5 Learnings from Networking Events

Ever since I turned entrepreneur, I have been leaping at every chance to attend a ‘networking’ event. But the whole idea of standing around in a room full of strangers each purposefully roaming around visiting card in hand, waiting to find the next free person and rattle off about what they do is not only unnerving but also slightly ridiculous…

I mostly don’t remember much about the people I meet, barring 1 or 2 who leave an impact- maybe because they are relevant to my work or spoke really well but in most part it is a wasted exercise – at most events.

I think what I was really looking for was to find possible alliances, discuss new ideas and come away an enriched person. When you work at a corporate, you land up doing all of that with peers, bosses and clients. As an entrepreneur you are starved for interesting and enriching discussions and the thought of meeting other people who have plunged onto this rollercoaster is tempting.

For a lot of women business owners, such events may be their only opportunity to network due to personal and social considerations.

 Here are my learnings from the many such events that I have attended.

1.      Select your events with care. Either you should come away learning something new about a subject that is relevant to you and enriches your business or personal skills, OR is an industry event where you will meet people relevant to your business and could form possible alliances of some nature.

2.      Have an interesting pitch ready about what you do. Work on a script beforehand. Don’t struggle to explain your work. DON’T sell.

3.      Listen as much as you talk. While you will, of course, tell people you meet what you do, equally spend some time listening to what they do. This helps you remember whom to connect with for what once the event is over. This works really well if you are a shy person. All you have to do is say Hi to people and they will leap at the chance to tell you what they do. Connect with them later over mail

4.      Wear something comfortable. No point in wearing sky high heels if all you’re going to do is to think about finding the closest chair to sink into. Wear something smart but it should be comfortable. It should be that one item of clothing in your wardrobe that makes you feel confident.

5.      Pair up with another person to attend the event. If going alone makes you feel uncomfortable pair up with someone. You will always have somebody to fall back upon if you’re not being able to mingle much.

Hope this helps. She Means Business offer personal and professional branding guidemaps for women. Connect with me at [email protected] to know more.

-Dipika