Back with more experience, there was a networking event last night that I went to.
Always dress to impress, even if the event is casual attire. The organizer of the event I went to sent out an e-mail saying that casual attire was fine, yet all of the people from the firm that was hosting the event were dressed nicely.
Get there early to talk with people. I got there "on time" and big groups were already formed. This kind of sucked because as soon as I got their, the only lone wolves were other people seeking employment.
I had to wait until AFTER the presentation was over until I could talk with someone one-on-one. Literally as soon as the applause for the conclusion of their powerpoint was over, I was walking over to a guy. I am certain that I was the FIRST person to approach a member of the company after the presentation was over.
People latched on to my energy though, which was...well, unexpected. I was talking with a guy and it was going great, then out of nowhere, three other people were just standing there observation our conversation. I don't think it threw me off at all, but eventually I was cut off by one of the women and then the guy opened up his body language to include the other people in the conversation.
In this instance, I figured patience was the way to go. Because I had been talking with this guy first, I positioned myself to be by his side, almost as if it was he and I were giving a presentation to the three women who joined the conversation. I interjected here and there when I could, but I tried to stay away from asking him personal questions. In fact, I went very friendly, trying to include multiple people in the conversation. Maybe introducing myself to the other people networking would be a good thing? Give off a friendly vibe or something? idk. anyways, I waited until the women left then continued talking with him some more before departing. My goal was to leave the conversation with him remembering ME specifically as the someone he had a one-on-one conversation with, so that's mainly why I did not leave when other people showed up.
When there was a big group of people though, it was kind of awkward to ask for a business card or contact information. All the other girls did it right before they left, which just came off weird to me. Like imagine that, here we are, five people just chatting shooting the shit...then someone asks you for your contact information...then immediately leaves. I dunno, I kind of feel like it was just a very clear way of the women saying "Okay, I'm done with you, give me your card now". Not much panache, ya know? Meh. Hopefully I did the right thing. I would like some feedback on what's the best way to go about getting contact information when you're in a big group setting like that. Due to my patience, I did not end up talking with ALL of the big players: however, I leveraged my rapport with this guy (who I JUST met at this networking event, I did not know any of the big players prior to the event) and I got him to introduce me to other big players at the event. By "big players" I mean people that work for the company. Ended up getting the contacts of 5 out of 12 obvious people that I should have talked to. Ya win some you lose some I guess.
SO yeah, question is: HOw do you get contact information and make a good impression when in a group?
How to prevent people from intruding when you've got someone one-on-one?
Will report back with more later. There are more events later this week.
Always dress to impress, even if the event is casual attire. The organizer of the event I went to sent out an e-mail saying that casual attire was fine, yet all of the people from the firm that was hosting the event were dressed nicely.
Get there early to talk with people. I got there "on time" and big groups were already formed. This kind of sucked because as soon as I got their, the only lone wolves were other people seeking employment.
I had to wait until AFTER the presentation was over until I could talk with someone one-on-one. Literally as soon as the applause for the conclusion of their powerpoint was over, I was walking over to a guy. I am certain that I was the FIRST person to approach a member of the company after the presentation was over.
People latched on to my energy though, which was...well, unexpected. I was talking with a guy and it was going great, then out of nowhere, three other people were just standing there observation our conversation. I don't think it threw me off at all, but eventually I was cut off by one of the women and then the guy opened up his body language to include the other people in the conversation.
In this instance, I figured patience was the way to go. Because I had been talking with this guy first, I positioned myself to be by his side, almost as if it was he and I were giving a presentation to the three women who joined the conversation. I interjected here and there when I could, but I tried to stay away from asking him personal questions. In fact, I went very friendly, trying to include multiple people in the conversation. Maybe introducing myself to the other people networking would be a good thing? Give off a friendly vibe or something? idk. anyways, I waited until the women left then continued talking with him some more before departing. My goal was to leave the conversation with him remembering ME specifically as the someone he had a one-on-one conversation with, so that's mainly why I did not leave when other people showed up.
When there was a big group of people though, it was kind of awkward to ask for a business card or contact information. All the other girls did it right before they left, which just came off weird to me. Like imagine that, here we are, five people just chatting shooting the shit...then someone asks you for your contact information...then immediately leaves. I dunno, I kind of feel like it was just a very clear way of the women saying "Okay, I'm done with you, give me your card now". Not much panache, ya know? Meh. Hopefully I did the right thing. I would like some feedback on what's the best way to go about getting contact information when you're in a big group setting like that. Due to my patience, I did not end up talking with ALL of the big players: however, I leveraged my rapport with this guy (who I JUST met at this networking event, I did not know any of the big players prior to the event) and I got him to introduce me to other big players at the event. By "big players" I mean people that work for the company. Ended up getting the contacts of 5 out of 12 obvious people that I should have talked to. Ya win some you lose some I guess.
SO yeah, question is: HOw do you get contact information and make a good impression when in a group?
How to prevent people from intruding when you've got someone one-on-one?
Will report back with more later. There are more events later this week.