The best networkers view connecting as part and parcel to life: not just something they do when they need a job or a favor. To up your game as a networker, you may need to change your game entirely.
Wednesday, September 05, 2018
How to stand out at a networking event
The best networkers view connecting as part and parcel to life: not just something they do when they need a job or a favor. To up your game as a networker, you may need to change your game entirely.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
The hardest of these steps for me is the keeping the connection going part. Even connections that I’ve gained by working, when they tell me to stay in touch and I really do want to, I just never know how to stay in touch. Do I just randomly email them with updates? That feels weirdly self centered. Do I email them when I see something that reminds me of them? How do I keep that from just being random and annoying? I’d worry about the line between too much and not enough, but I end up just not staying in touch because I never know what to say. I also can’t say I’m great at networking events. When I went to USITT for every 5 minute conversation I had with someone I’d met I basically just wandered around for 15-30 minutes to prepare myself for the next one. It isn’t that I get nervous, I just find meeting people tiring and find it difficult to have the conversations not feel forced. It isn’t that I don’t like getting to know people, I do, I just like getting to know people I’ve already met, I find the initial meeting part exhausting. But, for now I’m worrying about getting better at maintaining connection with people I really should be maintaining connections with before I worry about getting better and making them in the first place.
Networking can be hard for introverts and people who suffer from anxiety. One of the best tips I’ve learned from professionals touring is to know who you are going to talk to, and prepare questions before hand, but make these questions seem natural. While that piece of advice has worked for me in the past, these tips go beyond the action of just networking. “Feeding the beast”, gathering knowledge for yourself, is one of my favorites here, because most of the times we forget that we are all people, and the people who we are trying to network with are tired of talking about their work, so having other things to talk about keeps the conversation going and them interested in you. These conversations will be easy to retake when you are keeping the connection alive long gone after the first encounter. Following up with another article on that subject or a similar podcast to one that got mentioned during the conversation, can go a long way. It will keep your name in that person’s mind.
The article really strikes home for me. The value of networking is one of the best lessons I learned in grad school. I also learned that no one is born a natural networker like the first sentence of the article. Even the stage managers at the pinnacle of their careers or any guest speakers for school admitted that networking is a conscious effort for them. And also, they all mentioned that they incorporate networking as part of daily routine like this quote from the article: “The best networkers view connecting as part and parcel to life: not just something they do when they need a job or a favor. To up your game as a networker, you may need to change your game entirely.” On top of it, I find it difficult to get the conversation going after the first introduction phase. Also, I can never tell when to nicely wrap up the conversation, and walk away graciously.
As someone who is an upperclassman at this school, getting better at networking is extremely important. This industry is all about who you know and how well you can network. For me, talking to people can be very natural and not stressful what so ever. However, I know a lot of people who struggle with this and I think this article could be very helpful. The first point to make a story instead of just saying the job title is great. It comes off that you really enjoy your job and you come off way more personal able if you add details when talking instead of just saying im in marketing. Another great point was to have info on other things happening in the world like even listening to a podcast. The more you are able to connect with people with a range of topics the easier it will be to network. I wonder what the future will be like with technology and networking and to see how the two will intertwine.
Post a Comment