How to Follow Up on Leads After a Big Networking Event | Scripts for Sounding Intelligent When You Don't Know

It's the last 48 hours before we board the plane to Istanbul. A little more hectic given the pages of paperwork needed for a yacht charter versus a traditional ground-based trip.

• There are no direct flights to the port city, where the vessel is moored. So---the group has to get across the Atlantic Ocean to Istanbul first. We have two days on the ground in the city, allowing room for flight delays and such. I'm very excited for the hotel we are staying at, which is a former French primary school.
• The group then has to fly south of the country to board the yacht. We are on a 'gulet' for the week, which is a wooden boat, native to Turkey. The exterior is traditional, but the interior is modern.
• We sail the Gulf of Fethiye for 7 days, with natural coves and swimstops built into the itinerary.

A woman asked me yesterday, "How many retreats do you do a year?"

I host 2.

1. One for my premium level Mastermind members. They were at a villa in Chianti this past May. It's just the women.
2. One for my Mastermind-lite members, which includes my C level women of SheSuite. This includes people's families. See Croatia last year.

I'm a firm believer in taking folks out of their contexts for growth. They never return the same people who boarded the plane at JFK. Not with the relationship to one another. And their relationship to themselves.

Now on to this week's newsletter

ONE LEADERSHIP TIP

• Following up with leads after a big conference, trade show or even networking event can feel overwhelming. Here are crowdsourced answers from my community of women leaders of what they do.

ONE PUBLIC SPEAKING TIP

• Sometimes, you are caught flat-footed and you just don't know the answer. The other day, in fact, I was doing the morning news and the anchor asked me how the new 'smart guns' work. I had a hunch that it was finger prints and eye scans that tether a gun to its owner, but I didn't want to misspeak. So I used "My gut tells me…"
• You can still answer with flair and confidence. My colleague May Busch publishes a list of graceful responses to put into your toolkit of “go to” phrases that allow you to say “I don’t know” and still sound intelligent, confident, and on top of your game.

ONE ADVENTURE TIP

The next Women's Leadership Lab Mastermind Dinner is in the Hamptons September 16th. Sign up here.