10 Lessons from the Our Crowd Global Summit 2018 – #OCSummit18

I was lucky enough to attend the Our Crowd Global Summit yesterday in Jerusalem. Click here to watch the live recording I posted on my IsraelB Online Community.

Below is photo with me and Mr Jonathan Medved, Founder and CEO of Our Crowd at the Jerusalem Shuk after the Summit:

The Hashtag for the event is #OCSummit18 if you want to see all the tweets on the event.

As I work in social media and content management, it was a very worthwhile networking event.

To an outsider it may have seemed like one long kiddush without the cholent and whisky (although the lunch was very good), but to anyone who was there like me to meet people and attend interesting lectures the day was very worthwhile.

Photo of me – on the left, with Dan Illouz and Jonni Nieman:

A big thanks to Jon Medved and the OurCrowd Team for a really useful and interesting Summit.

I wanted to share 10 lessons I learnt about social media and networking from the Summit:

1. Refer to people by their name and be personable when you talk to them. When I saw Jon Medved at the shuk for the after party, he said, ‘Hi Benjy, nice to see you’ and took a selfie with me (photo above). I had met Jon before, but the fact he addressed me by my name and was so willing to have a selfie changed the nature of our interaction and made me feel good about the conversation.
2. Take every conversation and lead you make as crucial. You have no idea where one person can lead you to, who they know and what insights and wisdom they can share. Don’t ignore or write off anyone.
3. Have 3 pockets — One for your business cards, one for business cards you’re going to use and one for business cards you’re just being polite by taking.
4. Brush your teeth, look professional, smile and pretend you’re going on a date when networking (in other words, first impressions count)
5. If you have networked with a potential client, make sure to finish your conversation with a call to action. When will you be in touch and how — A phone conversation, drink, meeting etc.
6. Be focused — You re at the event for a reason, not to have a day off. Pressure yourself — I have to make a certain amount of worthwhile connections each hour etc.
7. Enjoy yourself. If you are having a good time, you will appear a more attractive person to network with.
8. Selfies you post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook work even though they are annoying, especially if you’re an introvert like me. As long as you look presentable, selfies are a very easy tool for networking and online branding.
9. Facebook Live is also very effective for online branding. A short video on Facebook Live of you eating lunch and shmoozing with well respected, ‘influencers’ never does any harm.
10. Make sure to write a blog about your experiences, post it on the social media platforms you use, and send it to influencers or people who may be interested in investing in your product or service. (I’m looking for investors in the IsraelB Online Community I manage…)

Photo of me with Ahron Glazer from Blue Thread Marketing