Looking to connect with others and build a life beyond work and academic life? Hosting a virtual networking event is a great way to engage your group around learning from new experiences, new people, and new places. This toolkit will help you engage young alumni, students, and others in the Brown community who are looking to connect on important areas of interest.
This toolkit will walk you through planning with a step-by-step guide to setting up virtual networking events, provide event examples, and offer helpful templates.
Step 1: Decide on a topic
Why do you want to bring people together? What topics are of interest for your group to connect around? Does your group want to learn about how to network, how to navigate their life after college? How to navigate a new city? Or how to get ahead in their career?
These topics could range from an industry-specific topic or a target audience, such as “Women in Business”, “First-Gen Journeys”, or “From College Hill to Capitol Hill.” When selecting your topic you want to be thinking about what the “give/get” exchange will be, meaning, what will one portion of your group want to “teach” or share and what will another portion of the group want to know or learn.
Step 2: Decide on the event format and platform
Your networking event can take on a format that feels comfortable for your group. We suggest you have a lead speaker to induce the event and kick off a panel discussion where 3-5 panelists will introduce themselves and answer questions pertaining to 1) their connection to Brown, 2) their connection to your theme/topic, and 3) lessons learned from the theme/topic.
After introductions, we suggest moving into breakout rooms via zoom. When the breakout session is complete, we recommend reconvening as a group to provide an open question/answer session with all panelists and then conclude the event with closing remarks. If you follow this format, here is a suggested template to work from.
There are a number of video conferencing options out there, including:
Cisco WebEx, Zoom, FreeConferenceCall.com, GoToMeeting
Step 3: Pick a date and time
You know your communities best. Are weekend afternoons popular for engagement, or are you better off selecting a weeknight? If you’re encouraging students and/or young alumni, after 5 pm during a weekday is recommended.
In addition to your event date, we recommend a prep-call in advance of your event to review the event “run of show” with your speakers, leaders, and panelists.
Step 4: Select a volunteer to serve as the MC
Select an MC for this event. Is someone in your group that is a natural storyteller or someone you consider well networked? If you are networking around a specific industry or topic, do you have a topic expert in the group who can kick off the conversation? The MC will kick things off, explain the event, introduce themselves and others involved with the event, and serve as the “go-to” person to lead your event questions/answers. This volunteer should agree to run through the event with you in advance and be able to log on at least 15 minutes prior to your event to review logistics previously outlined in your event prep-meeting.
You may also want to recruit a volunteer or two to serve as a co-lead with you for the event and answer technical questions so that the MC can focus solely on hosting.
Step 5: Select volunteers to serve as panelists or breakout room hosts
Who are your topic experts? When you think of your networking event theme, who comes to mind? You will want to recruit topic/industry-specific panelists to participate in your session. Your panelists should feel comfortable encouraging people to share their perspectives, creating a respectful and dynamic conversation. It is important that your panelists represent a diverse range of viewpoints and identities. Panelists should be diverse in experience, age, ethnicity, industry, gender, and other intersecting identities.
Searching in BrownConnect is a great way to locate alumni who identify with your important theme and can share their insights. In BrownConnect, the alumni-to-alumni element empowers users to reach out directly to fellow alumni. It is searchable by a wide range of keywords and categories, some of which are specific to Brown. To start your search:
2. Find the search box and enter the keywords resonating with your theme
3. Click search and begin to see the alumni who identify with your topic
Review your search results to see who your panelists could be and reach out to them.
Step 6: Create an event page and advertise
Communicate a welcome message on your group virtual outlet (website, social media, Eventbrite, or BRAVO event page) to let your audience know you are hosting a virtual event for them. Include your registration link.
Create your event page so that guests can register to participate online. Be sure to include information about the event format (panel, breakout rooms, topics) so that people know what to expect. Then, start inviting people with scheduled emails!
Need a write-up? Check out these examples of successful career/networking events.
Step 7: Get Social
Make sure to advertise across your group’s social media platforms. Use appropriate hashtags to spread the word about your event and to encourage people to join in on the fun by registering for the next event. Hashtag possibilities include: #BrownTrivia #EverTrue, #BrownReunion, #BrownAtHome, or #BrunoniansAtHome.
Step 8: Event Wrap-up
Thank your MC and panelists immediately after your event. Let them know you appreciate their time and energy.
Second, you’ll want to thank your event registrants for their interest in your event. Regardless of if your audience joined your event, we recommend following up with everyone registered. To get a better understanding of how the audience responded to your event, it is important that you distribute this Post-Event Survey. All invitees will receive this survey and we encourage both attendees and folks that were unable to attend the event to provide their candid feedback regarding their overall experience. Their feedback will include if this event established a stronger connection with the Brown community, if they were engaged in ways that they prefer, if they would recommend this event to a peer, etc. These responses will help continue to structure meaningful and impactful events moving forward.
Lastly, after your event, it’s important to take some time to debrief following your event. This process allows you to think critically about whether your goals were achieved, what went well, and what can be improved. We have developed this Post-Event Debrief Survey and ask that the event’s lead volunteer or staff member complete this survey following each virtual event.
Note: If you recorded your event, you’ll want to thank your MC and panelists for their participation and share the event recording with them for approval prior to making the recording available to your audience.
Regional Networking
Invite young alumni and/or students to attend an informal virtual event with seasoned alumni in your area to learn about different professional fields, key things to know about your area (fun facts, food to try, places to visit), and an opportunity to have informal social networking.
Here’s an example of how the Brown Club of New York partnered with BrownConnect to offer a summer networking event for students and recent graduates (view video)
Industry Conversations
Three or four alumni from various segments of a particular industry discuss working in that industry. Works well for everyone!
This could be an industry-specific conversation, bringing your group together to talk about Banking & Finance, Engineering, Medicine, Law, you name it. No matter what industry topic to decide on, questions or topic examples could include:
1. Career Advice: What do you wish you had known prior to entering your career field? Tell us about your first job outside of Brown and how it has impacted your career today?
2. Networking: How have networking and the Brown community helped shape your career? What is your best piece of networking advice? How would you advise networking inside and outside of the Brown community?
3. Strengths and Weaknesses: What were your strengths and weaknesses when you graduated? How do you perceive these strengths and weaknesses to have changed since then?
4. Transition to Workplace: How did you connect your concentration with your career path? Which skills that you learned in college are used in your professional life? How did you make use of summer internships/opportunities while in college? What was your first promotion within your industry?
5. Career Path: How has your career path differed from how you imagined it when you graduated from Brown?
6. Interviews: What is your favorite interview question? What does your organization look for in a new hire? How would you recommend preparing for an interview?
7. Professional Challenges: What have been your biggest professional challenges so far?
8. Internship Best Practices: What are some qualities of successful interns within your organization? What can interns do to stand out?
Using this model, here is an example of how Brown alumni in law came together to network and provide career information for students. This example demonstrates a model where your event would have a speaker panel, but no breakout rooms:
Legal Alumni Conversation: Using a Law Degree for Progressive Approaches to Social Change
Community Building
This event example is a way for you to interact with fellow alumni and/or students to build a community. Using this event example, The Women’s Launch Pad mentoring program hosted a virtual networking event that included a brief welcome, followed by three rounds of networking breakout rooms over Zoom. The conversation themes covered Mentoring 101, Finding Balance in Life, and Career Advice.
For this event to be successful, we recommend preparing your group ahead of time to set the intention for networking. Alumni will be asked to help co-facilitate conversations in the breakout rooms. For complete instructions and the role volunteers will play in the event, please review the event document.
Here is the intro recording of the WLP Kickoff Welcome to inspire community building.
Networking Basics
This event example offers an opportunity for your community to learn how to network. Guest speakers discuss their career journey, including advice on how to network and build a personal support team. This model shows how after panelist remarks, event participants engaged in breakout sessions designed to have their questions answered and to make closer connections with panelists.
Here’s a recording of this event example. (example features networking with our Brown military-affiliated community)