Welcome Professionals…

…I am attending a networking event today and I am getting prepared. There are only very few of these events that I actualy attend. I don’t like these awkward settings where everyone is running around exchanging business cards in order to sell something the next day. But some networking events offer a specific content and a curated membership network that are worth it from my point of view.

However, these occasions are rare and expensive, they cost time and money. So, it is better to go prepared. There are a few obvious preparations and some more sophisticated that I only got familiar with over recent years.

The obvious preparation is just common sense:

• Making sure to be on time with a proper appearance
• Placing some business cards into the jacket (not to be proactively used, but just in case somebody asks for one)
• Reviewing the list of participants, marking target persons to connect with
• Collecting some background information on target persons (CV on LinkedIn, mentioning in the news, looking for joint projects, interests, etc.)

The less obvious networking preparation is getting ready for conversations. On a networking event like this, we will have an agenda packed with some inspiring speeches and lots of breaks inbetween. I will not want to approach new contacts with some random conversation about the weather. Neither will I want to make it business transactional.

In order to really connect with people, I will want to pick a conversation that is playful enough for the small talk setting and at the same time meaningful enough to be remembered. This challenge needs preparation – and it also needs a lot of practice to be honest.

Here is what I will do. The topic of the conference is “upcycling”. I will think of anecdotes that link to this topic or to sub-topics that I find on the agenda. These anecdotes could be something that I heard on the news, an expert article that I read, a recent project that I did. Further, the anecdote needs to carry a message, this is where the meaning comes into play. By telling the story in my own personal way, I want to make sure to convey my personal opinion, something that I stand for, i.e., my values and believes.

Of course, this may sound a bit constructed. But think twice. A good networking conversation is exchanging stories on a joint topic where the discussion partners get to know each other. This is what it is worth to get prepared for.

Out for now

Malte

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