I met with 400 people in 2024

How it started

2024 marked my first full year running Shannon Towell Design, after starting in April 2023 on the back of an unexpected lay-off. Networking has been something I have relied on since being a teenager, it led to me getting my first creative job as a Social Photographer at the local newspaper. Making new friends when I moved to Melbourne and knew no one here. It got me my dream job working with Sandpit as an Experience Designer after convincing them over 12 months I was worth a shot. Before diving into my business full-time, 80% of the jobs I received were a direct result of networking.

This reliance on networking only grew stronger as I went out on my own. Now that I was in charge of finding clients, marketing, project managing, etc. it made sense to broaden my network. This was something I amped up in 2023, but made my fulltime job in 2024.

The year didn’t start with any goals around networking! My original goals included being a guest on a podcast and getting an international client.

Colour me surprised when both of those goals were completed within weeks of being back for the year. With two under the belt in as many weeks it was a sign to dream bigger.

Whiteboard with goals. 'Gain 1 international client' and 'Get on a podcast' are checked.

Whilst I didn’t have any goals around networking originally, I was still going to all the events, and doing all the follow ups continuing on from 2023. Creating a networking goal seemed like a no-brainer.

I needed the goal to be easy to measure and challenging. I decided to focus on 1 to 1 meetings. This would mean they’d be in my calendar (easy to track), and ensure I was following up with people and continue to build relationships post-event.

200 was the number I settled on originally, but after already meeting with 50 people at the end of January. I doubled it. It needed to be challenging, and challenging it was!

Network node #18

My first freelancing job came out of semi-regular check-ins with Mark Coppola, a recruiter at Art Processors since 2021. Every now and again I’d send him a message expressing interest at working with them. I actually interviewed with them for a full-time role at the end of 2022.

When I got laid off, he was one of the first I reached out to letting him know I was open to long and short term roles.

One week before coming back from a month long pre-planned holiday post-layoff I got an email while in Berlin asking if I was available to assist with The Village, as part of the Holocaust Museum Renovation. Obviously I said yes!

Speak openly and honestly

Networking became a fulltime job, on top of the design work I was doing. I spent time each week looking at events to go to, and filling up my calendar weeks in advance. Variety is the spice of life, so I went to an array of events. A mix of where I’d find my clients, and where I’d find my people. I went to events focused on design, disability, marketing, general business, recruiting, agency owners, mentorship, and software both in person and online.

An ulterior motive was to be memorable. This led to one of the best marketing moves I could have made, my branded wardrobe.

A collage of Shannon wearing a bunch of blue clothing.

If people could remember something about me; my name, blue, my clothing, business card, etc. I considered it a win. Outlandish blue clothing made that work a lot easier!

Over the course of the year I went to 130 events. At each one, I’d don my blue getup, pass out business cards like candy (side note: a well designed, and tactile business card really stands out in the digital age!), wrote names and companies in my notebook or phone, connected on LinkedIn and sent many many follow up messages inviting them to book in a networking call.

My goal of 400 became an extra motivation, a push to be brave, and an effective conversation starter! People were intrigued, asking what number they were. Letting them know that as we met an event it didn’t count led to more questions, especially “how do you have the time?”. I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now.

Making friends was the main motive in those rooms. Friends don’t act like sleazy car salesmen, friends help. By being a friend and helping where I could, again and again, these relationships began to deepen.

Upgrading folk to 'Repeat Visitors' 🎟️

I worked out within a few months that having 1 on 1 meetings with 400 new people would be a huge stretch. As a way to help the number, but also not neglect forming deeper connections I began to count ‘Repeat Visitors’ to the number. If we hit it off I’d email them a month or so after the first meeting to see how they were doing and ask if they wanted to go for round two and share a special ‘repeat visitor’ calendar link.

This practice led to growing friendships, work opportunities, speaking opportunities, and people I can rely on for advice and recommendations (and vice versa 💙).

Network node #37

In 2024 AUCUA Conference was born. The brainchild of myself and Narelle Wright Gatti. We lamented how there were a lack of events with the accessibility content we wanted to see. So we did it ourselves! The conference focuses on educating our attendees on accessibility, usability, and communication.

My relationship with Narelle started through a different networking group. Even though we were based in different states, people kept saying “You’ve got to meet with Narelle!” after mentioning how I make accessible websites and branding.

We finally met, and they were all so right. It was basically love at first sight. Since that first meeting we catch up almost monthly and working on AUCUA 2.0 as this is published!

Obsessing over the numbers

As the year progressed I was attending multiple events and meetings weekly. Some days squeezing in 3 different events. My calendar looked fuller than ever, but personally the steam was running out. An underactive thyroid diagnosis was coming, as it started getting harder and harder to get out of bed and feel awake in general.

Now when it comes to goals and numbers, I can start to obsess. I knew the risk with a goal like this, and decided for my own mental health to count it once per quarter. I’d then upload a quarterly report to social media. I broke down how many meetings I had, ratio of repeat visitors, mentoring, etc.

This was going well until the last quarter. You see, people got a lot more invested in this number than I did. As I felt more lethargic this became more and more true, yet I pushed through. At the end of quarter 3 I had a fairly good idea of how things were going with 298 meetings on the books, almost on track!

More and more people in my life were asking how it was going. Saying “you should probably check, just to see how many you have left”. I was already beginning to feel burn out coming on loud and clear; but it didn’t hurt to check, right?

On the 13th December I was 30 short. It felt like a gut punch.

So close, but with people already starting to on holidays I felt the overwhelming desire to obliterate the goal. I started reaching out again to everyone I met during the past year, started a social campaign, created a 15 minute end of year check in and booked in sessions on ADPList as a concentrated effort to make the number.

My frustration grew as people cancelled, or no showed. How could I blame them? As each meeting got me closer to 400 I became more obsessive. I pushed back finishing for the year extra days until Christmas Eve to try and get it over the line. So did it work? No.

Network node #24

There in a French cafe I shuddered in disgust as the man across from me took my hand and kissed it in the middle of a business meeting. Not wanting to be rude (recovering people pleaser), I tried to keep a poker face, but wanted to crawl out of my skin.

It was not the first or last lesson for me that not everyone deserves a meeting, or an ongoing relationship of any kind.

The results

398. So close, but so far.

I felt like a failure, but mainly I was just tired.

I could have come back for a day or two in late December to make those meetings, but I honestly didn’t want to. Did it make sense for two people to be the difference between success and failure, and giving up on much needed TLC for the sake of a number?

It felt embarrassing admitting I hadn’t reached it after sharing this goal so publicly for so long. Even this blog post took a few months to write. I needed time to be able to articulate how I truly felt about the experience.

So how did it all come out in the wash?

I met with 398 people across 2024.

January to March: 101
April to June: 120
July to September: 77
October to December: 101

80 of those were repeat sessions (20.1%)
48 were mentoring sessions

I went to 130 events over the year

January to March: 33
April to June: 44
July to September: 27
October to December: 25

There were also 115 non work events (dates, friend gatherings, concerts, etc.) on top of the work commitments.

If we take 261 days, the average amount of days Victorians work (I definitely did more than this though!). This equates to 1.5 meetings per day, and 50/50 chance of an event occuring every day. Although I usually stacked events and meetings to try and have at least one meeting free day a week.

Was it worth it?

Yes. It gave me a huge push to get my name out there, which I have already been benefitting from through referrals, and work. My networking skills have never felt so sharpened. I could confidently walk into any room and start a conversation with strangers.

However, when people have asked if I’m attempting this again in 2025. The answer is “absolutely not”. 400 is just a crazy number.

Going to that many events and meeting that many people definitely helped me distinguish good, great and horrible events and discussions. I have so many more stories that aren't listed here. Including a woman trying to recruit me into an MLM (multi level marketing scheme), and by reconnecting with a high school friend I helped them move to Melbourne and saved myself $800 in cat-sitting fees. Keep an eye for those soon!

2025 is the year that I network more purposefully. I’ve given my social battery the chance to recover. I'm ready to take the blue suit off its hanger and get back out there again.