This is how you make the most of TIFF parties

Last night I was at this new restaurant on King St. and something really interesting happened.

But first, let me tell you about Sarah… Sarah LOVES mojitos.

She’ll even love the worst mixed ones since they’re all amazing to her! But last night was different.

I don’t know what they put in it (or didn’t) but it tasted like water, so Sarah’s like “can I order a different drink instead, please?”

The waitress comes over and instead of apologizing, she berates my friend!

“Do you know how a mojito is mixed? This is normal. I mean, do you want us to pour the alcohol in front of you so you can see it in there?”

Wow. And just like that, we’ll never go to that restaurant again.

The thing is there are hundreds of little things we do that are INSTANT turn offs to some people. Things that can ruin a relationship forever (especially if you’re just meeting for the first time).

While TIFF is over, we wanted to instead focus on some fun things you CAN do to INSTANTLY to meet tons of people and get connections.

Tip #1: Hang out where the food is.

If you wanted to capture bees (for some reason), you could look for flowers and find a few. But if you wanted to really bee efficient (see what I did there), you’d find the HIVE, because every bee makes a pitstop there.

How do we that with humans?

Any TIFF party worth going to has free food and free drinks. That’s just a given.

While there are multiple places you can get drinks from, what we’ve found is there’s usually just a couple tables where the food is.

Plant yourself near there. Now, you don’t have to eat it like a pig (like me and Pablo, pictured below) but and you’ll have people coming to you.

We actually made SIX really solid connections within one hour, just by doing this quick tip.

 Pablo (co-founder indiefilmTO), Bern (founder Canadian Film Fest), Curt (random brown dude)

Tip # 2: Introduce yourself to all the attractive women and models

“Woah, Curt! Is this really your tip?”

Actually that sounds wrong, lemme start over. “Woah, Curt! This sounds sexist!”

Let me tell you something. I went to this party with someone from The Unit, and even though he hardly knew anyone beforehand, he was a star by the time I got there. How?

He told me that even though he’s married, he got to know all the “hottest women.”

Why? Is it because they’re hot and no explanation needed? Yes, but also…

Because when you know the women, you’ll know ALL the guys too, since they’ll wanna know the women and you’re their introduction.

I thought that was very insightful and effective. (Btw, this applies to women too.)

Tip #3: Standing out is not a bad thing – how to do it without feeling awkward

TIFF parties are a weird bunch. They’re not networking events per se but they’re not NOT networking events either.

Because of this, you’ll find that most people will be walking around staring at the floor, not really talking to anyone unless they know each other already, yet being SUPER receptive to new people.

Introduce yourself when you see an opening. No one else is doing this, and you will stand out.

Here’s a script you can use:

“Hey, I’m [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE], so what’s been the best film you’ve seen so far here?”  After they respond and you respond, ask them “Wicked. So what projects are you working on that you’re excited about?”

They will talk for an hour. Just listen. And constantly think “how I can add value to them?”

Bonus Tip #4: How to get crazy buzz for your film AND be the center of attention

I was at this guy’s “TIFF Launch Party” for his film. I didn’t find out until days later, but the funny thing is his film wasn’t even at TIFF!

In fact, it wasn’t even completed. Yet he threw a “TIFF party” anyway.

You can do whatever you want. There is no trademark on the phrase “TIFF Party” so technically that pizza party you had with ur two dude friends, where he threw up on your mom’s furniture and now u have to find a new place to live… if his vomit occurred somewhere between Sept 8 – 18th, then TECHNICALLY you had a TIFF party.

Advertise it as such and put as much enthusiasm in running, like an actual party.

Now this guy’s TIFF party was at an actual venue that they paid money for, and obviously you wanna make it upscale so that you can generate buzz for your film and not have vomit stains.

Throw your own party and you’ll be the center of the whole network. Give everyone “plus 3”s that they can bring, this way you’ll meet totally new people.

Last words and Action Step

Don’t try and apply all 4 of these tips at once. Instead, pick ONE that resonates most with you, and write down specifically how you’re going to apply in the next 2 weeks.

While TIFF is over, you can use these tips at any networking event or party. But what if you wanna know how to get invited to TIFF parties in the first place?

Or even better, what if you just wanna learn how to get your film into TIFF next year?

We’ve designed this course and are working closely with TIFF themselves for some of it, but access to join is shutting down shortly. I look forward to seeing you there.

Okay my love, get some rest.

-Curt

PS: In three weeks we’re releasing (100% for FREE) a mini-course on networking effectively. This is a sneak peek, and feel free to link this to a friend that wants to know how to get insanely connected, even if they hate networking events and are totally socially awkward.