What factors are most important? Is it the keynote speakers, the organized networking activity, the exclusivity, chance for career/business opportunities or the venue and catering?
I believe it is the combination of all of those for a truly high caliber business networking event, in order of, from most important: 1. The keynote speakers, 2. The caliber of attendees. 3. networking activity 4. Opportunities 5. Food, Drink and Venue.
Keynote Speakers - Nothing is worse than attending an event with a bad speaker and when you have a great one that has real expertise that adds a lot of value and draw to the event. For example, having experts like the MD of Strategy at Accenture speaking with 10 years of experience of bringing top-tier orgs disruptive technology for going global and Someone like Rochelle Kopp who can really reach the audience and move them to understanding of how we all communicate differently across cultures and, to recognize those things and improve how we interact. (She is awesome. Ive seen her before) These speakers will be talking about how the key factors of disruptive Technology and cross cultural communication make a big difference for an organization in Going Global but for any event having the speakers on topic and adding real value is absolutely essential
Exclusivity or caliber of attendees - Have you been to a "Business Networking " event only to be disappointed by who you met there? in the case of our events, they are focused on MBAs and Masters and not because they are the end all , be all of business but because they are at minimum, driven , so that most have achieved a relative amount of business success and experience so attendees have real topics to be able to share in a meaningful way. We want to be able to have fun and make friends but also to walk away having made valuable connections, hence the words Business Networking. Whatever the type of event is, Marketing, Finance, C-level executives, make sure those are the people you actually do invite and have at your event.
Networking Activity - Read more about the annual MBA Summit