Accountability is huge in networking.  We all know the person who promises all kinds of introductions and referrals and never follows through.  Maybe they don’t have a good system for following up, maybe they got too excited and offered something that they couldn’t deliver.  Whatever the reason, we all know that person – and that means that they have a reputation as a flake. 

Scribes were one of the first things that I wanted to add when I started thinking about how to make NetStorming events different from other networking meetings.  They serve two main purposes.  The first is to free the networkers at the table to really focus on helping each other, not taking notes.  The second is accountability.  I could think of no better way to make people accountable than to have someone take notes of offers that were made, and then e-mail them out to the group for everyone to see.

The system has had some glitches over the years.  Mostly it was that our scribes were well meaning volunteers but didn’t necessarily plan for the time to put the notes together and send them out and so people sometimes didn’t receive their notes.

We’ve recently started an incentive program to solve the problem.  We offer our Scribes free entry to the event, and I’ve been getting lots of questions about it so I wanted to lay it out.  If you want to be a scribe the process is:

1. Register for the NetStorming event
2. E-mail me (after you have registered) to indicate that you would like to scribe
3. We put you on the list
4. Show up at the event ready to scribe
5. Tables will be given to scribes on a first come/first served basis
6. If we use you to scribe, you must e-mail the notes to your tables within 48 hours and copy me on the e-mail
7. We refund your money

We are finding that this provides our scribes with the accountability they need to be responsible for the accountability of others.

The moral of the story is that accountability is one of the first rules of networking – make realistic offers and then follow through every time and you’ll find yourself with a solid reputation in no time.

Happy Networking!