And the Winner Is

Last night at our first graduation of the year for the Certified Networker classes in Northwest Ohio, we also announced the winner of our first ever One-to-One Contest. This event helped to celebrate International Networking Day.

It was no surprise to announce that Kathy Stringham, Coffee News of Monroe, Bedford and Sylvania was the top contestant. I blogged about how Kathy set herself up for success a couple days ago.

Now let me tell you the results.

In three days, Kathy had 29 One-to-one appointments! The contest rules required that each appointment be at least 15 minutes in length. I think Kathy planned for hers to be 30 minutes. Instead of thinking only of herself, she planned in advance how to help the people she was meeting with. Over the three days, she asked each person to come to the meeting with three names of either people or companies that they want to connect with. But let me have Kathy tell you about it!

"From what I count right now I made 44 connection points between the people I met with. I still have some work to do to follow-up, but it is exciting."

When Kathy accepted her award last night, she said that winning was fun, but knowing that she was able to give to the people who had helped her by agreeing to meet was even better. She knows that these appointments will help her in the end, but additionally, she has been able to give back to her community.

How would you have organized this contest to help others?