The increase in virtual events has its positives and negatives: on one hand, virtual event attendance becomes accessible from anywhere; on the other hand, it can make it more difficult to connect with others on a meaningful level. 

Whether you’re a fan of virtual events or not, it can be a low-fuss, low-cost way to bring people together around a common theme. 

Higher education can especially benefit from the rise in virtual event platforms. 

Instead of holding several in-person networking events around the country, alumni program directors can cut back on costs by facilitating virtual networking events for alumni– something that provides a way to connect alumni no matter where they’ve relocated to.

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Read on for the best way to run a virtual speed networking event for alumni.

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1. Download a Zoom App that enables speed networking within your Zoom meeting.

Throwing alumni into a massive Zoom session isn’t going to lead to productive connections. Instead, use a Zoom App that enables you to match participants for timed, back-to-back speed networking sessions. 

‍Twine for Zoom is an extension that supercharges your Breakout Room experiences & makes setup 10x easier. With the Zoom App, users can: 

• 🪢 Automatically sort participants into roulette style Breakout Rooms for timed, back-to-back small group or 1:1 conversations
• 👀 Set custom sorting rules for Breakout Rooms based on any variable you choose; match current students with alumni, job seekers with recruiters, students with research assistants…etc. 
• 🗺️ Create themed tables in Map Mode; participants can hop in and out of Breakout Rooms as they please & choose with whom they’d like to connect.
• 💬 Message across Breakout Rooms, with individuals, or with the whole group; return to your messages even once the meeting has ended.
• 💥Click through icebreakers while in a Breakout Room to get the conversation flowing.
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑Use pre-set templates such as “Speed Networking” or “Mentor/Mentee” for one-click setup

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2. Schedule a Zoom Meeting or Zoom Event and send out the invitation link. 

If you want your attendees to register ahead of time, you can create a Zoom Event. Otherwise, you can just send out a regular meeting invitation.  

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3. Run the speed networking event with just a few clicks. 

Invite: invite your meeting participants. (Participants struggling to download the app due to IT restrictions? No worries– as long as the host has the app, all meeting attendees can still participate!)

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Select: Select one of our premade templates (ie. Speed Networking) or choose your own matchmaking mode. 

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Set: Answer a couple of quick questions about conversation length & pairing rules, and you’re ready to go!  When creating your matchmaking rules, you can choose to match alumni with current students, industries with industries, recruiters with undergrads… etc. 

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Sit back & relax: When you start matchmaking, participants will automatically be sorted into timed, back-to-back conversations based on the variables you have set. 

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Running a virtual networking session for alumni is a great way to cut back on travel costs, in-person setup, and venue booking. It also enables more alumni to connect from around the world, and create a stronger community of graduates.

Try twine for Zoom for free.

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