Posted by:
Katie Stansberry
I need to order new business cards. It seems futile, but I’m going to do it anyway.
Each year at the ISTE conference I meet literally hundreds of educators doing fascinating things with technology. As is traditional, when I meet a new contact we typically exchange business cards. I then carefully tuck their card away in my briefcase and later that night I pull the card from my small bag and transfer it to the outside pocket of my luggage. When I return to my office in Oregon I dump all the cards out and sort through them, trying to match the names to the people I remember meeting. Finally, I put the cards in a special little file folder and forget about them. I have at least 500 business cards squirreled away at this point. I have no idea who these people are anymore. I’m sure they’ve gone on to do great things that I would love to hear about, but ever since their banishment to a dusty corner of my office I’ve lost touch.
This year, in addition to business cards, I will also bring a few QR code printouts with all my contact information built into the graphic. Each morning, I’ll slip one of the printouts into the clear pocket at the back of my convention badge. This year when I meet someone new, I’ll offer my business card but I’ll also ask if they want to scan the code on my badge. Here’s the contact information code I made using a simple online QR code generator:
What are your ideas to make the most of the networking opportunities at ISTE 2011?