Hello, and welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections. Welcome to the show,
folks. I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and you're
listening to the podcast where networking is
more than just an awkward handshake and bad coffee.
It's an art and a talent. But here's the twist.
It's an art and talent you can actually learn.
Yes, even if you're the person hiding in the
corner at every event. pretending to check emails.
Networking isn't just a nice skill to have. It's
a game changer. When you get good at it, you'll
wonder why you didn't start sooner. More connections,
more opportunities, more profits. It's like unlocking
a cheat code for life. So whether you're the
life of the party or the just let me just stay
home and text type, we've got something for you.
So stick around. Let's turn those awkward small
talk moments into big wins. Now I've got an amazing
guest for you today. His name is Anders and he
is, well, he's a speaker and author and a magician
and a founder of. Gageified, if I say that correctly.
I'm going to butcher the rest of it. So what
I'm going to do is I'm going to allow Anders
to give you his background, his bio, and we'll
move on from there. Welcome to the show, Anders.
Oh, thanks for having me, Michael. When you said
butcher, usually it's my last name that gets
butchered, which is French is boulanger. It's
French for baker, but it looks like boulanger.
Right. That's right. So, and I have a Swedish
first name and a French last name. So one of
them usually gets messed up. So you nailed the
first name. So that's great. So yeah, Michael,
you're right. I'm a magician originally. That's
how I got started. I get when I was five years
old, I got a little Fisher price magic set for
Christmas and started doing magic at show and
tell and at school and got to be 12 years old,
started doing birthday parties. Then I ended
up doing, you know, fairs and festivals as i
grew older paid my way through university i got
a four -year degree in physics and then never
really used that degree i just kept on with the
magic doing conferences and corporate events
i put a suit on that kind of thing so that the
same you know my magic evolved and then i got
uh back in 2007 now i got trained by a man named
joel bauer who was you know kind of the best
who ever lived at trade show infotaining meaning
you're performing as an entertainer in a trade
show booth but the whole time you're actually
communicating a message about the company to
entice visitors to stop to listen and hopefully
take action and go on a deeper booth journey
you know at that particular particular client's
booth right so i started doing that more and
more and built up our business so we were not
just me but other certified infotainers that
work for engageify are working for companies
like microsoft siemens avb fortinet you know
billion dollar technology companies that we work
for and then there's something that came out
of this where we noticed there were some people
maybe not as comfortable connecting with people
maybe not as comfortable working a trade show
booth and there's so many parallels michael of
you know being at a trade show and networking
right like in a lot of ways they're the same
one in the same And so what we found is we needed
a training to make sure that the booth staff
were taking full advantage of the crowds that
we were attracting to the booth, right? Sometimes
we'd get a big crowd of people and we'd turn
them over to the booth staff and they'd go, any
questions? And they would just walk away. They
wouldn't engage. So we started creating different
trainings, whether it's for the... the engineer
doing the demos whether it's for the subject
matter experts doing the presentations whether
it's just you know general booth staff how to
work a booth and how to stop people in the aisles
talk with them and and qualify them and and then
even during the pandemic there was a shift too
because of course there were no events so we
were teaching virtual engagement meaning how
do we attract someone's attention and keep their
focus on you through a virtual meeting, whether
you're selling, whether you are just meeting,
maybe it's engaging your team, that sort of thing.
So everything we do, it really, really does revolve
around engagement. And that's what Engageify
does. Engageify does, that's right. It's a good
name for it. Okay, so how can businesses maximize
their networking potential at trade shows and
industry events? Well, I think for one, a lot
of people need to, and even including myself,
need to give yourself permission to be more of
yourself at a show like that. And for some, it's
easier than others, right? How people are wired,
what people are comfortable in doing. But I find
myself, you know, I kind of flick a switch where
I know this is what is required in this environment.
And it does require a great amount of energy.
So I think there's something about... you know
finding we call it an engaging personality but
finding that sweet spot of yourself even if you
are you know the the classic joke about engineers
is how do you tell an extroverted engineer from
an introverted engineer well the extroverted
engineer will actually look at your feet as they
speak to you instead of their own of course right
so but is there a way we can just get a little
bit more out of you right to be able to make
these connections because sometimes we have to
take some chances we have to you know one of
the the things that we see in trade shows as
people are walking by just trying to stop someone
you're dealing with rejection on multiple times
in a minute potentially right like if you tried
to actually stop someone walking by and you know
if we take that personally that's people will
just like go hide in the closet of the the trade
show booth right we we kind of can't do that
so it's that idea of what is this you know kind
of part of you that you can bring to the show
that is a little bit bigger than you normally
are and because of that it's not really you right
we can kind of almost protect herself and so
like hey some will some won't so what who's next
right like just embrace that sort of motto so
that because there's so many people to meet,
right? We can't take it personally. So that's
one of the things that I like to see is just
people kind of bringing it and bringing that
bigger version of themselves. Do you consider
yourself an introvert or an extrovert? I'm definitely
extroverted in a way. Like I have two kids, one
takes after my wife, one takes after me. And
it's very apparent, you know, that seeing the
difference. I've always wanted to be on stage
and perform. So I would... pretty much say i'm
an extrovert in that way so in some ways i feel
like you know i'm i don't know what it's like
for an introvert so i always have to remind myself
that you know it's not as easy you know for people
who aren't wired that way or don't prefer to
engage that way okay you know You're talking
about the booths and attracting attention and
getting the engaged, the customers or clients,
potential clients. And there's a plethora of
booths and there's so many to choose from. What
do you have that you really have that that extra
little thing to get their attention? Well, one
of the things that. you know dopamine is one
of these neurotransmitters you know what what
captures our attention is is norepinephrine and
dopamine so nor norepinephrine is the stress
neurotransmitter right like this idea that we're
we're we don't want to put our potential clients
under stress even though you know if there was
danger it would take our full attention right
like that's how that works from a biological
evolutionary point of view typically we don't
want to do that right so the other side is what's
in it for me what is that what is that you know
the the you focused benefits are there uh things
that we want to eat right the things that you
know that idea going back again evolutionary
so dopamine spikes are typically rewards so this
is where you go back to the the giveaways at
a trade show why are there giveaways because
getting things free makes us for me right special
we feel good and so typically giving something
whether that is an experience maybe you know
some booths you got the classic massage you know
thing happening of course different giveaway
items or gifts i i never like to call them like
you know i like to call them a gift as opposed
to sometimes people call them you know trinkets
and trash like let's not diminish their value
let's let's support their value right these days
they call them call them swag a lot right as
the gifts so that's one of the things that's
going to possibly capture that attention but
unless you upsell their time and attention into
a deeper richer booth experience you know they're
just going to go hey thanks i'm out of here right
so how you use your interpersonal skills you
know when you meet that person and connect with
those people you know if you're able to start
a conversation and find out maybe where they're
from, find some commonalities, find some things
that can unite the two of you, that person is
probably just going to take it and run. So that's
where our trainings come in, where we're bringing
this attention to these skills that come naturally
to some and some not so much, right? But the
more we're able to raise the bar in the booth
to create meaningful interactions. the better
the chance we're going to have booth visitors
listen to what it is differentiates the company
it's going to you know find out why they should
they should buy what's what is that that marketing
message um so that's really you know a big part
of is the dopamine i do have a another kind of
framework if you like michael about how to make
what you talk about more engaging would that
be okay to share absolutely okay so we we use
it as it's a it's an acronym save you so the
word save and then just the letter u and save
you is helpful because if you ever find yourself
losing the attention of an audience or a group
of people or one person even this will save you
okay so i'm going to walk through each of the
letters so the first s is simple now you got
to make things simple and easy in terms of the
language terms of your vocabulary in terms of
making things. My original acronym was much longer.
And I was like, okay, I got to like listen to
my own advice here. So like, you know, this is
only five letters. So, you know, it's better
than it was before, right? So how can we simplify
using, again, acronyms, alliterations, rhymes,
you know, making your messaging pithy. and and
interesting right so that's that's one thing
all too often we're working in an industry where
we have the curse of knowledge and we tend to
lose people because we assume everyone knows
what we know right that's right and so that's
that's a dangerous place so making sure everything's
simple the a is for authority and that authority
is Not just like I'm important, but the idea
that this information is coming from a place
that maybe you're an expert. Perhaps it's how
you talk about this information. And I'll give
you a quick example, Michael. If I was talking
about what I'm talking about now, Michael, and
I was going up in my intonation all the time,
I wouldn't sound very credible, would I? It would
sound like, are you asking me a question or are
you telling me, Anders? I'm not sure. right so
how you carry yourself how you're dressed lends
to that authority right we it's it's like we
a doctor who's not wearing a white coat who's
wearing doctor is wearing a t -shirt and sweatpants
we're going to go ugh right like we're not going
to want to listen to them right so that authority
piece is you know setting yourself up for success
in that way okay so so the simple so simple a
is the authority V is for varying the senses
or visual auditory kinesthetic. Michael, I know
you've probably seen all kinds of personality
assessments and ways of slicing and dicing how
people operate. One of the ways the learning
styles is the visual, seeing, auditory, hearing,
kinesthetic feeling. And so when we actually,
when we talk about something, talk about something,
that's an auditory term, right? one might be
able to see the differences in how others speak.
See the differences, visual. Others speak, auditory
again, right? And then so the feeling that someone's
words give, again, feeling, kiss, text. So mixing
those up allows you to almost shotgun blast being
relatable to more of your audience. If we talked
for a while, Michael, and you were on my podcast,
we'd be able to pick up on each other's... typically
with their preferred modality, which is a highfalutin
way of saying, what is your preferred sense,
right? And you're watching me, we're on this
virtual call, you see my hands moving all over
the place and I talk pretty fast. That is a hint
that I'm a visual person. So you would probably
talk about things being crystal clear or how
does this look to you to engage me? But because
we're at a trade show and we're talking to so
many people, If you use multiple senses in your
language, you're going to engage everyone, basically.
We're kind of getting everyone on board. So it
makes it more engageable, if you will. That's
not a real word, but I'm going to use it in this
case. That's right. So that's the S, the A, the
V. The E is emotional in save you. And emotional
meaning not we're trying to make people cry,
but we want to. involve their emotions so that
they remember the moment right yeah yeah so and
and we can do that by the way that we are with
the rapport that we have with that person right
if someone's in tune with you they're gonna feel
your feelings as well right so perfect example
is one of the things i do in my trade show presentation
i'll have a picture of a frustrated man pulling
like pulling his hair out kind of idea right
and i'll say how many people feel like this in
your current role right and then people raise
their hands and we haven't even talked about
why but he's got this problem he's got a problem
b problem and c problem how many of you saying
people can relate yeah and i'm seeing all these
nods of heads i'm saying it like oh what a pain
right here's this frustrated guy you got this
happen and everyone's going yeah so they're they're
with me and i'm meeting them where they're at
right so or kind of we're feeling the pain together.
And then as the presentation progresses, then
it becomes this, but what if there was a way
that we could X, Y, and Z? How would that change
how you operate your company, right? And now
we're getting into a little bit more of an optimistic
or this asking this question or getting into
this place in their minds that they're thinking
about what would it be like if they didn't have
these problems. and now we're able to kind of
take them on this emotional journey to like now
we've got this happening this happening you're
going to be able to see it all on one single
pane of glass on the dashboard you're going to
be able to measure all this and now i can kind
of ramp up and get excited about it and they
can get excited with me so when i say emotions
it's like let people feel things and in business
we're so you know hesitant to get emotional about
it everything's all clear -cut data right? And
so getting emotional with people, you can sweep
people away with your energy, Michael, right?
Like in a personal interaction, people like,
you know, people who are enthusiastic about something,
right? Enthusiasm is contagious. And I think
there's something magical about that. Okay. So
that's what the emotion is about. And then the
last one, the U, just the letter U is for you
focused. And we kind of covered that a little
bit. talking about what's in it for them everybody's
favorite radio station that's the classic cliche
right wiifm what's in it for me and so making
sure that it is focused on their outcomes right
and so everyone's goes through life wondering
you know what can i you know what can i eat what
can i you know like evolutionary You want to
mate with something, you want to eat something,
and you want to avoid being eaten yourself and
being killed, right? So we're always getting
away from the danger and going towards what we
want. And so that's the other piece is making
sure whatever topic content you have, make it
about what they want or make it about what they
don't want to happen to them too. Like avoiding
these pitfalls, right? That'll get their attention
as well. And so that's our little save you acronym.
And that's wonderful. I'm trying to place everything
that you just said with the SAVE YOU acronym
within the networking world. And it's so close.
You be authentic, you be present, you listen
to the other person, you see their reactions.
Everything is parallel to somebody networking
in an event. when a trade show is an event. So
it's just, it's remarkable how you have different
fields, different career fields here, but you're
doing the same things because it works. It actually
works. So that's why I was very intent on listening
to each one of these letters and what they meant.
And every time you said another letter, it...
correlates to something regarding networking
so it's it's all it's all great it's all wonderful
and you did an outstanding job you know explaining
all that um one thing after okay so you've told
us about the engagement you told us about how
you get them in at the tables and everything
what about prior to the event what about prior
to the the the trade show how would you advise
your client how to network properly to get the
most out of the trade show? Well, you know, trade
show marketing typically is split up into before,
during, and after the show, right? So you're
trying to make these connections, find these
people who would be qualified leads. You know,
and one thing before I go further, Michael, one
of the... delineations i made in my mind when
we were talking about the world of networking
in a world of trade shows i think in trade shows
it's a little bit more sales forward meaning
we know why we're here let's cut to the chase
let's see if there's a fit right where in networking
you don't even know who if whether you might
do business with them or you might be able to
connect them with someone else and it's a little
bit more i feel like relationship first And trade
shows sometimes has a little bit more of a pointed
focus. I have to tell you, when you network,
you're always looking to give, not receive. Yes.
Okay. So with that thought of giving, you're
constantly giving at a networking event. But
at the trade show, aren't you giving also and
not really receiving? Not receiving until afterwards
when you get them in. then you're getting a little
interaction. But you're looking to connect with
them, to give them something, to make them aware
so they can have that relationship with you.
Yeah. The reason is we are always working for
companies at the show who want more leads, right?
They want more leads. So when I think about giving
first, well... Maybe they're giving a giveaway,
but then they're taking a scan, right? They're
getting that person's information. So that's
where I mean, it's a little bit more transactional
at a trade show. It is. But, you know, it's still
important. Like, I mean, if you want to establish
long term clients or customers, I think, you
know, relationship is it needs to be formed.
really think that comes out of giving first you're
right as far as the the kind of the before what
i was going to say is before the event during
the event after the event you know before the
event there can be there's email marketing there's
people you know trying to invite people to special
events these might be off sites these might be
places where you can get people in a place where
their guard is down a little bit more And so
we see this too where there's more and more of
these kind of executive roundtables happening
because if you're selling to the C -suite, you
get them in a room with a bunch of other executives
and they feel safe in that environment because
they're with their peers. And they also feel
more safe sharing because they're with their
peers. You have that higher level of trust. That
trust factor is so important. Know you like you
trust you, they'll do business with you. At the
C -suite level, they already have that trust
level built. And so you don't have to really
think about that. You can go on to the next level.
So trust is so crucial in everything that we
do. But it's kind of like a known entity. Once
you get involved with the C -suite executives,
with the networking, with what I do, it starts
with the C -suite, but then it trickles down.
What you're doing is that it trickles over. It's
not trickling down. So what you're doing is such
a higher level than what I'm doing because it's
you're getting that instantaneous reaction to
the person and you're and you actually are getting
something so you're covering all these different
things when i'm just doing this one but i'm sorry
go ahead well no i i i totally see your point
and in some ways i think two trade shows just
because so much money is invested in these events
it's kind of like you're pushing the agenda harder
than you would because we need ROI, right? And
so everything is accelerated. Everything is so
much higher stakes. And because of that, we just
kind of get, you know, the hurry up offense happening
on all these interactions and relationships,
right? Right, right. Very good. Okay, so let's
take you and your clients, okay? Your client
being the owner of the trade show. How has technology,
digital displays, social media, everything together,
how has it changed the way that you connect with
them at trade shows and your clients at trade
shows? Yeah, well, definitely when you talk about
connecting, you know, the LED screens and the
eye candy that can be done. you know and you
mentioned a trade show table it's like these
are these are boosts that are you know 1600 square
feet or they could be much bigger i've worked
in many million dollar plus boosts you know built
and then the whole trade show becomes like a
mini city right for for three days but yeah definitely
the led screens are getting cheaper and cheaper
so you're seeing bigger and bigger screens and
what's interesting and i've taken some pictures
of this is that now the technology is almost
dwarfing the people so you can have such a big
screen but such a small presenter that is literally
overshadowed because it's so bright they're backlit
and now they look like they're in shadow that
we're not connecting with the human as much so
we have to be careful that we don't overpower
the actual people because bottom line no matter
how much you click from place to place you'll
never replace face to face right so So you need
to, we need to remember it's still about the
humans. It's still about the people. So that's
one of the things. I mean, another thing that
it used to be such a pain in the butt to collect
lead information. They used to have to fill out
a form or whatever. And now it's just a bad scanner
and it's so quick you put it on. So there's some
things that have streamlined that so that you
don't have to, you know, either write down the
stuff for them and take yourself out of the conversation.
You know, you're able to kind of, or people are
doing. of voice recordings of the of either notes
afterwards so after you met the person instead
of you were head down in your phone trying to
type notes while you were talking you were able
to keep face to face eye to eye with that person
as soon as they leave you hit the record button
that automatically transcribes your notes and
you do a data dump of everything you just remembered
about this person so that they're in your notes
so when the follow -up happens it can be so much
more personal so much more relevant right so
so that definitely you know is is unique technology
there is also technology we have something that
we call it crowd metrics and this is analytics
on the booth so we put sensors in the booth and
what ends up happening is afterwards you're able
to then look at where were the best areas of
the booth or what was drawing people in and being
able to then optimize your booth further for
your next show, right? What are the lessons learned
from this? You know, how many impressions do
we make? How many walk -bys were there? How many
engaged visitors did we have? And so from that,
it's not really helping the interactions of this
show, but you may be able to take those learnings
in the next show. No, we need more booth staff
on this edge because there were so many more
people there, right? Maybe we're missing out
on the people walking by. So technology continues
to evolve. And of course, it gets applied to
business in all areas. Yeah, that's great. I
had no idea about those matrix and things like
that. And I apologize for saying table. I'm well
aware of booths and the small cities that they've
become. But you mentioned follow up. How do you
follow up with your clients? For me, follow -up,
I use a lot of email and I use a lot of video.
So you can see me right now. Yeah. And so I have
kind of like a little studio here and I'll make
one -off videos for a person. So they are personalized.
So I have a little whiteboard that I hold up.
And I would write, hi, Michael, you know, press
play or something like that. And so they know
that I made this video just for them. And because
I'm always making videos. I have two clients
that do that. Two clients that do that. Yep,
absolutely. So that's probably how I follow up
most of the time. We do have, you know, different
things. We also use a service called Handwritten,
which is, are you familiar with that, Michael?
Handywritten, yes. I'm a big one for writing
thank you notes. And if I'm in a rush, I'm not
going to handwrite the thank you notes. I'll
go online and use Handywritten. So yes, it's
a very good website. Yeah, I really like that.
And so that has that personal touch, although
it is faster and more scalable. And so it's one
of those things where we keep trying to scale
authenticity, right? Can you really do that,
right? Or is that becoming authentic if it's
just going out to the masses? But this is one
of those ways where it kind of walks the line
of something that is convenient, easy to do,
but appreciated on the other end. Okay. Well,
let me ask you a question. All of this has been
wonderful. It tells me how well you're doing,
but I'm sure you didn't get here without making
any mistakes. what what mistakes generally have
you made and how could you avoid them wow okay
almost i we at my company i have a a chief strategy
officer who works with me all the time and we're
we're always looking at learnings you know and
and what what did we learn this quarter what
did we learn this quarter and i kind of wish
i had my learning library up right now because
there'd be all kinds of things that they would
come up one of the ones that that comes to mind.
And this is just because we have different certified
infotainers. So I work for some of the clients
and some of our other infotainers work for other
clients. And one of the things I do remember
learning was that we want to match what people
have had in the future. So if you have a pretty
high energy person, whoever they get first, they
like, right? And it's kind of this thing that
if you need to, that person's busy and you need
someone else in their place. make sure you have
someone of similar quality right let's say not
quality but similar energy and right and whatever
yeah whatever people have first they fall in
love with and so you know that may not apply
to a lot of people but in in our business you
know that was something and another thing that
i remember now that you're jogging my memory
is giving people too much choice creates that
you know paralysis by analysis absolutely And
I remember early on, I was selling one of, well,
two of our infotainers. And I kind of said, this
guy's like this and this guy's like this. Which
one do you want? And they didn't have enough
information to make the, and it just stretched
it out. And I stopped doing that. I just said,
I'm going to pick who I think's best, put them
forward and go, this is your guy. And it just
sped up, you know, the sales process so much
because it was just. So much more clear cut so
that there is that famous jar jams experiment
where they had like 20 different types of jams.
And how many did they sell? And then they reduced
it down to like six or eight or something. And
they sold way more, you know, at the same flea
market. So reducing choice does improve on the,
you know, commitment. So that would probably
be my big one. Okay. So let's bring this. All
the way around. Let's just finish with this one
thing. What would you give to my listeners? One
thing that one takeaway that they can take away
from everything you've said they can use today
or tomorrow. What would you suggest? So I wrote
a book and it's called Engage First. It's not
going to be out till October. So it's still a
ways away. And that title. is really what we're
about is that you know it's how to capture attention
to tell sell and sway and so you really can't
communicate or sell or do anything you want unless
people are actually paying attention and so making
sure that we make an effort to engage you know
that we actually there's a willingness to to
to try and and connect with people because so
many people are living in their own world right
now they're head down shut down on the phone
how do we get them to get be head up and lit
up right how do we you know bring our more of
ourselves to the moment be present and engage
with these people and kind of get back that that
human connection so i just want to leave them
with these two words engage first fantastic there
was anders that was perfect now If somebody wanted
to get hold of you, either they want your services
or be coached by you or even just to contact
you to say hi, how would they do it? Well, definitely
you can check out our website and it's Engageify
.ai. I'm going to spell that E -N -G -A -G -I
-F -Y. And the AI is not artificial intelligence,
by the way, Michael. It stands for authentic
interactions. That's what our AI stands for,
okay? So you can go on the website. You can reach
out that way. On LinkedIn is probably where I
hang out socially the most. So it's LinkedIn
slash Anders Belanger, all one word. I'll spell
it again. Spell this part too. A -N -D -E -R
-S. B as in boy. O -U -L -A -N. G -E -R. It looks
like Anders Buhlanger. Okay. So that's, you can
reach out to me there. And of course we can DM
and set something up in a call or whatever. So
yeah. Thanks for having me, Michael. Appreciate
it. No problem. And I'm glad to have you. And
this has really been entertaining the first and
foremost, but I learned so much about what you
do and how you do it and the importance. of what
you do. So thank you very much for coming on,
and I'll speak to you soon. Thanks a lot. Well,
hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let me just
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-U -P -K -I -D -S .org. Well, that's a wrap,
folks. A huge thank you to our special guests
for sharing such incredible insights today. And
of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing
listeners, for tuning in and spending your time
with us. Remember, networking isn't about being
perfect. It's about being present. So take what
you've learned today, get out there and make
some meaningful connections. If you enjoyed this
episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us
a review and share it with someone who could
use a little networking inspiration. Let's keep
the conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
Spotify, YouTube or my website. Michael A. Foreman,
remember, until next time, keep practicing, keep
connecting, and keep building those relationships.
This is Michael A. Foreman signing off. Take
care and happy networking.