How many times has this happened to you…? You go this conference, you’re really excited, you walk in the door, you get your name badge, you sit down at your table, the program starts, you get all this amazing information, you get up to leave. And you realize, “I never met the people sitting at my very own table.”

Hey there, I’m Lauren Ansley with Ansley Corporate Entertainment, and I’d like to help prevent this from ever happening to you again.

As an experienced corporate entertainer and trainer, when I am emceeing an event, it is my job to make sure the audience is engaged. And a great way to engage your audience is to encourage people to do that is to meet each other.

I always try to include at least one ice breaker at the beginning of every meeting.

I’ve also attended several meetings where there was just no time carved out for the attendees to meet each other. What a missed opportunity!

So here’s my suggestion… If you’re ever in this position, and you’d like to meet the people at your table, I would encourage you to take a moment before the program starts or at a quick break and say, “Hi, I’d love it if we could all go around the table and introduce ourselves. I’ll start… Hey everyone! My name is Lauren Ansley. I’m with Ansley Corporate Entertainment, and I’m super excited to be here today at this conference because I’m very passionate about *blah blah blah blah blah. How about you?” And you facilitate around the table.

And if you’re planning a business meeting, conference, or special event, I highly encourage you to carve out just a few precious moments for your audience to get to know each other. Take the time to help your audience get better connected. You never know who might be sitting right next to someone or at their very own table that could be an incredible new connection.

Hope this is helpful. Thanks for watching, and happy networking!