After meeting so many people at some networking events, the next morning it can be difficult to remember who you promised to follow up. At an event, fumbling for a pen to jot a note on the card breaks the conversation and is generally frowned upon in China.

What to do? When I pocket a card, I discreetly fold an edge if I need to follow it up. There are so many ways to fold a card that you can have multiple reminders:

For example:

• Fold top left corner: Meet to discuss business sometime
• Fold in half horizontally: Email a company brochure

And so on. Folding is a lot more subtle than whipping out a pen and takes much less time to boot. It's best fold it while putting it into your pocket, to avoid upsetting anyone who might get upset about that kind of thing.

But what about cards getting accidentally folded in your pocket and giving you false positives? For now, we'll leave that as an exercise to the reader...

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As you've probably heard many a time, follow-up e-mails are a great idea, plain and simple. They keep you connected to the people you've met and are the springboard for future business. Now, if you've been networking for any length of time, you're bound to have received the follow-up e-mails from Hell. You know the kind: They start off "dear friends" and go even further downhill from there.

If that sounds like something you've written recently, then it's time to start reading and find out how to write follow-up e-mails that don't suck. And even if you've written dozens of follow-ups, it never hurts to pick up a few new nuggets of advice.

Writing follow-up e-mails is something I preach about quite often. Do I do it myself? I usually get round to it (since I'm good at remembering) but only because I found a quicker and easier way than cutting and pasting names into a pre-written e-mail. This better way is right under your nose if you're networking online, though few people seem to use it effectively, at least judging by my inbox.

So, how can you easily and quickly follow up yourself?