EDITORIAL 31.08.2015 – HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF NEXT H2020 SPEED DATING?

Brokerage events can be a great opportunity to meet new contacts with new expertise from new countries. Even so you have already a large network of contacts, being receptive to new talents and expertise is definitely a plus to keep your network growing. Saying that, how to make the most out of a brokerage event? Here are some tips:

1) Summer break is still close but don’t be a tourist… and don’t show up to Brokerage events without a clear idea of your objectives. Take the time to answer the following questions: what kind of partners do you intend to meet: researchers, SMEs, EU associations? Which calls topics are you interested in? What expertise/demonstration sites/activities would you like to bring to a H2020 proposal? By knowing what you want to achieve, you will be more efficient on the day of the event.

2) Ensure beforehand that you will have only relevant meetings during the brokerage! Sounds like a silly advice but many tend to accept all requested meetings without taking the lead to choose whom to meet… Rather: scroll the participant profiles and only select meetings with participants answering your objectives, while refusing meetings not in line with your goals.

3) Prepare your H2020 elevator pitch – explain who you are, your organisation, your experience in FP7/H2020, your goals for the 2016-7 calls and what you can bring to a H2020 consortium (cf your objectives). Try to make it as lively and concrete as possible getting inspiration from traditional elevator pitch advices.

4) Listen to the person you have in front of you! Brokerage is not just two persons making a presentation one after the other and then off to the next table. Showing genuine interest in the other participant is the best way to establish bonds. Listening is also a prerequisite to understand the other participant goals and detect better any potential for cooperation, thus leading the discussion to more fruitful path.

5) Adapt the pitch and style to seduce better your interlocutor: don’t repeat the exact same pitch to a senior researcher and to an industry representative… you should read their profiles beforehand to consider what can be valuable in your expertise from their point of view so as to sell your organisation better. Not to say attitudes and pitch styles should also be adapted…

6) End up the discussion with a view on next steps (if any interest to pursue the contact afterwards has been identified): who takes the lead in contacting the other? When? What missing information shall be provided? Etc.

Do not hesitate to contact us for questions or for sharing your experience of brokerage!

To go further:

– “Comment réussir son pitch” – slide de Bruno M. Wattenbergh, Manager of impulse.brussels

– Attending your first Matchmaking Event

Camille Le Borgne – Climate action NCP Brussels