I attended a spectacular EWN event last month with over 150 women business owners. The keynote speaker was Beth Schoenfeldt, co-founder of Ladies Who Launch.

One of the cool things about this Grand Networking Event is that in addition to an hour of mingling time before the dinner, each attendee sits at 3 different tables and meets the 7 other women business owners at her table. There is a round-robin of self-intros so it’s more than just a card swap.

The question is, what do you do with all those cards, information and notes? Here’s my method:

I sort through the cards and immediately toss (sorry!) the ones selling products/services that aren’t of interest.

I put dates on my calendar to initiate calls with the women I want to spend more time with.

I sent a thank you and a gift to the speaker.

I enter information from business cards and notes I’d taken into my database increasing the resource base I’ve already established.

I look up everyone’s website and assess the maturity of the business: under construction or fully functioning with rich content.

I plan time on my calendar to write thank you notes to the committee chairs for their incredible service to this organization.

And, when those dates appear on my calendar, I honor the commitment I made to myself and dial the number or write the note.