Nov
20

Talk the Walk To Win Work – and Make A Few Friends Too!!

Last Thursday, 12th November 2009, 7C Alliance was proud to have Diana Lowe, a professional networker, give a talk on “The Art of Networking” at the LITCAM Monthly meetup.

Diana started well with her intro that engaged the group on how helpful it is to know what makes us notable and known when networking. The example of David Beckham – and his ability to “bend it” on the playing field – helped identify those interested in football by contrast with those who know him better for being able to “strut it” on the red carpet with Posh Spice or on the catwalk. So, when networking, we should also be aware of what others are likely to know and be interested in, as well as what makes us good or interesting to talk to.

Diana also gave a few tips to help get the group started in networking on the Vinopolis wine tour that followed the talk.

These tips were as follows:

1. Have a Goal

2. Prepare a 30 second advert

3. Ask Open Questions

Sound simple? Maybe, but how many times have you been to a networking event and not known where to start, who to talk to or what to say? If so, these tips are for you – and here’s a little more on each to help you do what you have to do

Have a Goal

This amounts to:

  • Knowing what you need from people you meet at networking nights or events
  • Having a targeted reason for going to the night or event in the first instance – and this may include doing some research into the organisation behind the night or the event and so knowing who they are likely to invite along, as well as their relevance to you.

    • Prepare a 30 second advert

    In IT and other areas of technology, it can be challenging enough to help explain what you do – let alone make it interesting in explaining your edge in it.

    To help you, you need to perhaps discuss it with others to get the idea – such as using a great discussion similar to one recently on LinkedIn about how to explain “Enterprise Architecture”, simply, to The Board in less than 160 characters. You may have heard of such things referred to before as an “elevator pitch”

    Once you have a simple catchy definition of the area you work in – and one you think that the listener may need to know and be interested in – then you need to practice it.

    This combination will:

  • Give you confidence
  • Give you credibility, from people believing you know what you know well

    • Ask Open Questions

    This makes the person you are talking to “open up” – and allows you to find out more about them and their relevance to you, as well as make the conversation flow and them more interested in you

    Open questions start with: Who, What, Why

    So what’s the value of these tips?

    Diana referred to recent blogs on other IT industry professional sites where support has recently been given for IT contractors to be able to “talk the walk”. This is never truer than when having to meet someone in a social setting, and especially when you only have a short space of time in which to introduce yourself and get them interested in what you do. So Diana’s tips help with that.

    But How Do I Get To Know Who I Need To Meet?

    It also helps to have some support from the hosts of the event in providing some means to help you know who you need to know.

    7C Alliance Limited has developed a structured approach to networking, using a mix of its guest profile list and networking coordinators, that helps guests identify who is relevant to them based around common skills and knowledge elements in technology, or other areas of known interest. This helps make it easier to meet and get to know who you need to know readily.

    What’s more, where they are happy to share them, the guest profile list even includes a few things about what the person likes to do socially as a way of having something more than just “shop talk” to talk about with them…

    The rest, beyond identifying who you need to get to know, is certainly helped by the tips that Diana shared.

    Further Events on Networking

    Diana, Stuart and Matt look forward to hearing from people interested in coming along to a workshop in the New Year where you can learn a few more tips from Diana and practice the art with others in ways that will help you to achieve what you need and want to do. Such as using it to get yourself a new contract job – but also to have some fun in doing that too (like we did in the course of the Wine Tour last Thursday).

    Thank you once again to all those who came along – and especially those who came along from St Paul’s Speakers, a Division of Toastmaster’s International, to support Diana.

    Written on behalf of the London IT Contractor Alliance Meetup (LITCAM) Group and the 7C Alliance by Matt Miller, Director, 7C Alliance Limited

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