As I mentioned in our recent MeetingWave Blog post:

http://www.meetingwave.com/blog/2008/10/22/the-origin-of-the-meetingwave-idea-an-online-tool-for-offline-networking-meetings

I came up with the idea of creating MeetingWave while I was an associate at a law firm in NYC. It became clear to me that leveraging the vast reach of the Internet would be a great way to meet potential clients and become a “RainMaker”. Well, I never stayed long enough to make partner (once described as “winning a pie eating contest where the first prize is a pie”), but I instead went to work as a lawyer at a company.

Even though I left the law firm world, I am very excited to see that MeetingWave is being used by attorneys for offline networking and perhaps a little rainmaking. Case in point – the following Invite was recently posted:

Invite Title: “Employment Law Discussion”

Description: Free and open discussion about employment law issues; get free legal advice; there is no obligation to continue with / employ / hire the lecturing attorney

http://www.meetingwave.com/blog/2008/10/22/the-origin-of-the-meetingwave-idea-an-online-tool-for-offline-networking-meetings

The MeetingWave member posted recurring Invites at a number of places. This is a smart move – giving others a number of options as to where to meet can increase the chance of getting acceptances.

We’re behind you 100% MassLawJim. Good luck and thanks for the support.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

MeetingWave’s core focus is to bring you together with the right people. Whether you are looking for a new business partner, want to discuss trends with others in your field or want to start a neighborhood carpool, MeetingWave provides you with tools that allow you to decide who to meet. This way, you don’t waste your time meeting the wrong people.

How does it work?

Step 1: A member posts a Public Invite for a meeting that specifies the type of people they want to network with or the purpose of the meeting. The member can identify themselves or post anonymously, although we recommend some background information be included in the member’s Profile. The Public Invite includes a time and place and is published for any other member to review and accept.

Step 2: MeetingWave notifies the member who posted the Public Invite by email each time someone accepts the invite or requests attendance.

Step 3: The member then approves or declines each acceptance or request to attend and can do so for any reason. MeetingWave notifies the individuals who accepted whether they may attend the member’s meeting. Only “approved” people may attend and the proposed meeting is only confirmed if at least one acceptance is approved. If the acceptance is not approved, no meeting is confirmed.

Ultimately, the member posting the Public Invite ultimately controls whether the meeting will happen and who may attend. Why the “velvet rope” and uncertainty? If it’s a “Public Invite”, why can’t I just show up? MeetingWave allows members who post Public Invites to approve or decline each acceptance and it’s entirely their decision. Here’s why:

Control: MeetingWave’s goal is to make sure our members have valuable networking meetings with the right people. Therefore, we provide each member with control over who they will network with, so they don’t waste their time meeting the wrong people. For any meeting, the member who posted the Public Invite decides who attends based on profiles, the number of requests to attend, etc. You should not attend any meeting unless you’ve received an email from MeetingWave indicating your acceptance has been approved.

Flexibility: We provide members with flexibility when they post Public Invites. By posting an invite, you are only indicating you believe you’ll be available for a meeting at the proposed time and/or place. You are not committing yet to the proposed meeting. The meeting is only confirmed if you approve at least one acceptance. We realize people are busy and scheduling conflicts are common, so this flexibility is important to our members.

Make sure you have a confirmed meeting before showing up.

Although some MeetingWave members post “event” invites where an RSVP or a confirmed acceptance is not required, that’s not MeetingWave’s core focus. The majority of invites posted on MeetingWave require at least one acceptance and a confirmation of that acceptance from the member who posted the invite. Otherwise, there is no confirmed meeting.

Please contact us if you have any questions, comments or feedback.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

Why is meeting someone in person still important? With phones, Skype, text messaging, email and online video conferencing, why do we still need the face-to-face meeting?

It’s a good question. Now that technology enables us to meet “virtually”, why bother meeting offline?

Simply put, “you can’t fax a handshake or a smile”, as someone once stated. The face-to-face meeting allows us to display our social skills, show our human side, size up the other person, communicate more effectively, and much more. Some believe face-to-face meetings allow you to learn from and support each other. Some say there is an emotional energy created from being around others having similar interests. Eye contact, gestures, posturing, tone of voice, all play a role in our face-to-face meetings and are often lost in virtual online meetings.

I recall a co-worker in sales at a former job explain how he once flew from the US to Korea, followed by a long car ride from the airport to the client site, for a half hour face-to-face meeting. He complained about the trip, but never doubted its purpose which was to obtain face-time with a client. Shake hands, size up each other, and start to build trust.

As another example, I once worked as an associate at the law firm Winston & Strawn, which had a NYC office and a Chicago office. The Chicago office had a cafeteria open for lunch. I believe it made a difference being able to dine with the other attorneys at the firm on a regular basis. You either sat with attorneys you’ve never met before and learned about them and their practice or you were able to catch up with attorneys you worked with or knew before. It provided a synergy even though we all were always a short hallway, phone call or email away from each other. There’s an ebb and flow in any face-to-face conversation that allows participants to better communicate their thoughts and more effectively follow the other person.

Although we have members posting Public Invites for online meetings or teleconferences, MeetingWave’s core focus is to facilitate the arrangement of face-to-face networking meetings to help people expand their real-world contacts for business, professional or social purposes. Members post invites for coffee, lunch, dinner, drinks, jogging, golf or any other networking activity. We enable members to meet the people they want to network with anytime, anyplace because we believe the face-to-face meeting is still the best way to build real world contacts.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

There’s been a lot of buzz about social networking these past several years, and a lot of places on the web to do it. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and many other sites help people build social and business networks that exist only online. But what about good old-fashioned, real-world, face-to-face business networking? What happened to “schmoozing”, “rubbing elbows” or “hobnobbing”? Online networking has clear benefits - you can join an endless number of networks and search for almost anyone with little effort. However, your result is usually an extensive network of weak relationships. Face-to-face networking is unique in that you are more likely to establish a solid, long-lasting networking relationship with long-term value to you.

MeetingWave combines the best of both worlds by leveraging the power of the Internet to reach a large population of users, and then enabling its members to meet people in person to create a more valuable network.

Why Face to Face Meetings are Crucial for Successful Business Networking

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_networking) very clearly defines “business networking” and its benefits:

A method by which business opportunities are created through networks of like-minded business people … many business people contend business networking is a more cost-effective method of generating new business than advertising or public relations efforts. This is because business networking is a low-cost activity that involves more personal commitment than company money.

So, business networking is a low-cost, more personal way of generating business than traditional advertising or public relations campaigns. Your “target” is a person or people who you actually need to meet and with whom you need to engage in conversation. At some point, all of us have engaged in business networking of some sort or another. If you have joined a club or association, set up a golf or tennis date, met work colleagues for coffee or a meal, attended conferences or tradeshows to try to connect with potential clients or look for business or job opportunities – you’ve engaged in business networking or at least placed yourself in a situation ideal for business networking. Notwithstanding the Internet, face-to-face business networking has not disappeared or become a less valuable way of establishing relationships. In fact, with all the business and job opportunities ushered in with the Internet, face-to-face business networking is as important as ever for establishing relationships that can help you.

Face-to-face, real-world networking helps you expand your business and social contacts. This can help you reach your goals, whether your goal is generating new sales, bringing in a new client, recruiting a team, promoting your business, finding a new job or making a new friend.

“It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

Getting ahead requires hard work, talent, smarts and not least of all — beyond an individual’s own personal attributes — a network of people who can help. Expanding “who you know” will always be an integral part of succeeding, and there will always be a myriad of opportunities to network in the “real world.”

We built MeetingWave to make sure you meet the right people to help achieve your goals, wherever you live, and give you an opportunity to meet these people face-to-face. You can post a “Public Invite” that describes the people you want to meet or the purpose of your meeting. After you post your meeting, you can approve or decline anyone’s acceptance of your Invite for any reason. For example, if someone’s MeetingWave profile indicates they may not be in a line of work that suits your meeting, you can decline their acceptance. Or, you can simply cancel your meeting for any reason.

MeetingWave provides you with exceptional control over who you meet, while giving you the advantage of reaching a large audience through the Internet. We hope that our tools will enable you to build a valuable business network that will be useful to you as you pursue your goals.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

My motivation for creating MeetingWave has its roots in a time when I was working as an associate at an intellectual property law firm in New York City. It was a firm, like any firm, where client generation was strongly encouraged, and partner compensation had a direct, measurable correlation to the amount of business you brought in. Rainmakers made a lot of money; worker bees did not. It became clear to me early on that the rainmakers were the ones who put themselves out there – they participated in professional organizations, social clubs (like the New York Yacht Club or the Harvard Club), and engaged in social activities like golfing – all in an effort to generate business while also having some fun. The power of networking to meet new people and generate new business was abundantly evident all around me.

At the same time, I also began to travel a bit to visit clients, sometimes in relatively “quiet” cities with not much going on or where I didn’t know anyone. A sampling of some of the places I traveled to for work purposes includes Gaithersburg, Maryland; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Hackettstown, New Jersey; Olen, Belgium; Slough, United Kingdom; and Birstall, United Kingdom. When I wasn’t scheduled to have dinner with the client I was visiting, my only options were often to eat dinner alone in my hotel room or eat alone in the hotel restaurant watching thirty other business people eating alone. It occurred to me: how beneficial (and fun) would it be for all of us to dine together? During one of my trips, I was working on a transaction in London and one of the attorneys I was working with named Anthony James (Carpmaels & Ransford) invited me to dinner at his private club called Brooks. The club was very old with a long history. While I sat down, I noticed a large circular table in the dining hall with a single gentleman sitting there. I asked about it and my colleague indicated it was an open table for any club member who was interested in dinner but hadn’t made arrangements to dine with anyone else. Any member could sit there and – voila – a networking dinner with a mix of members is set up.

My professional goals and my experiences while on business travel prompted me to think about creating a website dedicated to arranging networking dinners or lunches with other people while traveling or near home or work. Nothing existed (until MeetingWave came along) that provided people with the ability to create focused and convenient networking meetings. My goal was to create a tool that allowed people like me to create or find interesting networking meetings, wherever I might be.

That’s pretty much how it all started. I filed a patent application on my model and after it was granted, decided to build MeetingWave.com to help members arrange face-to-face networking meetings for business, professional or social purposes.

I hope you find it useful.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

We continue to be busy enhancing our free online business and social networking tool www.MeetingWave.com - the site that allows you to post Public Invites to meet new people offline. We’ve added new features to make it even easier to network with others, whether you are on the road or near home or work. Start using our new features today so you can begin making the right connections.

New Mobile Version of MeetingWave. Now, wherever you are, you can easily post, find and accept Invites with your web-enabled device. Just visit MeetingWave.com using your BlackBerry, Treo, or smart phone to see a fast, easy-to-use mobile interface for MeetingWave.com or point your device to http://m.meetingwave.com.

MeetingWave.com available on Bebo.com. You can now access MeetingWave.com through Bebo.com, a global online social networking service with more than 40 million users. Please check out our Bebo beta: http://www.bebo.com/app/meetingwave.

Forward a Public Invite to a Friend. You can now forward a Public Invite with the simple click of a button. The more active members there are, the better we can connect people for business and social networking!

We are very excited watching our membership grow every day. We encourage you to check back at the site often, as more and more people are registering and posting new Invites for networking meetings. We greatly value your participation and thank you for your feedback.