It was neither a astounding success nor a miserable failure. I’d call today a good, solid win. I didn’t last the entire eleven hours. I only made it nine before I got a headache, wore out, and called it a day. But I did make quite a few contacts and develop over a dozen good leads.

My prognosis: I can talk to people in person. But now the thought of calling these people back to set an appointment scares me. I hate the phone. I prefer face to face. But there’s no turning back now.

The funny thing is that I actually found the morning networking session invigorating. I enjoyed talking to people! Of course it helped that they were all energized, friendly, and there to make contacts, too. But as the day wore on and people wore down it got more difficult. People didn’t make eye contact as easily. People’s body language just wasn’t as welcoming. I think an eleven hour event is too long, quite frankly.

I did try to go to the last two hours, which were also a networking opportunity. But the energy of the room had changed dramatically from the morning session. People were tired. They were sitting down at tables. They were hanging out with their friends, and no one was budging. I quickly surmised that networking was going to be difficult, even without my headache and exhaustion, and beat a hasty retreat.

Onward to the next phase. It will be interesting to see how many of the people who were so welcoming today are still welcoming when I call them up. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised.