How to run an online business networking event on Zoom

The short answer

Online networking works when it’s small, structured and short. Put people into breakout rooms of three or four, give each round a question, keep strict time, and finish within an hour. Sell tickets (or free registrations) so you know who’s coming, send the join link with each ticket, and follow up the next day while names are fresh.

A Zoom meeting suits this better than a Zoom webinar, because breakout rooms and open microphones are what networking needs. See Zoom meeting or Zoom webinar for a paid event for the difference.

Why online networking often falls flat

Online networking events that fall flat tend to share the same problems:

• One big room. Thirty cameras and one person talking isn’t networking; it’s a webinar with awkward silences.
• No structure. “Feel free to chat” leaves quiet people quiet.
• Too long. Ninety minutes on a screen is tiring in a way a breakfast isn’t.
• No follow-up. People meet someone useful, then can’t remember their name the next day.

Each has a simple fix.

A format that works: 60 minutes

1. Arrivals (5 minutes). Admit people from the waiting room, welcome them by name, and ask them to put their name, business and one line about what they’re looking for in their Zoom display name or chat.
2. Host’s welcome (5 minutes). How the session runs, the rules (cameras on if possible, one person talks at a time), and a sponsor or member shout-out if you have one.
3. Breakout round one (12 minutes). Rooms of three or four. A prompt such as “What’s one problem you’d pay to have solved this month?”
4. Back together (3 minutes). One or two quick shares.
5. Breakout round two (12 minutes). New rooms, new people, a new prompt.
6. Breakout round three (12 minutes). Optional, if energy is high.
7. Wrap-up (6 minutes). Thank people, say when the next one is, and tell them what follow-up to expect.

Rooms of three or four give everyone time to speak. Random rooms are easiest; pre-assigned rooms by industry or interest take more preparation but can lead to better introductions.

Breakout rooms: set them up in Zoom

Breakout rooms are a Zoom feature, and One Ticket doesn’t run them. Before the event:

• turn breakout rooms on in your Zoom account’s meeting settings
• decide whether rooms are automatic, assigned or chosen by participants
• set a countdown so rooms close together
• make a co-host, so someone can help people who get lost between rooms

Practise once with a friend. Moving people between rooms is the moment most likely to go wrong.

Selling tickets or taking registrations

Paid or free, a booking tells you who’s coming and gets the join link to them. On One Ticket:

1. Create an online event with the date, time and a short description of the format, so people know it’s structured and not a lecture.
2. In the place, choose Online and paste your Zoom meeting link, or have it created (below).
3. Add tickets: a free ticket, a paid ticket, a member price as a secret ticket behind an access code, or all three.
4. Add a question at checkout, such as “What’s your business?” or “What are you looking for?”, so you can plan the rooms. See questions at checkout.
5. Set a capacity. For networking, smaller is often better.
6. Publish and share the page with your members, partner groups and LinkedIn.

If you’re unsure whether to charge, our post on free or paid networking events weighs it up. Even a small price cuts no-shows.

Having the Zoom meeting created for you

If you connect your own Zoom account in Settings › Zoom, One Ticket can make the meeting for you. Choose Online, then Meeting under Generate with Zoom, and save: One Ticket creates the Zoom meeting for you when you save the event, with the waiting room on and people muted as they arrive. Creating Zoom meetings for you is on Pro and Team. Pro and Team are open now: upgrade any time in Settings › Plan. Limited-time offer: A$1 for your first year (first 100 organisers), then A$29/month for Pro or A$79/month for Team. Cancel anytime.

For a monthly group, each month’s event gets its own link, so a link forwarded once doesn’t open every future session. The steps are in how to create a Zoom link automatically.

Getting people there

Every ticket holder gets the join link on their ticket and in their ticket email, with calendar links that carry it, reminders the day before and on the morning, and a “Starting in 15 minutes” email just before the start. You can choose to show the link only 15, 30 or 60 minutes before, which keeps it from being passed around. Our post on reducing no-shows at Zoom events explains how the emails work together.

On the day

• Admit people from the waiting room with your attendee list open in another tab.
• Keep time ruthlessly. People forgive an early finish, never a late one.
• Watch for people alone in a room and move them.
• Drop links in chat sparingly. One link to your next event is enough.

The follow-up is the event

A networking event’s value shows up in the week after. Some ideas:

• Ask permission first. At registration or in the session, ask whether people are happy for their name, business and email to go to the other attendees. Only share with those who agree.
• Export your list. The orders export on One Ticket gives you each booking with the answers to your checkout questions, to work from.
• Send a short summary from your own email: who came, the businesses represented (with permission), and the date of the next session.
• Make the next one easy to find. People can follow your organiser page and are emailed when you post a new event.

For a regular group, run the sessions as a series. Roll call on the series page shows who’s new, your regulars and who has stopped coming, so you can welcome newcomers and check in with people who drift away.

When to go hybrid

If your group already meets in person, an online session can run alongside the room for people who can’t travel. See hybrid events: in-person and Zoom tickets.

More networking guides: running a monthly networking group on a budget. The complete guide to selling tickets to a Zoom event links the rest of this series, the webinars page shows online tickets, and fees are on the pricing page.