The worlds biggest economy is mostly FREE and CALLED NETWORKING. Its a dangerous animal – it can be the fastest way to success as well as it can it can suck you dry.

With DLD (one of the best conferences in EU) coming up and with my own praising of St Gallen’s Symposium (blogpost here) – I feel that I have to do a brain dump on conference and networking. Its mostly a closed club and you have to be invited to the really hardcore and best ones. It takes a lot of hard work and luck to get there – and off course you also want to be invited to the speakers dinners etc – if you are untamed curious and want to see whats really happening behind the scenes.

I started out back in 1996 by pretending to be a journalist (blogging was not really a term) – I wrote that I had a blog ( we had e.magazine.dk) and wanted to cover events like Sime (since I could not pay the fees)- and they did send me a ticket (or two) – and I went to interview the Speakers with my old Sony HighCam (as big as a truck) – having my xwife to hold the cam. That was a silly fast way to get under the skin of the techstars of the time – hanging out with Jack Ma, The Razorfish Dudes, The Swedish DotCom Superstars of the 90’ies (what a circus)…

“PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”.

Groucho Marx – said it in a weird way. I dont really understand what he wants to say – since I really believe the reverse. Find the clubs that wants you and move on from there… :)

Many people call me to acces my network – and Im very proud to know a lot of really nice, funny and often interesting people. A good network is silly important if you want to bypass or even disrupt any structure (business or bureaucracy) – and it has been the main reason for most of my ups – but also for my downs… So I have to warn all of you guys out there.

(Am I just doing one more warning? Shit Im getting old – but well maybe I have always been :) – just taking a childish aporach).

• Be extremely carefull with networking – it can become a fulltime job if you are not very care full.
• Be 100% honest.
• Hang out with people who are smarter then you.
• Do more favours then you get*.
• Combine the info you get – and start sampling and testing the value and the truth level.
• Ask a gazillion questions! And dont be shy to look like and idiot just because you dont understand an acronym – there will for sure be 25-50% others who dont get it… I always ask and ask and ask – and many times I have tried that a lecturer doesnt even know anacronym.. :)
• Trade information – let people who are not super interresting for you right now – what you want in return (info not money or food) –

Plant tons of smart hearth driven seeds – and be longterm = follow your dreams, interest and hearth and adjust your materialistic dreams fast.

*life is not fair – and you will for sure ending up giving a lot of energi and brainpower – before you can harvest.