The delicate art of networking…

Image from blogs.reuters.com

Sound Women, one of the organisations I volunteer for, are currently on a fantastic tour of the UK. They started last Monday with two locations – Sunderland and Belfast – and they’ll be continuing their route all around the country over the coming month with stops in Norwich, Birmingham, and Glasgow to name but a few. Personally I can’t wait; I’m heading to their event at Media City to hear guest speakers Maria Williams and Mary Anne Hobbs. I’m hoping it will be a great chance to hear some words of inspiration from two fantastic women working in audio, visit the swanky new Media City, and meet some great new contacts. But what does the latter include? Dum dum dum… Networking!!

Networking is one of those funny activities I can’t quite pin-point. I was tempted to call it a ‘love it or hate it’ sort of event, but in all honesty I can’t think of anyone I know that really loves networking. I think it’s one of those necessities that we all have a slight fear of… like going to the dentist or checking our bank balances. We know it’s all going to be OK in the end but we can’t help but get that slight surge of panic in the lead up.

And why shouldn’t we? Networking is hard. It’s like reliving your first day at school all over again. But in an industry where sometimes it can be a case of who you know rather than what you know that gets you your next job, and word-of-mouth and reputation can be everything, networking is an absolute necessity. But what is the key to mastering it? Practice… And the ability to appear confident. But mainly, practice.

So with this in mind before you throw yourself into networking-event-after-networking-event here is some expert advice from Simon Wright. Simon is a trained careers counsellor and has been working in talent management for over 10 years – the man knows his stuff! He recently answers questions on networking posed to him on twitter as part of one of the BBC’s College of Production workshops. Here are Simon’s top 7 tips:

1. Chat to everyone, don’t just make a bee line for the most senior person.
2. Smile and be polite and don’t barge into other people’s conversations.
3. Talk naturally. Don’t go into a huge monologue about what you’ve done.
4. Help others with networking and they will help you – facilitate.
5. Follow up on conversations by emailing people afterwards.
6. Be yourself.
7. You have one chance to make a first impression so make a good one.

Still feeling a little nervous? Not to worry. Take a look at this excellent article by David Lurie in The Guardian about how he overcomes his biggest fears about networking.

Also I love this little game of networking bingo used at a Sound Women event last year. It’s always good to have an idea of what you would like to have achieved by the end of an event. So even if you’re the only one playing, try and have a set goal of who you would like to meet or what you hope to have arranged by the end of play. See? Networking can be fun.

And finally my own little top tip for you all? Like David says – get some business cards made up. They can look very swish and make you feel pretty professional when you hand them over. They also stop the awkward clamouring for a pen when you want to write down your email address! And also, smile!

You can read a full run-down of Simon’s advice on the BBC College of Production website here.

And if you’re interested in attending one of the Sound Women on Tour events visit their Upcoming Events page here.