Business matchmaking: what is a mixed event?

A mixed business matchmaking event is one where companies from any sector can take part, competitors included. It is the easiest format to fill and the hardest to make pay, and it is worth understanding why before you choose it.

What the mixed format does well

It fills faster. With no exclusivity by sector, you turn nobody away because of what they do. For a first edition, that is decisive.

It produces varied buying. A room with accountancy, printing, IT, catering, uniforms and consultancy has far more chance of cross-buying than a room with ten companies from the same trade.

It costs less per participant. A more accessible ticket means a bigger audience, and a bigger audience means more conversations per person.

What makes it difficult

The sensitive point is well known: some business owners are wary of sitting with competitors. That concern has to be handled in the communication, before registration, and not in the room on the day.

Three things resolve it:

1. Say in the invitation that the format is mixed. Then anyone who registers already knows. It is the surprise on the day that causes discomfort.
2. Explain the upside. A competitor in the room frequently becomes a subcontracting partner, a referral source or a joint purchasing partner. Plenty of companies discover that by sitting down.
3. Offer a restriction marker. If someone genuinely does not want to meet a particular company, that can be recorded at registration and respected when the tables are built.

If your audience will not accept this at all, the right format is a different one. See what an exclusive matchmaking event is, where each field has a single representative.

The design of the mixed format

The design is the same as any matchmaking event, but here it carries an extra implication.

What you decide is the experience: longer conversations with fewer people, or quick contact with more companies. You also decide how long each person gets to speak and how long the whole event can run.

The rest is decided by the room. The size of the audience, the tables and the seats at each one determine how many rounds fit without repeat meetings and how many new people each participant talks to. The number of rounds is a consequence of that design, not a scheduling choice.

So do not announce the format before checking it. If the invitation promises more rounds than the room can hold, the event repeats meetings, and in a mixed room that costs more: each repeat is a lost chance of cross-buying.

The extra implication of the mixed format: the more varied the sectors, the more it matters who sits with whom. In a homogeneous room, any distribution works. In a mixed room, a poor distribution puts five business service providers at the same table with no buyer. That is why registration has to capture supply and demand.

In the demo, the software shows what your room can hold, with your own numbers.

Seven pointers for participants

1. Prioritize the rounds connected to your market. Attending everything spreads you thin.
2. Arrive on time. Being late does not only cost you: it shifts the clock for the whole room.
3. Prepare your pitch and your ask. Say what you do and what you are looking for. The specific ask is what generates a referral.
4. Talk less, ask more. The most useful question at the table is "what are you looking for today?".
5. Read up on the market beforehand. An informed comment about the sector opens more doors than a leaflet.
6. Do not speak badly of anyone. In a mixed room, the competitor you mentioned is quite likely two tables away.
7. Take notes and follow up. One word on the back of the card and a contact within seven days. Without that, forty conversations produce nothing.

Organizer mistakes at mixed events

• Not asking for supply and demand at registration. Without those fields, building the tables is a lottery.
• Not saying the format is mixed. Finding out on the day generates complaints.
• Ignoring the restrictions. If someone asked not to meet a particular company and then meets them, you lose the customer and the reputation.
• Promising sectors that never confirmed. Announcing "every sector" and delivering eight companies from the same trade is the quickest way to not sell a second edition.
• Leaving the speaking time loose. In a mixed room, the person who talks too long is usually the most experienced one, and the sense of privilege sets in fast.

How the software supports the format

In Rodada de Sucesso, registration stores what each company offers and is looking for. Participant restrictions, such as who should not meet or who is only available in certain rounds, are entered in the registration and respected.

The agenda is generated with zero repetition as a hard rule and avoids putting colleagues from the same company at the same table. Every meeting gets a compatibility score: the software brings sellers and buyers together, and you can explain to each participant why they sat with that company. In a mixed room, that score is what separates a productive table from a random one.

On the day, the operation controls speaking time, intervals and changeovers, with audio alerts and a second projection screen. If somebody does not turn up, the system reorganizes only what it must, and the rounds already held do not change.

To continue

Compare it with the other formats in what a sector-specific event is and what a themed event is, and see how to present a product or service before your next event.

A well-built mixed event is not the one that gathers the most people. It is the one that gathers people who buy what the room sells.