![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
On networking
I have been professionally developed via the magic of an ACS seminar on networking, followed by some networking. Pre-performance thoughts here: http://stephbg.livejournal.com/183076.html
I felt uncomfortable for much of the session, for it didn't really feel applicable to me as I do not chase clients directly. However, when push came to shove I was better than my exercise partner at making them talk about themselves. OK, maybe it wasn't a competitive exercise, but since everyone had been given the same advice to listen and let the other person talk about themselves I had entertained the idea that silence would prevail until the weakest person broke.
I've much to think about, and picked up some useful ideas. Putting them into practice may be a little tricky, but I'll give it a go. I have to find a balance between being interested in the other person and a tendency to be so interested I interrogate. I'm also well aware that I tend to interrupt when my brain gets sparked by an idea or I want to confirm the first half of an explanation before I hear the second half. I've always felt I do that because I'm afraid I forget what I'm going to say. Alternatively (and more likely in a social situation) I interrupt because I've thought of a gag and don't want to lose the moment.
Steph, shut up occasionally.
On the bright side, when I said "I like your shoes" to the retired head of the computer science department from Educational Institution X, it made perfect sense to everyone, and indeed was an appropriate and recommended conversational opening gambit that we proceeded to mock in a comradely fashion.
Perhaps the best bit of advice the presenter gave was that the post-meeting beer session was *not* an opportunity to sell oneself or one's product or business. That took a lot of the pressure off for me, for I'm never interested in doing that. And now I don't have to. I can just get on with the business of bonding with people for the hell of it, and let strategic networking take care of itself. I'm actually looking forward to trying it some more.
I did prep for the session by thinking of and practising reasonably tidy responses to the what do you do/where do you work/what do they do questions. It certainly saved me from the "it's hard to explain"+ garbled explanation response I've used too many times, and helped with general confidence.
Another useful tip was the advice to make a list of the people or type of people missing from your contact lists, and actively researching how to cross their paths. I don't feel the urge to do that, but I did feel moved to make a list of people I'd like to keep in touch with so I can drop a hello without asking them for something.
I feel I had a win with the pick-a-person game at the drinkies part of the evening. M has recently established a boutique IT recruitment company, looking to match odd shaped people to odd shaped holes in small to medium companies. A topic close to my heart :-) I have her card and may talk to her about my tech writer presentation which does after all complain about IT recruitment practices.
This may be a bit incoherent. I've needed to treat the inflamed nerve in my neck/arm and it's starting to kick in.
I felt uncomfortable for much of the session, for it didn't really feel applicable to me as I do not chase clients directly. However, when push came to shove I was better than my exercise partner at making them talk about themselves. OK, maybe it wasn't a competitive exercise, but since everyone had been given the same advice to listen and let the other person talk about themselves I had entertained the idea that silence would prevail until the weakest person broke.
I've much to think about, and picked up some useful ideas. Putting them into practice may be a little tricky, but I'll give it a go. I have to find a balance between being interested in the other person and a tendency to be so interested I interrogate. I'm also well aware that I tend to interrupt when my brain gets sparked by an idea or I want to confirm the first half of an explanation before I hear the second half. I've always felt I do that because I'm afraid I forget what I'm going to say. Alternatively (and more likely in a social situation) I interrupt because I've thought of a gag and don't want to lose the moment.
Steph, shut up occasionally.
On the bright side, when I said "I like your shoes" to the retired head of the computer science department from Educational Institution X, it made perfect sense to everyone, and indeed was an appropriate and recommended conversational opening gambit that we proceeded to mock in a comradely fashion.
Perhaps the best bit of advice the presenter gave was that the post-meeting beer session was *not* an opportunity to sell oneself or one's product or business. That took a lot of the pressure off for me, for I'm never interested in doing that. And now I don't have to. I can just get on with the business of bonding with people for the hell of it, and let strategic networking take care of itself. I'm actually looking forward to trying it some more.
I did prep for the session by thinking of and practising reasonably tidy responses to the what do you do/where do you work/what do they do questions. It certainly saved me from the "it's hard to explain"+ garbled explanation response I've used too many times, and helped with general confidence.
Another useful tip was the advice to make a list of the people or type of people missing from your contact lists, and actively researching how to cross their paths. I don't feel the urge to do that, but I did feel moved to make a list of people I'd like to keep in touch with so I can drop a hello without asking them for something.
I feel I had a win with the pick-a-person game at the drinkies part of the evening. M has recently established a boutique IT recruitment company, looking to match odd shaped people to odd shaped holes in small to medium companies. A topic close to my heart :-) I have her card and may talk to her about my tech writer presentation which does after all complain about IT recruitment practices.
This may be a bit incoherent. I've needed to treat the inflamed nerve in my neck/arm and it's starting to kick in.