INTAconnect Platform Powers Networking at the 2020 Annual Meeting & Leadership Meeting

Networking is the heart of INTA events, and this year, given the virtual nature of the 2020 Annual Meeting & Leadership Meeting, the Association is introducing a powerful tool that can help all registrants take full advantage of the premier business development opportunities that highlight INTA events. INTAconnect is just that tool.

INTAconnect is a 24-hour networking platform, available only to registrants of the 2020 Annual Meeting & Leadership Meeting. A registrant directory and appointment system, it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match Meeting registrants based on their unique profile, interests, and even time zone preferences.

Using a search feature, registrants can schedule a high-quality video meeting at any time or connect in a real-time text chat.

All registrants who sign up for the Meeting by October 15 will receive access to INTAconnect on October 19. This gives these registrants a head start in creating their profile, getting familiar with the system, and beginning to make appointments with other registrants.

Currently, those who are already registered have had access to the INTAconnect platform—and are successfully making appointments with existing and new contacts.

Thus, when the system opens on November 9, all those registered by October 15 can instantly begin holding video meetings within the platform.

When it comes to networking, INTA strongly suggests that registrants treat the virtual Annual Meeting & Leadership Meeting like they would an in-person meeting: focus on who you want to target for meetings and put your time management skills to work.

“It’s a chance to say hi to someone you haven’t seen during lockdown and always grab a coffee with at the Annual Meeting,” said Peg Reardon, INTA Director, Membership. “That doesn’t have to change in the virtual environment.”

By becoming familiar with INTAconnect, you can navigate the system more efficiently and achieve your professional objectives with ease. Approximately 70 percent of people who participate in matched recommendations say that they’ve made a good connection that they otherwise wouldn’t have, according to the creators of the INTAconnect platform.

INTAconnect provides more for registrants who put in the time with the platform. The AI component provides recommendations for connections with fellow registrants. The more information related to your job, location, and interests that you put into the system, the more accurate INTAconnect’s recommendations will be.

Considering the system looks directly at commonalities between users, you may initially be matched with competitors in your field. As you begin to skip your competitors and request and accept meetings, the system will show new connections based on the selections that you continually enter into the platform.

In addition to the suggested matches, INTA recommends that you focus on who you want to meet and then search INTAconnect by location and industry to make your desired connections. If you are making connections with many registrants in a specific industry, the platform will suggest even more participants from that industry.

Meeting registrants are already using INTAconnect to its full capability. Rudy Gaines, Owner, Rudy Gaines Creative Business Growth, Durham, North Carolina, USA, “has been reaching out to colleagues without a hitch.”

“The software also recommends who you should reach out to – like somebody setting you up on a blind date but you don’t have to ask unless you want to,” he said. “It’s been fun to use.”

Another primary feature of INTAconnect is Business Hubs, a page that offers INTA member law firms a place where they can describe their services and list all registrants from their firm attending the Meeting. Firms will be able to schedule meetings with between 2 and 50 registrants in this space, and they will be able to control their own schedule by time zone and duration. Not only will this help with organizing their appointments, but it will provide increased exposure in the INTAconnect platform.

While INTAconnect is at the core of the Meeting’s networking opportunities, there are a multitude of other business development and social networking opportunities available. They include 171 choices of Table Topics, with 2,052 seats (with corporate members moderating 45 of these small group discussions); 150 Speed Networking sessions, with 1,800 seats; 15 Corporate Meet-Up sessions, with 180 seats; 31 social networking sessions, with 10,425 seats; and 3 Hospitality areas, with 2,288 seats. Seats are available for the majority of these sessions and discussions.

In addition to the plethora of networking and business development opportunities, the 2020 Annual Meeting & Leadership Meeting will feature myriad education topics that could prove vital to your practice, such as diversity and inclusion, AI and data, brand restrictions, brand authenticity, anticounterfeiting and bad faith, ethics, design law, summaries of leading cases in Europe and the United States, and much more.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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