Networking is one of the main reasons people attend conferences and business events.

But bringing the right people into the same venue doesn't necessarily mean they'll find each other.

At a large event, attendees may be surrounded by hundreds or even thousands of people, without knowing who shares their interests or whom they could meaningfully connect with in the time available.

Coffee breaks, receptions and networking sessions create opportunities for conversations. Digital tools can help participants make better use of those opportunities by allowing them to discover relevant people, connect and start conversations before they happen to stand beside each other at the coffee machine.

Help Attendees Understand Who Else Is There

A participant list becomes much more useful when it tells attendees something about the people behind the names.

Through their GatherUp profiles, participants can provide information about themselves, including their organisation, professional role, biography, photo and other relevant details.

For participants who choose to make their profiles visible, this creates a useful starting point for networking. Before arriving at the venue, attendees can explore who else is taking part and identify people they would like to meet.

Help People Find Relevant Connections

Being able to see who's attending is useful. Finding the people most relevant to you is considerably more useful.

Participants don't necessarily have the time or inclination to browse through a long attendee directory hoping an interesting name eventually appears.

GatherUp can use participants’ networking interests to suggest potentially relevant people to connect with.

This shifts networking away from simply providing access to a participant list and towards helping attendees answer a much more practical question:

Who at this event might I actually want to meet?

Technology can't guarantee a useful conversation, but it can make relevant people easier to discover.

Let the Conversation Start Before the Event

The first interaction between two participants doesn't have to happen at the venue.

Once attendees discover someone they would like to connect with, GatherUp allows them to establish connections and communicate through 1:1 chat.

That can make the first in-person conversation much easier.

A short introduction before the event can establish why two people would like to meet, what they have in common or what they might want to discuss. Instead of starting from “So, what do you do?”, they can arrive with some context already established.

Turn “We Should Meet” Into an Actual Meeting

Finding an interesting person is one thing. Finding them again somewhere inside a busy conference venue is another.

GatherUp allows participants to arrange meetings, turning an informal intention to connect into something that can actually fit into their event schedule.

Scheduled meetings appear in each participant’s personal agenda alongside sessions they have saved as favourites. This brings programme content and networking commitments into one place, making it easier to plan their time.

This is particularly valuable at larger or multi-day events, where both people may have packed schedules and limited opportunities to cross paths.

Networking still happens naturally throughout the event. Scheduled meetings simply give important connections a better chance of actually happening.

Give Participants Control Over Their Networking Experience

Not everyone attends an event with the same networking goals.

Some participants actively want to meet as many relevant people as possible. Others may want to connect only with a small number of contacts. Some may prefer not to be discoverable at all.

A useful networking environment needs to respect those differences.

GatherUp gives participants control over their profile visibility while providing networking tools to those who want to use them.

The organiser's role isn't to force people into conversations. It is to create an environment where useful connections are easier to make.

That means providing opportunities for discovery, communication and meetings while leaving participants in control of how they choose to engage.

Create Better Conditions for Networking

Good networking will always depend on people. Organisers can help by removing the obstacles that make relevant connections harder to find and meetings harder to arrange.

Help attendees understand who else is there. Make relevant people easier to discover. Give them a way to introduce themselves. Let them arrange time to meet.

Then, by the time the coffee break finally arrives, the first connections may already have been made.

With GatherUp, participant profiles, networking interests, suggested connections, chat and meetings can work together to help attendees discover relevant people and make time to connect.