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This is how you make the most of TIFF parties (updated Sept 2019)

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

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).

We’ve covered extensively how to instantly read someone’s body language, and know what they’re thinking.

Today, let’s instead focus on tactics you CAN test out to INSTANTLY to meet a tremendous amount of people and establish 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 the women and models first (no matter what gender you identify with)

“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 one of a student of indiefilmTO, 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 attractive 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.)

Friend Zone Female Meme

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?”

As soon as you start thinking about yourself, the connection is lost. Engage with them on their passions and see what you can do to help them. Do this at least 3 times and email your results to me.

Film Budget Joke

Tip #4: The “closing the loop” technique

How do you keep the connections that you establish WARM even though you know you have nothing to currently collaborate with them on?

Ah the perennial problem. Here, my friend Ramit has specific prescriptions to offer.

Let’s break it down:

  1. The night (yes, the same night) of the meeting, send them a “thank you / nice to meet you” email, but add “Something that I loved with X / Y / Z.” Make sure this is specific to the interaction you had otherwise it will land on deaf ears as they assume it’s a typical form letter you’re sending, and therefore not personal.
  2. One week later send them another email, without a request. Instead, you’re adding value by stating “Hey [NAME], I was thinking of you when I read an article [linked here] on topic X. Thanks again for the great talk the other day.” Topic X obviously has to be related to the specific conversation you had, and your interlocutor’s interest. This email is designed to purely add value and not leach.
  3. This is the most important step. One week later from Step 2, you email them and say “Hey, just so you know, when we met you mentioned I should check out X and Y. I did, and here are the results. [insert results]. You also mentioned I should do Z, and I did! Here’s the results. I’d love to update you on my journey if you wouldn’t mind. Thank you so much for your advice.” Notice what this is doing. It’s stating that you’re the type of person that actually takes action on advice given to you, instead of 99% of other people who pay lip service. This will put you at the top of their mind.

Bonus Tip #5: 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 early in September Toronto, 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.

Toronto International Film Festival Logo Display

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.

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, and we’re delivering it exclusively through our email list which you can sign up for here. I look forward to seeing you there.

Okay my love, get some rest.

– Curt

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