Monday-morning quarterbacking a networking opportunity
I attended a local charity event yesterday and, judging by the attire of the folks in the room, a few snippets of conversation caught in passing, and the comments made by the few people I knew in the room, the 100-plus people represented some of the biggest money and power brokers in our neck of the woods.
A bad time for me to be feeling like a social wallflower, rather than a social butterfly.
I’ll admit, I want to blame it on a long weekend away, a long car ride home before the event, a long night before spent with very good friends and perhaps a little too much imbibing.
But the fact is, when you’re in a prime networking situation like I was, you can’t let your personal worn-down-ness get in the way. Instead of meeting people I don’t ordinarily get to meet, or even come across on any regular basis, I stayed within my comfort zone, and didn’t do myself – or anyone else – any good.
What could I have done better? Two things:
1. Set a goal for myself. I knew what kind of folks would be there. If I had set the intention of meeting people and finding ways to help, say, three of them, I would have had a purpose and drive while at the event. (Remember the golden rule of networking – give before you seek to receive.)
2. Sucked it up. Like many things in life, we humans have a fun habit of making some things more difficult than they have to be. Instead of just going for it, I spouted a bunch of excuses to myself so I could give myself permission to avoid networking.
That said, all is not lost. There is one thing I can do to make lemonade out of the lemons I handed myself:
Send one or more thank you cards. To the event organizers, the sponsors, the facility managers…any of these people would be pleased to get a pat on the back for the effort they put into the event. And because so few people will make that effort, my thank you card truly has a chance to stand out. (Perhaps even more so than if I’d been one of dozens of people who shook somebody’s hand at the event itself!)
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