Click on the video below to learn how…

At DABGO we hope that 2007 has been a successful and wonderful year for you and your loved ones. Now is the time of year to make your New Year resolutions, and in addition to your goals for your personal life and work life. I have created a list that will make 2008 a successful networking year.

1. Get to know your network better - You cannot even begin to network, unless you know who is in your network. Make a complete list of everyone in your network, that being family, friends, coworkers, sports, organizations and online communities etc. Make notes on everything relevant you know about each person. If you have people in your online network that you do not know that well, then write them an e-mail and get updated on their current agenda. Know understand and appreciate your value to the people in your network. We all have unique interests, talents, and experiences which can be used to help others. Revel in knowing that you can touch the lives of everyone you meet if you are prepared to share your knowledge and resources with them.

2. Make introductions – When you meet new people or existing contacts, then ask them about their current challenges and then think creatively and remember what other contacts have told you about their business and expertise. If no one in your network comes to mind, then write down the challenges and keep it on your desk for a few weeks, in case you should stumble upon a possible candidate that can help. Use the new e-mail feature on Linkedin to make the introduction. You can get instruction on how here…

3. Update your Linkedin profile - So that it matches your skill set and experience. You can get some tips & tricks on how to update your profile by Linkedin employees here…

4. Arrange a lunch, dinner, event, meet-up for coffee etc. - Create an event for the local DABGO members where you live. Take the network offline locally, and connect in person with other members. A big part of networking effectively is keeping you visible. People will see you as a connector if you hold your own event.

5. Budget time for networking - Networking will not pay off instantly. So make a networking schedule (goal) for yourself that fits your schedule. Here are some examples of what could be included:

• Reach out to “X number” of people in your network via e-mail and phone every

• Have lunch with “X number” of new contact/s every month

• Have lunch with X number old contact/s every month

• Attend “X number” of networking event/s every month

• Check the www.dabgo.com site “X number” of times every month for new articles and your local network websites for upcoming events.

6. Pace yourself - Get involved in online and offline networking groups and communities at a pace that you can maintain. It is better to get involved gradually than to make a big splash and then fade away. Let your involvement and presence is a process that grows in momentum, visibility and value over time. This gives you and others a chance to develop trust and rapport. It doesn’t matter what you decided to do to get yourself noticed. Just do it, and do it consistently. You’ll find it’s a low cost way to build your business; you’ll learn a lot from others and have fun at the same time.

7. Your Introduction - Plan and practice your introduction of yourself and your company, also known as the elevator pitch. Check this YouTube movie on what an elevator pitch is here… (it is meant for venture capital, but works for any product or service pitch to a potential customer or network contact to understand your business)

Also check the following link to a fast pitch approach to generate interest here…

8. Follow up – Very few people follow up when meeting a new person and receiving a business card or contact details. Make sure to follow up within 24 business hours it will make you stand out, and increase your credibility. Your follow-up displays your level of commitment to relationships.

9. Help DABGO grow – The strength of DABGO will have a direct or indirect impact on the opportunities and wisdom you will receive in return from the network. So please go through your contact list and see if there should be any Danes living abroad or living in Denmark with two or more years abroad. Please send them the www.dabgo.com link and invite them to the network, or send me their names and e-mail addresses and I will do it for you.

10. Recommend a person - Write a Linkedin recommendation for a colleague or business partner that you value. It is a great way to say that you appreciate the person. A public recommendation is much better that sending flowers or wine with a card. It will also last longer and strengthen your connection with that person. Get some tips & tricks on how to write a recommendation here…

With the many possibilities of networking online both for business and socially we have created an open global DABGO group on Facebook, which is the best functioning social network site available. The network is more focused on all the social aspects of life and does not have the business functionalities of Linkedin, so in a sense they compliment each other well.

Join the DABGO Facebook group by clicking here…

Interesting Facebook facts can be found here… or read the Wiki here…

Latest news about Facebook: October 24th 2007: The Associated Press reported Microsoft had bought a 1.6% share of the company for $240 million

I keep getting invitations to different social/business networking sites. How can I choose which ones are for me, so that I do not waste my time on creating my profile (once again), uploading my cv and yet again inviting everyone in my network to yet another site?

There are a lot of different social/business network sites to choose from. Wikipedia has a list of some of the sites and the number of users. Linkedin is by far the biggest business networking site with “Xing” the former “OpenBC” as number two.

Denmark has the highest number of Linkedin users per capita. At the beginning of 2007 there were 150.000 Danish Linkedin users (users living in Denmark).

DABGO is the biggest virtual business networking group for Danish business professionals living abroad.

Making the math on what networking site to join if your are Danish is easy, but what if you have already joined other network sites and would like to keep the “investments”, you could add the following sentence to your profile description “Please see my Linkedin profile for most recent updates and my primary business network”. This way you can point all your current and future network profiles to one “master” profile and still get the broad internet exposure.

Networking is an art that can be learned. You don’t have to be inherently gregarious and outgoing. Just have a genuine curiosity and interest in others. The result can be rewarding in your work and in your personal life. Here are a few tips on how to network effectively and, for those who may have difficulty networking, rather painlessly. Read the 10 ways at Blog Forward.

As our personal contact database increases, it becomes a challenge to manage. Here is my 2 cents on how to create a well functioning personal contact management set-up for your private use:

- Install Plaxo + the Outlook toolbar
- Create a Linkedin account + install the Outlook toolbar
- Use Outlook to its full extend. Check the presentation “Outlook Features for Contact Management - 7 Steps to Success“
- For quick overview of contacts directly in your inbox install “Priasoft Outlook Contact View Add-in for Outlook“

With this set-up you will gain a quick overview of a contact directly in your Outlook Inbox view and automated update functions combined with easy to import/export/update/edit contacts.

Share your contact management solution by making a comment.

Most people acknowledge that networking - creating a fabric of personal contacts to provide support, feedback, insight, and resources is an essential activity for an ambitious manager. Indeed, it’s a requirement even for those focused simply on doing their current jobs well. For some, this is a distasteful reality. Working through networks, they believe, means relying on who you know rather than what you know, a hypocritical, possibly unethical, way to get things done.

But as INSEAD’s Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter point out in this article published in the Harvard Business Review (January 2007), even those who understand that networking is a legitimate and necessary part of their job can be discouraged by the payoff because they are doing it in too limited a fashion. On the basis of a close study of 30 emerging leaders, the authors outline three distinct forms of networking.

Read the short version at the Havard Business Review or the complete article here.

A new study circulating through hedge funds and university campuses points to the powerful role that old-school ties play in the world of investing.

To join, you need to be invited by a trusted member.

Dopplr is an online service for frequent travellers. It was created by an international team of world travellers as a tool for our own use. We liked it so much that we decided to open it up to our global friends.

If you travel more than five times a year and have friends who do as well, then Dopplr is for you.

How does Dopplr work? It lets you share your future travel plans with a group of trusted fellow travellers whom you have chosen. It also reminds you of friends and colleagues who live in the cities you’re planning to visit. You can use the service with your personal computer and mobile phone.

Interested in joining Dopplr? Then click here

Meetup.com helps people find others who share their interest or cause, and form lasting, influential, local community groups that regularly meet face-to-face.

I recommend that you sign up to the meetup.com list in your city. It’s a great way to meet new people and broaden your professional and personal network. If you cannot find a group that has your interest, then create your own.

Networking and gaining new knowledge is all about thinking outside the box, and doing something you might not usually do. So go meet up…