Social networking is brilliant because it works. Facebook and Linkedin add value to people’s professional and personal lives by intelligently connecting us to people who we want or should consider meeting. In comparison, typical networking at face to face events seems foolish and archaic – and often proves to be a total waste of time.

Imagine that you are at the opening reception of a large industry conference. You are surrounded by 1,000 colleagues who have the potential to add value to your business or personal network. As you randomly network through the crowd, you discover only one or two people who are of interest professionally and the rest of the time is spend making small talk with people who you will never follow up with. But little do you know that there are two dozen people in the room who could dramatically impact your business – if only you could find them.

It’s time to leverage technology to improve face to face networking by using applications that intelligently connect people with common priorities, challenges, or interests. Imagine the value this would add to your audience base.

At registration, attendees receive name badges that are not just for identity and session tracking. These badges connect attendees based on registration database criteria. When I am in the vicinity of a person who is recommended for me to meet, both of us are alerted. This can also be achieved with applications for iPhones or other portable devices to help attendees navigate a crowd to find people they should meet.

In order to compete with the sophistication of virtual networking, face to face events must step up and deliver the same level of networking experience.