to are attending. You can also look at the “Most Popular” tab which appears to show events geographically near to you. It also has a search feature so you can choose keywords or location.
How can you use this feature?
First, if you’re looking for an industry event to attend, this will give you some options to choose from. And because you can see a list of people who are attending, you have an opportunity to do some background checking before you buy a ticket. If some of your connections are listed as attending, send them a message asking them what they know about the event and if they’ve attended in the past. This can help ensure you only attend events that are going to be worth your time and money.
Even better, if you’re planning to attend an event, check to see which of your connections are also going. Then you can get in touch and plan to meet. This can make your conference or workshop an even more valuable networking event. There’s nothing like putting a face to a name you’ve known virtually for some time.
Also, when you RSVP to an existing event, your name shows up in the Network Updates section of your connections’ home page, thus giving you another way to keep your name in front of people.
If you are organizing an event, you can create a listing for free in about five minutes. You can then invite people from your list of connections. One really nice feature is if your event is in person, rather than virtual, you can search your connections by location. This way you’re only sending invitations to people who are easily able to attend. It also means you don’t have to search your entire list looking for likely candidates.
So far I think this feature of LinkedIn is not as well used as the Answers section or the Groups. However, I think this will prove to be very valuable over time.
Andrea J. Stenberg
