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What do I do at a Networking event?
Home » Careers » Networking » What do I do at a Networking event?Posted by Your Guide on October 12, 2005 4:17 PM
So, you have decided to join a business networking group. You show up at an event, see the room filled with people, and are uncertain of your next step.
First, take a moment to ask yourself why you are here. Define your objectives for the event and then start thinking about how you can accomplish those objectives.
Be sure to shake hands and introduce yourself to people by saying your name clearly. Then, be prepared to deliver your “elevator speech” – a description of who you are and what you do in less than 30 seconds. Debra Condren, a career coach and business psychologist with offices in New York and San Francisco, recommends in the Wall Street Journal Online article “Experts Offer Their Tips for Fruitful Marketing” that you make your elevator speech describe just who you are, what you do and what you’re looking for. Any more than that will turn the listener off, she says. She also recommends practicing your elevator speech in front of a mirror, and then on friends, before taking it to a networking event.
In the same article, career experts also advise you not to talk just about yourself. Show interest in others by asking questions and encouraging others to talk about themselves and their business experience. If you listen to them, they are more apt to listen to you.
And here’s a tip for those shy people who find group interaction very nerve-wracking: Look for other people who also seem uncomfortable and approach them. Get to know them, and in the process put both yourself and them at ease so you can move on to conversations with other, more extroverted people in the room.
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