How to Network in Person: Build Powerful Connections in the Age of AI
Stop handing out business cards like confetti. In the age of AI, the money is in what happens before and after the handshake. At a conference, you may get five minutes tops with someone, so your strategy, questions, and follow-up decide whether your investment becomes a relationship or goes to the basura.
In this solo episode of Banking on Cultura, Victoria Jenn Rodriguez shares a practical networking strategy for conferences, galas, and business events. Learn how to use AI to research an event, choose the right sessions, create a memorable introduction, ask better questions, qualify leads, build relationships, and turn in-person connections into real business opportunities.
You’ll also learn why a traditional business card may not be enough, how to make yourself memorable without pitching too hard, why following up with a personalized message matters, and why face-to-face networking still carries weight when AI can generate contacts in seconds.
If you want better networking results, stronger business relationships, more qualified leads, and higher-value conversations, this episode gives you the exact mindset and tactics to put to work at your next event.
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Victoria Jenn Rodriguez:
What's up, y'all? Welcome back to Banking on Cultura. I am your host, Victoria Jenn Rodriguez, and I am so excited to be here with you today. I am coming to you live from the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. I am attending the Avance Global Convention, and I decided, you know what, I need to film a podcast episode while I'm out here because I'm doing so much networking and making so many dope connections, and it shifted since prior to this evolution and crazy buzz of AI. It's different now. How you network at events is so different, and I want to share what I'm learning, and I want to prepare you for your own networking events that are upcoming. It is conference season. It is gala season. It is the reason to go outside, shake some hands, and kiss some babies, honey. And let me tell you, because AI has created such a stir, has so many people anxious— some are afraid, some are super excited— one thing we all have in common, regardless of how you feel about AI, is that we want human connection. We are yearning to connect with people, to trust people, to have some type of human engagement. Now, I know I'm not alone on that because Data tells us, literally it's backed by science, that people need community and they need to connect with other human beings. Even if you are an introvert, and a lot of the tips that I'm going to share with you today, you can be an extrovert, you could be an introvert, you could be an AI enthusiast, it doesn't matter. These tips are going to help you build solid relationships that inevitably will accelerate the possibility of you closing deals, of you securing the big bag. And you know I'm all about that. Honey. All right, so let's get into these tips. And you know what, actually, before we do that, I just want to let you know how creative I am. I literally created my own desk here. I am recording this on my phone. I just have a wireless mic on me. And this is what you guys got to do to make it happen. Okay, for those of you who are thinking about podcasting, for those of you who are thinking about how to reinvent yourself, for those of you who are thinking about how do people fit it in, This is how we fit it in. We record from our hotel room, okay? And we get it done from here. So first takeaway of today is do what you got to do, honey. It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be pretty. It doesn't need to be the best of the best. It just needs to get done. Progress over productivity. I'm gonna repeat that. Progress over productivity. All right, so let's get into these tips. And this is all about how to network to the bank, honey. And I have my notes here because I want to make sure that I cover everything and I don't leave anything out because everything that I share with you today is going to set you up for success. If you ever had questions about networking, I got you. If you've ever been scared about networking, I got you. So let's get started. A lot of people think that networking happens once you're already in the building, but I like to prepare before I even get to a conference because honey, if I'm making the investment, I hopped on a plane, I paid the registration fee, I paid the hotel. If I'm making all these investments, you best to believe that I actually have a strategy and plan. So as soon as I hit the ground running, honey, I am off to the races and I'm ready to go. This will also help you build up your confidence because you know you walking into the room more prepared. So let's get into tip number 1. So tip number 1 is not showing up without a strategy, meaning you want to know who exactly is going to be in the room and who do you need to meet. And a friend of mine, Dr. Sonia Lewis, shout out to her, she's attending this conference with me, and she says, did you actually input the agenda in ChatGPT so it can tell you who you should meet given what you do? And I said, espérate. I was like, wow, that's actually a really great idea because I was planning to do that on my own, but why do that on my own? So what I did was is I put in the agenda for this conference. This is a massive conference. Thousands of people are here. There are congruent workshops going on, and I don't got time to attend everything, and I shouldn't be in every room. So I took the agenda, I put it into ChatGPT, and this is the prompt that I gave it. I'm attending this event. Given what you know about me and the work that I do, my objective for going to this conference is to get new leads for my business and also build relationships for my podcast and also let folks know about my trip coming up to Morocco. Given all of these things, Right? Given all of these things, what sessions should I attend that would set me up for the most success and put me in front of the right people? Boom. It spits out all of the sessions that I should attend, why I should attend those sessions, and what I should keep a lookout for. The next prompt that I gave it was, tell me what should be my 30 to 60 second clip on what I should say, how I should introduce myself. I use what chat gave me to set me up on how I should introduce myself so that I'm not wasting any time and I get people's attention right away depending on exactly what I am familiar with, what they're interested in. So use chat to help you put together your 60-second reel on how you are going to introduce yourself, which brings me to my next tip. So when you are introducing yourself, I want to make sure that it is not a commercial. Nobody wants to feel like they are being sold to. Nobody wants to feel like you were just spewing a whole bunch of information at them that really doesn't matter, okay? And so prepping in advance and nailing down exactly how you are going to introduce yourself is pivotal. Now, one of the key takeaways I want you to take from this is when you are meeting people, and this is at the conference, this is just a tip that you should have in your toolbox forever. Before you go off and start saying all the things that you do, even if they say, tell me more about you, say— I would encourage you to ask some questions before you actually introduce what you do so you can get an idea of what it is that they're interested in. What do they care about? What are they passionate about? And you could just ask those type of questions. What are you passionate about? What do you care about? What brings you here to this conference? Because those answers will let you know what is in alignment for them so that when you are talking to yourself about them, you are actually expressing something that is of interest, which would increase the likelihood of you staying connected post-conference and actually building a relationship that benefits both sides. Okay, so make sure to ask questions before you introduce yourself if you can. The next thing you want to do before you get to the conference to prepare is you want to make sure that you have your digital house in order. You want to make sure your LinkedIn is up to par, all your social media, everything is up to date, who you are now, the season that you are in, and what it is that you are selling, right? What it is that you are trying to get across, what type of community are you building, whatever is your main focus right now, you want to make sure your entire digital blueprint illustrates exactly that because that's an additional level of credibility. So the bottom line here, if you meet someone and they Google you, will what you just shared with them in terms of what you do, how you do it, and how you can help them is also reflected on what they will see if they Google you? So make sure your digital house is in order. All right, let's get into the next tip, and these are tips that are going to help you for once you're already in the room, okay? This is where the magic happens. So we're preparing before we go to the conference. Now that we have prepared, we are in the room. What do we do next? This one is really important, and I saw this come up so many times at this conference, and it actually killed me because it was a lot of women. that were doing it. And I'm like, who told them that this was the way to do this shit? Like, who told them this was going to help them build relationships? And it is this: please stop shoving your business cards at people when you meet someone. I had several women literally come across me, not introduce themselves, not ask me my name, nothing, just literally come to me and hand out their business card. And then walk off. Amiga, what exactly am I supposed to do with that? You didn't build anything with me. You didn't build a connection. I'm just going to discard that card. I'm going to throw it in the basura, in the garbage. So you just wasted money on these business cards because you didn't even introduce yourself when you were handing it out, right? There's no reason for me to want to stay connected to you. There's no reason for me to want to follow up. To want to learn more about you because you didn't take the time out to actually introduce yourself before you gave me your business card, okay? And I don't know about you, but I've been to so many events, I get home and I throw out all those business cards, or in fact, I leave them at the hotel. I don't even take them with me. So when you go up to someone, actually introduce yourself. Create a human connection with them. Speak. So that you can actually have something as a follow-up. Because look, you want the right person to have your business card. You want the lead that will translate into money to have your business card, not just some random. So how are you going to know if this person is even worth you giving a business card if you haven't taken the time out to actually have a conversation and introduce yourself? And please don't do that to anybody who is senior, somebody who got influence, because honey, they're gonna look at you Like you're a rookie, and nobody wants to do business with a rookie. Nobody wants to pay someone $20,000, $30,000, $50,000, a 6-figure contract that is a rookie. So do not make this rookie mistake. All right, next, next tip. I want you to get creative with how you make yourself memorable, and this was something really dope that I got when I was sitting next to a woman at one of the workshops. Instead of a business card, she had a $100 bill that obviously was fake, but it was made out of paper. She had her face on it. There was a QR code for me to continue to get to know her and connect with her because she handles money. She handles successful people's money. She protects their assets. And I thought that was so very cool and memorable. I'm sharing it here with you guys. So when you're thinking about standing out at these conferences, a traditional business card may not be it. Even a digital business card may not be it. Maybe you need to do something creative that when you give something to someone that is actually tangible, it separates you and it makes you memorable. And that $100 bill made her so memorable. I was like, this is really fly. And I'm going to now think about her because I'm impressed, right? And that's, that's, that's huge. When you are at networking events and people are meeting hundreds of people over the course of several days, you want to be memorable. And that was actually something super dope that stuck out to me, and I was like, wow, this is type fly. So key takeaway from this is think about creatively how you can represent what it is that you do and give that out instead versus a formal traditional business card. Allow people to be impressed by you literally within the first 60 seconds of meeting you, which brings me to my next tip. There was a woman who, and I thought this was really smart, she created these, uh, 4x6 kind of like postcards that she consistently would go to the workshops that would have the most people because it was the most interesting topic. It was on AI, it was on SEO, it was on social media, right? These topics that, you know, a lot of people would come to. And before the workshop kicked off, she would hand out these kind of small postcards with her business information on them. And she used ChatGPT. You can definitely tell that it was used by chat. So if you do this, try to get a little bit more creative. Don't just directly take it from Put in some effort into it because again, it's a way for you to stick out. So you want to be a little different than what people are accustomed to or what they normally see. So she would hand out these cards before a workshop would pop off. And at first I was like, okay, this is stupid. This is like the business card where you just give it to someone and then they leave. But because it was bigger than a traditional business card, it was actually like a postcard. It was front and back. It had beautiful visuals. on it, it was very different than a traditional business card, and it actually had more space to say the services that she offered, clients that she's worked with. She could share more about her work versus just a business card. So if you are going to hand out something without introducing yourself to someone, let it be along those lines so that it lands better for you. Next! So we spoke a little bit about asking better questions. We spoke a lot about not making every conversation about you, especially when you have the opportunity to introduce yourself. You want to give the other person the, the mic so that they have an opportunity to express to you what they care about. And here are some questions that you can ask to help you kind of break the ice, to help you really get a better understanding of what makes them tick, to see if this is even a relationship that you want to pursue, right? You're going to meet a lot of people that are not really advantageous. They don't add any value to what the mission is at hand, right? Because we're going to these events with an actual agenda, with an actual strategy. So here are some questions to ask someone that you are trying to get to know to see, A, if there is an actual connection that we should continue on, and B, is this someone that can use my services, someone that I can help? And C, you have an opportunity to get to know them on a human level. Okay, so first question, what brought you to this conference? Another question, what's something you're working on that you're really excited about? What's one challenge you are trying to solve right now? This one right here, this question right here should give you everything that you need to know to see if this is a potential lead for you. So pay attention. A big part of networking is you being a great listener. It's you talking less and listening more. That is what gets you good at networking and building relationships that actually matter and move the needle. Next question, who would be a valuable connection for you? That right there, automatically offering your help before you're asking for anything. That is a great way to differentiate you because people of influence, people who can make shit happen for you, people who have decision-making power over budgets, guess what? Everybody and their mama is asking them for favors. Everybody and their mama is asking them to do something for them. Stand out. Ask what you can do for them before you make an ask and follow through on any promises that you make because it will increase your credibility and also build trust, which is what you want. Next tip, I don't want you to confuse collecting contacts with building relationships. As I said, you are going to meet a lot of people and everybody is not a connection for you. A lot of overwhelm and overstimulation at these events happens because you are constantly having conversations with people that have no value. And not to say that they have no value as a human being, but have no value to your mission, right? To your agenda, to the strategy of why you attended that event in the first place. So don't waste your time. Bow out of conversations. And the nicest way to bow out of a conversation that you see is not adding any value You can stop them mid-sentence and say, I really appreciate you introducing yourself to me. What I'm hearing, it doesn't sound like there is real alignment, and I don't want to waste your time. And I'd rather you meet someone who can provide you real value and help you versus waste time chatting with me. I don't really see a connection here. Go kick ass. Done. And that is a very professional way of letting someone know, like, hey, I see you, I know you have value, but we're, we're not aligned. So you should go talk to people who are more aligned to your agenda. Ija. Very simple, very easy, and any busy professional would appreciate that honesty because nobody got time to waste out here. Okay, nobody got time to waste, so just be honest and transparent with people. Don't worry about hurting feelings, don't worry about any of that, because this is about intentionality, and people respect intentionality, especially in this climate. So don't waste their time, don't waste your time. Okay, next tip, I want you to stop networking only with people who can do Something for you. Now, what do I mean by that? What I mean is someone that you're speaking to may not be the direct person that would write you a check or that could add value, but they are connected to XYZ person that could. And so a great strategy can be helping the person that has the connection to the eventual person that you are trying to connect with. All right, follow me here. Okay, so you're going to offer help. Now, this is all about being strategic and intentional, right? You're not just doing this for a rando. Okay, this is somebody that you've done your homework or you met and you see them, they're shaking hands with someone that you want to shake hands with. So offer some help to them so that they can then say to you, wow, that was really helpful. How can I help you? When someone says, how can I help you? Please take advantage of that opportunity. Do not be shy. Let them help you. Even if they're full of shit. You don't know if they're full of shit until you actually test it and you say, hey, this is what I need help with. Is this something that you think you can do? Do you have capacity to actually help me? And then wait and listen and see what they say. Don't be afraid to ask for help at these events. The whole point of you coming is because there are resources here that can help you. So take advantage of the resources. And I know for a lot of you tuning in, asking for help or receiving help is something that is hard for you. And I want to challenge your thinking on this for a second. I want you to think about you asking for help or receiving help that will get you to contribute more to your family. You know by receiving this help or asking for help is going to help you put food on your table, is going to help you, you know, feed someone in the community, is going to help your philanthropic efforts, is going to help you do XYZ. that is connected to something that you are passionate about, that is heart-led. Because then when you shift your thinking, you don't look at it as weakness. You look at it as, this is the way that I'm going to have even more impact. This is the way that I'm going to help even more people. And that, my friend, is why we're doing all of this, right? I know many of you tune in to this podcast because you give a fuck about people. Right? You care. You care about humanity. So tie what you are doing, what you are asking for help with, what you are receiving help on as a way to help more people. Think about it that way. Okay? All right. Next tip. And this is a big one. I'm actually— everything that I'm sharing with you are things that I do myself. Right now I'm creating content. I'm here at this conference. And I'm creating content. I'm filming this podcast, right? But I also had stuff going on my stories. I took a whole bunch of pictures. I'm in other people's content. When you go to conferences, they tend to do a really good job of creating areas for you to create content, which means that the lighting is gonna be superb, which is fabulous. Lighting makes a huge difference. There's going to be cute little nooks for you to create content that is visually stimulating and appealing and leverage that so that you can use how they designed this whole experience as a way for you to get content. Okay, when you're at a conference, honey, you are not chilling, relaxing, all cool by the pool. Okay, you are here to work. You are here to work, so make sure you're taking advantage of every opportunity to get as much value as you can from this investment that you made to come to this event. I have tons of content that I got here because everything was so lavish. I am— so the conference is happening at the Bellagio, which is like old money, so it's very like royal, darling. It's very royal, and that is feel that you get when you are walking around there. It is absolutely stunning. Great opportunities for content. Then I'm staying at the Cosmopolitan, which is like sexy, which is like very like modernized. Tons of content here as well. So make sure you are taking advantage of the content. Also, you're putting on a face. Okay, you're putting on a face, you're getting dressed up, you're looking fabulous, honey. The world needs to see you looking fabulous, darling. That is a way for you to sell. That is a way for you to build community. That is a way for people to see you in a different light. So don't be afraid to let the world see you, darling. Get that content. Get that content. Next thing I want to share with you is don't just attend conferences. Study. Study the conferences. If you want to host your own events, if you want to build community, Pay attention to how these event organizers are doing it. What's on the stage? Who's their AV team, right? Who is the one coordinating all of this? Who's the orchestra? Who's the event planner, right? How are they creating memorable moments? How are they distinguishing themselves? How are they treating their VIPs? Right? What is the stage presence? Study, study. These are all takeaways that you can bring back to the home office and apply to your own experiences and events, right? Super, super dope as a way to get inside access, insider insights into how to throw a really dope event. And the way that you pick up on these things is if you feel something. If you feel something internally that made you be like, wow, this is actually tight fly, like this is pretty dope, then boom, that's your example right there for you to write that down as a takeaway and bring back to your home office. Okay, let's get into part 3, and this is the most important part. This is where a lot of people drop the ball. And they end up spending all of that money and it goes to the basura. It goes to garbage because they are not— ding, ding, ding, ding, ding— following through. Follow-up is king. Follow-up is where the shmoney is at. Follow-up is how you know if that conference was really worth your time or not. And a lot of people drop the ball here because they are exhausted. Conferences are exhausting. You're talking to people all day, you're going to this workshop, you're going to that workshop, Listen, just to get to my hotel, to the hotel where the conference is taking, it's a 15-minute walk there, a 15-minute walk back. On top of that, I'm shaking hands, I'm kissing babies, I'm doing content. Like, you are exhausted. So when you get back home, you're just on to the next thing, right? You're back in your zone of being the mama bear, being the wifey, being the businesswoman, going here, going there. There's tons of distractions when you get back home. You have to make sure that you follow up and you do not leave any money on the table. So everyone that you met with, you need to make sure that you are sending them a follow-up email to get on the phone and talk real business. Because when you are at a networking event, you probably have maybe 5 minutes tops with someone if they give you that. So there's no real conversation happening about, okay, what's next? What do— how are we actually making this something? that is beneficial to both of us, right? When you meet them at a conference, it's just curiosity. It's what gets you on the calendar to get on the phone, right? That's what gets you, right? They give you their information, so you have to follow up. When you get on the phone, that is where the real money conversations are happening, and that is how relationship cultivation and nurturing works. You need to make sure that you follow up and you take the initiative. Don't wait for them to reach out to you. Remember, you have your own mission, you have your own agenda, you have your own strategy of why you went to that conference. Make sure to follow it all the way through, and I need you to personalize that follow-up. What was something that they said that stuck out to you? What was something that you had a conversation about that would make you memorable? You might be saying, pero Victoria, I'm meeting all these people. How am I going to remember what they said? I got you. Every time you meet someone that you believe is someone you want to continue to build a relationship with because you think that you can add value and vice versa, you're going to write down in your notes on your phone, follow up with Rebecca. We talked about bringing her on the podcast. We talked about her mama who was just sick. Anything that you can do to personalize the follow-up is key because remember, we are human beings. We want to feel seen, we want to feel heard. So make sure that that follow-up is personalized. Do not use your CRM to follow up with everyone with the same blanket tired-ass ChatGPT email. They know, and everyone is ChatGPT'd out, okay? Everyone puts you into the bucket of you being lazy as fuck because You could not take out the time to personalize an email to follow up with somebody, so why should they write you a 6-figure check? Why should they hire you if you couldn't even take the additional 2 minutes to personalize an email to them, to make them feel special, like you saw them, like you heard them, like they matter? Okay, I'm reloaded. All right, let's get into these. How many more I got? How many more I got? How many more I got? Let's get into part 4, why in-person networking matters in the age of AI. Listen, AI might help you get a contact, but what helps you keep that contact and actually make relationships that matter? You got to shake hands and you got to meet people face to face. The more opportunities that you have to meet people face to face, take advantage of those, y'all. Get away from the computer. Go outside. It will give you energy. It will get your reps in. You gotta put in your reps. How do you get comfortable talking about yourself? You gotta put in your reps. How do you get comfortable pitching yourself? You gotta put in your reps. How do you get comfortable asking people to pay you $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 to work with you? You have to put in your reps. And hiding behind a computer screen is going to cap how much money you are able to make because that's baby money. That's minor league money. You want to be in the major leagues, and in the major leagues, they're going to breakfast. In the major leagues, they're going to dinner. In the major leagues, they are having meetings in person. They are going outside because they understand understand that there is nothing compared to shaking a person's hand in person. There is nothing compared to breaking bread with someone. There is nothing compared to observing someone in their human element, not hiding behind a keyboard and screen. There's body language you pick up on, there's scents you pick up on, there are things that you can only visually see close up that you can pick up on That are all cues to learn about this person that you are trying to build a relationship with, and for them to learn about you. For them to get an understanding of why should they care about building a relationship with you. So go outside. Okay, last but not least, some of y'all are so busy trying to make new relationships that you are forgetting about the relationships that you already have. When was the last time you hit somebody up that you met a couple of months ago just to see how they're doing? Not to sell them anything, not to do anything aside from just checking in and saying hello. You need to set those reminders. You need to check in with people with no agenda. The only agenda is to nurture the relationship and see how they were doing. Right? You don't need to always be in pitch mode. The way that you build relationships is you need to become less transactional, and I had to learn that the hard way. I had to learn that by people choosing not to do business with me because I was so transactional, which was a crazy learning because I grew up on Wall Street, single dad. I was a shark, and I had to learn that in this season of how I want to care about human beings, in this season of how I want to do business and who I want to do business with, the type of person I want to do business with required me to approach how I manage my relationships. So take these nuggets with you into the next event that you go to. I hope these help. I'm so excited for you to put these to work. Shoot me a DM on the Grams, leave a comment on this episode. Let me know if you applied any of these things and if they actually help you in the long run. I need to wrap this episode here because I got I gotta do my own follow-up now. While I got some time, I need to start sending out my follow-up emails, y'all. So thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. If this is helpful to you, if you learned something, don't forget to share it with a fellow friend, colleague, mentor. Let's make sure that we are sharing. By the way, this is a great way to, to keep relationships alive with people. When you come across a great episode, great podcast episode, a great article, send it to someone that you think it could help. Something small like that takes you less than 15 seconds to share it. That is an easy, low-hanging fruit way to stay connected to people. All right, mi gente, I will see you in the next episode. Bye! Bye!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to prepare before you ever enter the room.
Understand why your introduction should never feel like a commercial.
Discover the questions that reveal someone’s priorities, challenges, and potential alignment.
Learn why collecting contacts is not the same as building relationships.
Find out how to make yourself memorable without relying on a traditional business card.
Understand how to offer value before asking for an introduction or favor.
Learn how to personalize your follow-up so people feel seen, heard, and remembered.
Discover why in-person meetings still matter when AI is changing how we connect.
Learn how to nurture relationships without always being in pitch mode.
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