Thom Singer is writing a series on how to network at conferences – it is a brilliant series (for a number of reasons). He’s doing it based on letters of the alphabet, and he’s up to “N.”
N is for Nametags, he writes.
He talks about the importance of nametags, making sure they are worn in a place where people can read them, saying:
“Make sure that the font is large enough to to be read at a distance and that you have the persons first name, last name, and company name.”
I just got back from a conference and am headed to a few others.
The nametag is not a document that needs a lot of information. If I remember I’m going to change my nametag so it JUST has my first name… (maybe a bit more).
I have bad eyes, and usually can’t see the first name of the person wearing it. There is a lot of noise on a nametag, like the conference name and logo, person’s hometown, website, company name, etc.
All I want is the first name. And I want to be able to see it easily.
Since the nametag is also a branding opportunity, I might put my Twitter handle, and perhaps my company website…. so in summary, the three things of importance, to me, are this (in this order):
- First name: Jason
- Company URL: JibberJobber.com
- Twitter handle (depending on the audience): @JasonAlba
One time I remember not even putting my first name, I just put my Twitter handle… that way you could see my first name and know I was on Twitter (and easily follow me).
