Why I Think Networking Is Important

I still remember my first networking meet a couple of years ago. I hardly knew what to expect. I dressed up in my professional best, stuffed enough business cards and reached the venue when people were already networking. I saw people milling about with ease chatting up with each other. I did not know anyone and randomly smiled at people till someone came and started talking to me. But several networking meets later, I am now a more confident person and know my way around such events.

In recent times, there’s a surge in networking events which you can take advantage of and connect with people. Different business groups, start up communities, entrepreneurs associations organise networking events to bring like minded people together and explore new opportunities. These events can be useful to you if you take care of a few things. Here are 6 things I have learnt about getting the most out of a networking event:

1. Decide your outcomes from the event

The last networking event I went to made me realize that probably not every event is going to be fruitful. This made me step back and analyze my goals and expectations from networking events. I think it is a good idea to figure out what you want to take at the end of an event. Clarity about your goals will help you understand the take aways - the informational sessions or connecting with the industry experts or finding prospective customers. 

2. Research the event

This should greatly help you understand what’s in it for you and arrive at your goals mentioned in the point above. Every time I come across an event on social media, I check out what’s the agenda, the speakers, the topic and the duration of the event. This helps me understand if the time I spend at the event will be worthwhile. If the event looks interesting but I don’t know some of the speakers, I look them up to understand what value I can gain from them. This research can also help you prepare better to gain the maximum out of the event. You may have questions to ask about your work or industry and networking events are a great place to personally connect with experts and discuss your doubts with them.

3. Reach early

Back to the Front had their networking event at a restaurant - an unlikely place for business networking. But what worked was the mingling and chatting around with people over drinks before the actual mentoring started. This seems to be the new trend since there are many such events being held at more informal settings. So be sure to reach early and put this time to good use. Your research should help you recognize the speakers. You can chat up with them and also engage in conversations with the others.

4. Ask questions

TiECon (The Indus Entrepreneurs conference) is a huge event for entrepreneurs and one is mostly lost in the crowd. A few quality conversations with individuals is all one can get - apart from the valuable learning from the speakers, of course. The last time I was there I realized that people who got to ask questions during the Q&A after the discussions, got a few seconds of their own in the crowd. This not just gave them to opportunity to ask the panel a question but also a chance to quickly tell every one in the room what they do. I think this is a great way to reach more people, especially in networking events which have large groups. I went and spoke to one such person at the end of the discussion since he had introduced himself before asking his question. I wouldn’t know what him otherwise and probably never connect with him. But a word of caution - don’t grab the microphone just for those 10 seconds of glory. Ask  a relevant question that makes sense to the discussion. Else it will just be an opportunity wasted.

5. Start and end well

A networking event can get awkward when it’s hard to decide who to start talking to and how to end the conversation. One way to do it is to start talking to everyone you come across, exchange cards and information about your work and move on to the next person. But how much of a connect would you make in that case? So have alternatives to, “What do you do?” so that you have different conversation starters to naturally start talking. And feel confident to end the conversation when there is nothing to say with, “It was nice meeting you. Let’s stay in touch”. Don’t end abruptly and move on to the next person or awkwardly hang around waiting for another person to join in and inject life into your dead conversation.

6. Follow up

The event is over and you are left with a stack of business cards. And its the follow up that turns a meeting into a relationship. As networking guru, Darcy Rezac says in his book, Work the Pond! Use the Power of Positive Networking to Leap Forward in Work and Life:

“To be a good networker, you need to be good at follow-up. Following-up is all about discovering what you can do for someone else, and doing. That’s how you develop and form relationships.”

Email people to tell them how you liked connecting with them and would love to explore any opportunities of working together. If your conversation involved meeting up sometime soon, you could tell them the slots you are free to meet up and invite them to join you at their convenience. Avoid stalker networking at all costs. I’m sure you have come across people who mail you, call you incessantly after they met you at a networking meet. This approach never worked. Get in touch 3 times in a span of 6 weeks. If there is not response, let it go.

Networking events are great opportunities to know more people and develop quality relationships. A little bit of planning always helps extract more out of the time spent networking. So the next time you plan to go for an event, make sure you are networking ready! 

By Suman Kher

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