OK I admit it - I have books full of business cards. From other people. Which I've done nothing with apart from put them into plastic wallets in the first place. Despite being trained in the practice of Meishi exchange as a former Dentsu planner. You don't just hand over a business card in Japan - you study it, use it to ask questions. You treat the card with the respect you want to extend to the person who has just given it to you.
So here's what I'm thinking. There has to be some way to get some traction out of all these business cards. Why not use them as the foundation for a social media network? One that doesn't necessarily require a computer screen. Despite all the concerns about privacy, identity theft, and confidentiality it is considered normal to hand out our contact details indiscriminately. Its too late for an optin optout scheme - these cards are already out there. So let's start to leverage this in unexpected ways. Let's set up the Meishi game. Every day find a way to do something with at least one card in your possession (which isn't yours). Here are some suggestions:
1/ Call (or call on) someone you haven't spoken to in more than a year, find out what they are up to and get another contact name from the same office. You complete the task once you have successfully obtained a business card from this second person.
2/ Contact someone whose card you have who you know has changed job and call them. The task is complete when you obtain their new business card. As a bonus try to get a business card off their replacement or another contact in their previous place of work
3/ If you have a card which comes from a company which has relocated or ceased to trade then try to get a contact and business card from a company which is still in the same building.
4/ Use the syntax for the email address to communicate with someone else you know works for the same company. You complete the task when you make successful contact with them and get their business card.
5/ For departmental heads or directors set out to collect the business cards for the entire board or for their department.
Star achievement - the Japanese are at the pinnacle of the business card business. If you get a card from a Japanese or from someone who has a meishi - that's a Japanese business card - its double sided and has Japanese on the back. Then give yourself an extra star/pat on the back. (heavy hint: as you can see I still have a load from my days at CDP!!)
There's nothing instrinsically frivolous about this activity. Its just networking. If you do it badly or intrusively then you won't achieve your objective. If you do it well you should generate lots of relevant chat and additional contacts which will make the social network more effective. A lot more useful than broadcasting to your entire professional group on Facebook that you just completed a quiz about who you wish you'd had sex with last night.
Don't tell me you're too busy for trivia - how much time do you spend on social media every day doing just that? And don't tell me you haven't got any business cards.
