Last night I went to a networking (for want of a better word) event hosted by the Insurance Women’s Inclusivity Network (iWIN).
As a member of the iWIN Committee, our Summer Social is the highlight of our year and we welcomed about 100 guests.
Gathering members and their guests in a special space and enjoying each other’s company.
I was invited to say a few words about ‘Networking’.
A word I really don’t like but it’s easier to use a word everyone kind of understands.
The reason I don’t like the word is the whole idea of you meeting people to add to your network or them adding you to theirs.
It’s impersonal and doesn’t reflect the essence of what having a network is about. I believe, and experience that:
- It’s about relationships.
- It’s about being memorable to the person.
- It’s about what can you do to help/support them AND the same the other way.
- It’s about following up and maintaining that connection.
It’s not about collecting names on LinkedIn or a ton of business cards/QRcodes you don’t do anything with!
One of the tips I shared last night was about being more memorable and professional when introducing yourself.
So many women, particularly, just say their equivalent of “Hi, I’m Kay” and that’s it. No surname, no company, no positioning of themselves. Just their first name…
My advice was to use your full name at the very least. Add your company name as well.
You’re immediately sounding more professional (and probably feeling it too) and you definitely invite questions and are more memorable. All good in a ‘networking’ or relationship-building scenario!
So it would become, for me “Hi, I’m Kay White, the founder of Way Forward Solutions. I coach and mentor corporate career women.”
That always invites questions.
Who, what type of women, how do they find you, what do you do with them etc... and off we go.
If your name is tricky to pronounce, then you can say “as in...” with either a rhyming version or a phonetic version.
The amount of times I’ve been at a conference or event and have heard a women ask a question and not even say her name at all! Argh… 😱
Over to you.
A final word on the matter…
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“Your networking is not working if you fail to follow up. The fortune’s in the follow up.”
~ Jim Rohn
And in other news…
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Our iWin Committee gathered for a photo. We normally see each other on Zoom and, of course, no one knows how tall I am (6ft) so they’re always surprised! Maybe I’m not tall…maybe they’re just short…
Managed to take a photo of Miss Thelma on my lap! Snowy asked me how I did that and all I could say was “Quickly”…
