Since we just finished our logo design I’ve turned my mind to places it should be included. It’s already on the website and Twitter feed. I was pondering a business card design when I came across an article by Chris Brogan about his plans for the SXSW conference. Here’s the relevant part regarding exchanging cards.
Unless you want to do business with me, don’t give me a business card. We both know how to reach each other, so unless one of us asks for one, let’s not hand them out. We tend to give out business cards because we’ve been taught this is what to do. It’s not. It’s the old way. In the old way, we just blast people with messages whenever WE need something. In the new way, you and I should only exchange cards if we’re looking to do future business. Otherwise? We roughly know how to reach each other, don’t we?
Save a card. Save the planet. Rewire the way humans do business.
I think this is an appropriate way to approach what is a very personal encounter, the introduction. No need to push anything on someone. Instead, make yourself memorable. If you are authentic and focus on how you can help the person will remember you. You shouldn’t need a business card as a prop to initiate a conversation or learn about the other individual’s life or business. As Chris mentions, the other person will roughly know how to reach you, especially if it’s at a conference. If they ask for a card, give them one and it will reinforce the meeting in their mind.
I did think briefly about not designing or ordering business cards at all, however. But I believe it’s arrogant to expect everyone else to do business only on my terms. I don’t want to explain to someone why I don’t have a card if they ask for one. I don’t want to tell them to just remember a URL or twitter name if that’s not how they are wired to process information. Some people prefer paper. So I’ll design something unique, pass it out when someone asks for it, and use it to support my efforts to serve others. Not as a prop to distract the person when I say “Hi, I’m Kevin Gainey.”
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