Last week, I moderated an #expochat on the topic of formal matchmaking programs at events. If you missed it, you can read through the archive of the discussion. One of the top reasons attendees come to events and exhibitors make the investment to showcase their products at events is to increase connections with the right people. Instead of allowing all of the networking and connections to happen organically, by chance or through hours of tedious work by attendees, show organizers can develop more engaging experiences for their participants by implementing formal matchmaking programs using technology to automate and refine the process.

The #expochat conversation was robust and a lot of good thinking on the subject of matchmaking programs came out of it. This infographic points to five big takeaways from the discussion:

Don’t miss out on future conversations. #expochat is held weekly at 1pm ET, Wednesdays on Twitter. Jump in and share your thoughts!

Additional Resources for Event Matchmaking Programs:

• Supplemental reading: I wrote “Matchmaking Programs Offer New Networking Benefits to Exhibitors and Attendees” for TSNN where show organizers who use matchmaking programs weigh in on the benefits to their shows and the value to both attendees and exhibitors.
• Case study: Event mobile app developer, Meetingplay has a lot of experience implementing matchmaking programs for clients within their apps. Here’s a case study it wrote on the topic for the Event Manager Blog.