Jul
22
Networking Events: Some Are Not Worth It
July 22, 2009 | 2 Comments
The Situation:
With a networking event I mean those by open invitation, where you pay a small fee for a couple of hours of chit-chat with fellow networkers and spill out your 30 second elevator speech hundreds of times while guzzling appetizers and drinking cheap wine (others describe it similarly). If you are lucky, the keynote speaker does shows up and talks about a topic of interest to all — in a lot less detail than you would have gotten from a brief browsing session and a well used Google search. Some people have learned how to Work a Room
There are other types of networking events, of course: those carefully arranged by someone who knows the attendees, those with smaller groups where people can actually talk for more than two minutes, or those crafted by a close group (your workplace, alumni association, your family, etc.) Many of these may be worth of your interest. But for the purpose of this article, I will refer to the massively arranged ones described earlier. Also remember, any event can be a networking event, even if it doesn’t carry a title: a charity dinner or ball for example, is a great networking event where people are not operating under the assumption they have to hand out as many business cards as possible.
The Problem:
The type of people these events attract. Most are good, well intentioned, and well mannered people that are great to befriend. It is just that the setting may not be conductive to increased life productivity or long standing business relationships. Few of these events really have entertainment value (unless you really need to be in contact with others that much). Let’s take a look at the kind of people we usually find:
- The high profile speaker – Usually someone that you would like to add to your list of friends. The kind of person from whom you would like to receive an invitation to a dinner party. Problem is: there is a long line to meet him, plus he is already assuming that you are inferior to him. Unless you have a great summarized elevator speech that truly sparks his interest – he will dismiss you in favor of someone else.
- The event organizer – One of the most interesting people on the event. You may actually want to befriend him/her. Has great contacts, good organization skills (assuming the event is any good), and
- The under-networked – Some of the people are under-networked people: people with far less connections than they would prefer to have. They are fishing for anything and everything. They will gladly take your business card with a smile and give you one of theirs. Afterwards they will not know what to do with them. If you are lucky, you might find one of them interesting for one of your projects. Just don’t count on then hiring you.
- The under or un-employed. Some of these people are not satisfied with their jobs. Others do not have a job at all. Many will beg for a job, but will not listen to your needs. If that is the case, unless you are a recruiter, don’t bother with them.
- The recruiter. They know there are under or un-employed people here. They try to grab a few cheaply — really cheaply.
- The entrepreneur turned sales guy. This guy is also desperate. Grandma’s venture fund ran out quickly. He needs some sales if he wants to start consuming uncle Joe’s one. He will also sell, sell and listen poorly to you.
- The venture vulture. He is about to take the product from the hands of the entrepreneur-turned-sales-guy for a song. Or even worse: just for sitting on the entrepreneur’s company board. I do not like this situation either.
- The sincere networker. The one that wants to learn what other people do and how they do it. The one that wants to understands what skills are necessary to succeed. The one that wants people to remember his skills 6 months from now, not necessarily offer him a job right away. And the one that wants to find people who can partner with him in his life projects. Soon frustrated by the benefits of these events.
The (Potential) Fix:
It is difficult to get invited to be with the people who may be of impact in your career — especially if you do not know who they are beforehand. But you can still try to filter out those events that are more appropriate. To filter you need a larger set of invitations – something that it is easier said than done. Start by paying more attention to small groups of similarly interested people and join those groups. Try to favor events with smaller groups but more targeted (where you can know something about who is attending). Maybe letting people know that you want to meet others with similar interests is a good thing: the not so subtle request for an introduction over coffee to a friend of yours who know people you might want to meet.
In the event that you can’t attend events created by others, create your own. A small gathering (BBQ?) at your own residence or a restaurant with carefully selected friends of similar career interests may be a good start. Tell your guests to feel free to invite someone with similar interests. But keep it small. I do not think you can network effectively when you only have two minutes to talk to each person.
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Networking for smart dummies…
Not too long ago, a wise man I trully respect with business advice, told me: “in business, anything you would say during a normal conversation, will be accepted as networking…”; today I got to prove it.
Someone gave my name as a refe…
Love the descriptions of people who you should get in contact with. I agree though, there are some networking events that may not be worth the time of attending.