As you meet other people at the event, introduce your new contacts to each other. People appreciate being introduced. Your friendliness will make you stand out and everyone will think you're so well connected.

At the end of the meeting, address the people you met by their names and tell them you enjoyed meeting them. Exchange contact info with them.

When you follow up with your new contacts in a few days, it will be easier for you to remember names and faces as well.

Your name is the most important feature of your business card. Hand out your business card and try to get one in return. If your company doesn't provide business cards, make them yourself. When you receive a business card, repeat the name of the person who gives it to you.

You're often on a first-name basis with colleagues, but remember to treat assistants as well as you treat their bosses. Learn their names and greet them by name in person or on the phone.

Keep track of names in your database. Stay in touch with your contacts. The more you know about them and the work they do, the more interested they will be in you and the work you do.

Make Your Name Stand Out
Another place to use names is on personal notes to the people you've met at an event or meeting. Very few people spend the time to do this and your name will be remembered if you do.

Protect your name. Build your reputation as someone who can be trusted, delivers work when promised and is easy to work with. At a recent SIGGRAPH meeting, Frank Gladstone, head of artistic development, DreamWorks SKG Animation, noted that your first break will come because of the work on your reel. But the jobs that follow will be because people liked working with you. Be sure when your name comes up, it is in a positive way.

Promote your name by becoming an expert. Write a bio and a short letter about the project you are working on and your role on it. Send it to trade publications, alumni newsletters or hometown newspapers, and state your availability for interviews. Throw your name in the ring whenever volunteers are sought for speaking engagements.

Follow these suggestions and you're sure to make a name for yourself.

Resources
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1982. 276 pages. ISBN 0-6717-2365-0 (US$7.50)

ACM/SIGGRAPH, Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Graphics: reachable at www.siggraph.org

Pamela Kleibrink Thompson is a recruiter, hiring strategist and career coach. Her clients include Disney, Fox, Framestore, Macromedia and Digital Domain. You may have seen her speaking at SIGGRAPH, Women in Animation or VES (Visual Effects Society) events. If you didn't introduce yourself, shame on you.