How to network at events in finance
Networking at a finance event starts before you arrive and ends with a message a few days later. This guide follows an evening event in Frankfurt from the invitation to the follow-up. The photo shows such an evening, the MarketVector Indexes panel on crypto assets at TechQuartier.
Before the event
Many finance events in Frankfurt are invite-only. For Digital Finance Night, guests needed an approved ticket, walk-ins were not admitted, and institutional guests got priority. Register early and state your company and role in the form.
Read the agenda and the speaker list, then pick two or three people you want to meet. Karrierebibel (in German) advises finding out beforehand who will attend. Prepare one question about the topic of the evening. It gives you a reason to talk to a speaker after the program.
At the event
At the FinTech Founder & Investor Evening, a fireside chat and an investor panel run until 18:40, and food, drinks and networking follow from 18:45 to 21:00. The talk gives everyone in the room the same opening: ask what the other person thought of the panel.
In the Harvard Business Review, Francesca Gino, Maryam Kouchaki and Tiziana Casciaro write that many professionals find networking uncomfortable and phony, and that this aversion can be overcome. One of their suggestions is to think about what you can learn in a conversation and what you can give, instead of only what you want to get.
After the event
Send a short message within three days, as Karrierebibel (in German) recommends, and refer to something from your conversation. A LinkedIn request with one line on where you met is enough. Finance Loop Impact Members get the attendee lists of the events they visited and up to four warm introductions per year.
Upcoming networking events
How do I network as an introvert?
Choose events with a program and a small audience. The FinTech Founder & Investor Evening is for around 60 founders and investors. For an informal start, the NFT Skybar across the street from TechQuartier has free entry and no fixed program.
What do I say at a networking event?
Start with the program: a question about a talk or the panel. Then say in one sentence what you work on and ask what brought the other person to the event. Keep the first conversation short and move on, so you meet the people on your list.
How do I network in banking and finance?
Go to the events where people from banks and fintechs meet, such as the networking events in Frankfurt. Finance Loop has more than 4,000 members, and the free Network Membership brings invitations to its events.
Networking at events and Finance Loop
Finance Loop is a professional network with more than 4,000 members and runs evening events in Frankfurt with a program and networking afterwards.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.