It’s no secret that next week begins one of the year’s most anticipated Real Estate events, held by none other than Inman.
When attending last year’s Inman Connect in San Francisco, I met a huge, I mean a HUGE, number of people. Some I had met online and known for years; some I had heard about and was thrilled to meet in person; some I never knew existed, but was really thankful to have found that they did. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the speakers and panelists I not only gained invaluable information from, but got to speak to, one on one on multiple occasions.
So with all these meets and greets, handshakes and idea swapping over late night drinks, my head was spinning (no, not from the drinks) with all the names, company names, faces… Information overload. And, it’s about to happen all over again in New York next week.
How many missed opportunities or business partnership developments may we have missed due to not having an easy way to gain these people’s information? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have a way to add people you meet into your phone and computer immediately, including not only their contact info, but their picture and notes about your meeting?
Enter Evernote Hello.
Evernote Hello takes away the need for business cards (and the accompanying illegible chicken scratch about who they are and what you talked about), and replaces it with not only the new contact’s basic information (name, email, phone, url) but also their picture, where you met, notes about your meeting and more – all directly on your iPhone. Could this possibly be the end of the “Where do I know her from?” awkward moments?
From Evernote’s introductory blog post:
Evernote Hello is based around the three fundamental ways that our brains actually remember people:
- Faces: What do you look like?
- Time: When did we meet?
- Context: Why did we meet and who else was there?
Evernote has become infamous for its wide range of apps and its ability to integrate with a number of third party tools to grab, store and use information for future use.
Here’s how Evernote Hello works:
- Once you have installed the app onto your iPhone, you’ll need to create your profile.
** Side note: Make sure you’re hair and makeup (ok, gentlemen, just bypass this part) is done, because your image (and all your contact information) will be sent to your new contact automatically via email. You’ve been warned!
Then once you’ve added your profile, you are ready to add others. Here’s where the fun begins.
- Hand your iPhone over to your new connection. They now personally add their information, including their (correctly spelled) name, phone number(s), email and Twitter handle. Oh, and a picture of them too!
You’ll notice that the location of your meeting place is also automatically added to your contact profile. This is great for remembering when you meet them again (or speak with them). - You can now add a note about what you spoke about, what you may need to do as a follow up or what you liked/disliked about them…
Viola, you (and they) are now done! Their self-taken photo is then added to the home screen of the app where you can see a mosiac-like layout of your most recently added new contacts.
There is another aspect of this app that is pretty intuitive – the calendar scan. You can allow Evernote Hello to integrate with the calendar(s) synced to your iPhone and show you appointments. Simply tap the calendar icon near the top of the screen to reveal a list of available calendars, each of which can be enabled or disabled individually.
This may be of use to those that have many appointments with many new people. Can you think of situations such as this?
The Downsides:
- First off, you must have a Mac (or any iDevice) to utilize Evernote applications. If you don’t you can stop reading (or get with the program and go purchase one already!)
- Why it takes not one, but four photos of you/your new contact is a mystery to me. Plus, you cannot choose which of those four pictures you (or they) want to use for their contact entry.
- This version does not allow syncing with your contact list on your iPhone. Yes, it’s YET ANOTHER contact management system. Cringe. But, hopefully this integration will be an update to their next version release…
- I can imagine that once you have a good number of new contacts added to this app, it will be challenging to find a contact since there is no “search” function with it. Again, hopefully this will be an upcoming update.
- Depending on the function or situation, it may be a little awkward to have the newly met connection take their photo. I heard that pulling an image from Facebook or LinkedIn may be in the works in the next release.
- Although your new contacts are synced to your Mac/iPad Evernote account, the notes cannot be edited (yet). However, you can add tags to your notes, such as “vendor”, “potential client”, “hot lead”, etc.,
Evernote Hello, is simply just another means to helping your brain out – all the information being poured in from all angles are more easily digestible and retainable with Evernote apps.
So next week, while you’re attending the numerous Inman events and after-parties, you’ll be able to add all the new people you meet and have a better handle on the names, faces and facts you may otherwise have a hard time remembering.
Hey! Pass me your iPhone. I want to say {Evernote} Hello! See you in @ICNY!
Also Read/Watch:
Secret Evernote Tip – How to Save Tweets Into Evernote
6 Things You Should Be Using Evernote For Every Single Day
Hello Evernote – Video
