Handing out cards is a simple, quick and efficient way of giving people your contact details. Or a simple, quick and efficient way of getting people to never want to speak to you again. Surprised? It all depends on how you go about it. Make sure you're not one of these people:
The card dealer
If we wanted to see how quickly someone could throw cards around, we'd catch a plane to Macau and hit the casinos. Networking isn't a game where whoever has the least cards wins. Just the opposite in fact -- those who go throwing cards left, right and center at people they barely know drive us up the wall. It makes them look arrogant, expecting we'll be so interested in their business that a card is all we need, as opposed to actual conversation.
Quick Draw McGraw
It's like a scene from a western. You see him. He sees you. A tumbleweed blows across the desert between you and you hear the cliched sound of a rattlesnake. Whoever draws their card first wins. Go fer yer card holders.
Sorry, Clint, real life's not like that. Whipping your card out as soon as you meet someone's eyes is a big faux pas. Get into a conversation, find out more about the other person and give them your card when the situation naturally arises. Hint: It's usually when they ask for your card, but asking for contact details or what you do is a good time as well.
The cardless wonder
Sure, we all run out of cards sometimes. But coming to a networking event with none at all is not an action of a wise person. Don't go around telling everyone you'll email them the next day -- though you may mean it at the time, most people seem to forget about it the next morning, or put it off so long that everyone else will have died of old age.
The magician
Like their close relative, the card dealer, the magician drives most people crazy. You'll be standing around on your own or talking to a group of people. The magician will suddenly arrive, give you their card, say a few words, and *poof*, vanish in a puff of smoke before you can get into a conversation. Quite where they come from and go remains a mystery to this very day.
The accidental conjurer
This is a spot I've been in many times -- I go to give someone my card, and I accidentally give them someone else's. I take it back, and lo and behold, another random card appears in my hand. After five or six tries I finally get the right card, by which time the other person may have already left. You can avoid this farcical fate by keeping one pocket free for your cards and another pocket for other people's.
At the end of the day, remember why you're giving out cards -- to make contact with valuable people. A lot of networkers, new and old, seem to focus more on the quantity of cards they give out, rather than the quality of the connection they build up. Don't fall into that trap.
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