If you’re anything like me just the word ‘networking’ makes you shudder. No one wants to be there. Well, that’s not true, some people really want to be there. You know the type. I am definitely not the type. Networking today Today, the hotels have been replaced by Zoom, it’s BYO and you can disappear without even having to excuse yourself.
I love this post. Merely saying that you want to help often goes a long way already. The other thing that helps is finding things that you have in common, e.g. common connections. But it's often things people feel passionate about or associate good feelings with, like the football team they support or their favourite holiday destination. It takes some curiosity and attentiveness to find these commonalities, but with a little bit of practice it's not that hard.
Ah thanks Alex K - totally agree, offering to help is a real opener. It's hard to be rude to someone who's doing that - and often that's what we fear in networking: rejection. So reduce the risk by being friendly, curious and interested (not looking over that person's shoulder to see if someone more interesting has arrived!)
I love this post. Merely saying that you want to help often goes a long way already. The other thing that helps is finding things that you have in common, e.g. common connections. But it's often things people feel passionate about or associate good feelings with, like the football team they support or their favourite holiday destination. It takes some curiosity and attentiveness to find these commonalities, but with a little bit of practice it's not that hard.
Ah thanks Alex K - totally agree, offering to help is a real opener. It's hard to be rude to someone who's doing that - and often that's what we fear in networking: rejection. So reduce the risk by being friendly, curious and interested (not looking over that person's shoulder to see if someone more interesting has arrived!)