external networking

I'm half writing this blog post as a review and I'm half writing this blog post to teach myself a lesson - again. I just thought you all should know.

Tonight I went to my first external networking event in Philadelphia, well, my first external networking event anywhere that just happened to be in Philadelphia. It was approximately 100 times easier than I thought it was going to be. I was nervous. I didn't know anybody. I still don't really know anything about my job or what I'm going to be doing - but I just kept telling myself this was a good chance to practice my "elevator pitch". By the time I was talking to the third person, I had finally figured out the best order for the words to come out of my mouth. (It's the little things in life...)

So here was the scene - swanky location in Philadelphia, big open bar - everyone was given two free drink tickets and pretty much no other instruction or direction. I was surprised how many people there came alone (just like me!) and I was surprised for how many people that was their first event (also, just like me!). The point of everybody being there is to meet people - so everybody's really friendly and willing to talk - or just wanting to give you a business card, in which case, you really don't need to make conversation very long at all. It definitely seems rude to go up and intrude on a conversation, but it wasn't as awkward standing alone in the corner with a drink as you think it would be. Because within 2 to 3 minutes, somebody else would be passing by that didn't have anybody to talk to either. So then comes the conversation - what's your name, what do you do, where do you work.... and I kept trying to pull in other conversations such as are you from Philly, what else do you do besides work, talking about the Philadelphia restaurant scene and planning parties - you know, things I feel like I actually know about. And I told people I had just started my job - and instead of that being weird, it was a great segway into, well, what did you do before that, where did you graduate from, etc, etc. (Aside: Blogger is telling me that "segway" is not a word - so please excuse my possible misconception of a word? Just like I learned the phrase "for all intents and purposes" - sorry, sidetracked)

Anyway, I'd say every conversation lasted on average seven minutes (except for the guy that I stood waiting to get my free drink with - that was closer to a fifteen minute conversation) - which is just enough to get to know something about each other and get past the basics.

I talked to two gentlemen and three ladies and then I decided to leave. Why did I decide to leave? I ran out of business cards - I had only had three. (I'd forgotten to pack any of the 150 sitting at my desk. Again.) So after the second time of saying - "oh, I'm sorry, I don't have a card, let me write down my information for you" (luckily one of the ladies didn't have business cards either so that made the exchange less awkward) - I decided it was time to pack up. Five business cards - that sounds like a success for my first external networking event. I'm excited for the next one :) AND it's definitely not as scary as it sounds. The hardest part is walking in the door.

four cards + the free drink ticket I didn't use + one lady's information in my phone

SO - IN CONCLUSION.

Dear Chrystina -

Please, PLEASE remember your business cards at the next networking event. PLEASE. It will make things a lot less awkward. Third time's a charm, right?

with love, Chrystina

internal networking

Today was a day of internal networking. I was at work for 10 hours (including lunch) and I think I spent 4 of those hours doing internal networking. Now let me tell you - I thought this was absolutely awesome. I love meeting people. Here's how it was done -

About two weeks ago, I decided that there had to be more people around the age of 22 in my entire company than just me. So, I decided to e-mail HR and ask for a list of names of everybody who had been a campus hire in the past few months. I got a list of 20 names or so, and so I e-mailed them. What it the e-mail say? Well, I introduced myself, explained the story and invited everybody to join me for lunch. Luckily there were other people crazy enough to respond yes. :) We ended up with a group of five of us and we went to Marathon Grill. The conversation spanned from traveling for work to college life to absinthe (I really want to spell that word with a 'y'...). I've got to tell you, I'm really glad that I did it. And we all had a pretty good time. My next idea? A pancake lunch. Now I just need to figure out how to make this happen.

The next networking event was speed networking - a lot like the concept of speed dating. Here's a note to everybody out there: bring business cards to this event. I thought of it probably 3 or 4 times that morning and somehow, I walked down stairs to the event without business cards. (Not surprised.) Instead of male/female we divided it up by two different halves of the company. Being forced to talk to people for 4 minutes is kind of awesome - it's just enough time that you can find out some cool things, but not enough time that there's awkward pauses. Now the question is will I remember all of their names on Monday to actually stay in touch with some of them. We'll see...