Now that my world tour is on it’s second to last leg, I thought it was fitting to touch on the topic of intentional networking. I call it my world tour because over a six week period I have/will have traversed from Vegas to Toronto to Chicago to Memphis to my hometown back to Vegas to Atlanta to Dallas to Huntsville, AL to Dallas back to my hometown to LA. Lots of planes, car rides, hotels and Ubers along the way. Now you all see why it was so important to recharge my batteries before the ball started rolling again.
When it comes to networking, I’m all about quality over quantity. By the time I got to the second stint in Vegas, I was all networked out. I feel like I made up for all of Covid quarantine shut down through the first half of my travels. I finally got to meet so many people in person that I’ve only been able to build relationships through zoom boxes. So many hugs…huge smiles…lots of dinners/coffee…and conversations to the max. It was great – except apparently I look taller on zoom (lol). For someone who has some major social anxiety, it was however, extremely overwhelming at times. Although I can hold a conversation with pretty much anyone, I at times felt so incredibly socially awkward. I felt like I needed to live up to this hype of this “cool person” for social media. I don’t see myself as “cool” per se…I’m just me, authentically. Nonetheless, I survived.
When thinking about connecting with others, I believe in meaningful and authentic relationships. There are times that I meet people or have the initial connection, and I realize it might be the first and last time we will probably speak in person. I can be supportive from afar and I don’t have to be best friends with every single colleague I meet. I’m here to tell folks that is completely okay! I think we get caught in this trap of thinking we need to know and have longstanding relationships with every person of influence we see on social, or have heard about from others. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! Not every person will be beneficial to your career and/or personal journeys. I do believe we can take something from every single conversation…and sometimes it’s just that. You take it and move on.
The purpose of networking is to make connections that lead to relationships which hopefully will be mutually beneficial through career progression. When I attend big events, I usually walk in with 2-5 people that I know I would like to have a short interaction with, if possible. Other folks that I meet along the way, are always an additive. With the folks I would intentionally like to connect with, I have usually done my research and likely already follow them on social/Linkedin. In some cases, I already have preset meetings in place so that I do not miss a golden opportunity to connect. Some examples of how I was able to use my world tour to connect and reconnect with my industry colleagues:
- Memphis: driving through town and spending the day with a colleague and his family. You wouldn’t even know we had only met it person once before.
- Vegas: setting up intentional meetings at NBA summer league
- Vegas: showing up at NBA summer league pop up events to support my current co-workers, and connecting with a few new people in the process
- Vegas: doing a morning coffee/breakfast with 2 former students who have turned into lifelong friends and professional colleagues
- Huntsville, AL: attending a former athlete’s wedding and setting up a site visit to a university while I’m in another town
- ATL: attending a conference, doing a campus site visit (connecting with several social media friends while there), having dinner with my mentee, attending a WNBA game with a colleague who happened to be in town for another event
- DFW: taking my boys on a campus visit to see the athletic facilities and reconnecting with an industry colleague, attending NCAA Leadership Development event as an Alumni and meeting so many people I look up to and support in college athletics
***I think I need to restart my #LCJconnects tour on social media
For my fellow introverts out there – I empathize with you in that lots of conversations and cold introductions can be outside of your comfort zone. Don’t forget to recharge your personal batteries. Evening happy hours are prime real estate for networking. I personally have a limit on the amount of time I can put into said events. I have no problem “showing face” and leaving before the party gets going. I don’t feel forced to be the life of the party, and I truly understand that in order to be the best version of myself for the duration of the event, I have to make judgement calls on when to be present, and when to let folks know “I’ma head out”. I know that networking can be intimidating, but the more you do it and the more opportunities you have, the better you become. Again, you don’t have to talk to 200/200 event attendees. If you walk away with 3 meaningful connections, those 3 can create a web of people who then become a part of your network by association.
To sum it up, a few tips for successful networking:
- QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
- Be intentional with your connections
- Do your research
- Identify persons of interests before your conferences/events
- Take advantage of the knowing people in different places and spaces and say hi when you are in town
- Don’t forget to recharge your batteries
Don’t become a serial networker who doesn’t follow through – You miss out on creating authentic relationships. Find ways to connect and be consistent in your relationships. It’s important to know yourself and what you want/desire out of the relationships. Most importantly don’t forget that it’s all about quality over quantity. It’s not what you know or who you know…but who knows you. Create relationships that matter and your network will serve you well as you grow in your career.