It's time to get serious, folks. After the series of episodes on Linkedin, you have done your homework, worked on your profile, added contacts and proposed a meeting to a professional... who accepted it!

You didn't expect that, did you? And now, you must prepare for this coffee meeting 😬

Well, let’s work on that together.

Let's find below the 3 tips (plus one bonus) you needed to get yourself a memorable coffee meeting.

1. Set a single goal for your Linkedin meeting

The first thing to ask yourself is what exactly do I need from this person? You've already proposed some sort of agenda to the person you’re sitting with : try and get an advice, contact information of someone else, an opinion on a specific matter. But there is another reason why you want to meet this person. It's up to you to figure out what it is. In addition to an advice from this expert, would you ideally like to get a recommendation? In addition to the name of the contact, would you like to have the contact information, or even better, a direct Linkedin connection?

Whatever the reason, you must visualize it firmly before your meeting in order to try to leave this meeting having fulfilled your need and being entirely satisfied with how it went. This will allow you, for example, to direct the conversation in one particular way rather than another. Or to openly formulate your request at the end of the meeting. In any case, set yourself one specific objective and try to reach it so that you don't feel that you have wasted 1 hour of your time. And don't try to achieve several objectives, you will only get tangled up and ask too much of the person in front of you who, let's remember, is there on his or her own free will, who owes us nothing, and who didn't ask for anything in the first place.

     2. Never come empty-handed to a Linkedin meeting

A prepared meeting, whether it was taken on Linkedin or elsewhere, is also a meeting where you come with something to show, or to leave or to share. If you are an artist, and even if you haven't decided to show your portfolio at all before the meeting, don't miss the opportunity to be asked "what you have got there? " And to display what you can do.

The same goes for any other material you might mention when describing yourself, "I just recorded a demo, here it is on my USB drive, if you want to listen to it", or "speaking of my latest composition, here are some of my lyrics if you have time to read them". Don't throw this directly at your interlocutor without having made any sort of link to the conversation, bring it rather skilfully and naturally and it shouldn't disturb at all but arouse curiosity.

    3. End the Linkedin meeting with a soecific action

Any well conducted meeting should end with the desire to meet again or open a series of other exchanges or actions. This means that if you have left your demo or sketches, you expect a response and feedback, so you have something to follow up on either in writing or during another meeting. If the meeting went extremely well and you decided to set up a collaboration, don't forget to validate with your future partner the next dates and actions together (yes, I'm talking about getting out your agenda and agreeing on a date and a time).

But isn't this too frontal? Not if you both agreed that there would be a follow-up to this gathering. What would be a pity is to end the meeting with the desire to meet again but not to do anything with it, because after you have parted ways, each of you will go about your business, and the time and attention that was given to you during this exchange exclusively dedicated to your needs will come to an end.

And it’s game over after that. Suggesting a meeting afterwards by MP on Linkedin simply does not have the same impact, and you will be separated again by a platform, a screen, and a thousand other things to do, so don't waste the opportunity that presents itself to you!

BONUS: Select a part of your work to show

The last piece of advice I am giving you is actually essential: don't say too much!

I've seen many people go to meetings prepared and confident but come out empty-handed for the simple reason that they spread themselves so thin that you didn't know what to take away from them in the end. You certainly have a lot to offer, and you feel that your whole work deserves attention, and you are certainly right. But remember that your time is limited on the first date, and that nowadays we all have a short attention span and an even shorter memory.

Moreover, you are certainly not the first person to meet this expert from Linkedin, or to present your work, which means that you must hit the nail on the head fast and well. You have to find a way to stand out and above all to leave a lasting impression on the person in front of you. And talking about a thousand things is not the right method…

Instead, take the time before the meeting to think about what you think is most important or relevant to share. You can find this out by doing your research on the person you are meeting; what they like, what they are looking for, the universe they excel in. So, if you make drawings of all kinds, but you meet a manga publisher, only talk about and show the manga sketches in your portfolio.

You can however mention furtively that you are able to do other genres, but don't push it. Say it as a way to make people want to know more, or to keep this detail in mind so that they will think of you if they need to recommend someone for another project.

HB Copywriting