More LinkedIn Tips: Events and Groups

As a frequent event attendee, I'm always on the lookout for great upcoming events, and LinkedIn offers lots of ways to stay in the loop.  One of the best places to start is by downloading the Events application to your LinkedIn profile.  Once downloaded, popular events and those events recommended by your contacts are available.  Step by step instructions can be found here.

When LinkedIn events were first announced at the end of 2008, it was designed to recommend events that might be of interest based on your profile.  These events come from user recommendations and sources such as EventBrite and TechWeb.  This feature was further enhanced in the middle of 2009 to make it easier to see what events your contacts are attending and improve the interface.  As of today, there are almost 25,000 events listed on LinkedIn, including 467 in the Washington, DC area -- and about 75 of those are on marketing topics.  Other features include the ability to search, RSVP and promote events to your network.  Because this service is free, it seems like a no-brainer for those that regularly attend or promote events.

The event application becomes even more powerful when combined with LinkedIn Groups.  Group managers can send emails alerting their members of new events (this is especially valuable for members that don't frequently login to LinkedIn), or members can post events to the group's discussion board.

If you're interested in enhancing your personal profile using LinkedIn, check out this earlier post.

And if you're specifically interested in public sector events, be sure to check out SpeakerBox client GovEvents.

See you around town.

 -- Katie Hanusik