Monday, December 16, 2013

Networking Failure

OK, I must admit, I was a failure at networking the other night.

I was invited to a business friend's holiday open house.  I arrived late into the party, so that it was in full swing.  In fact, I could hardly get in!  The place was so crowded that it was difficult to move around.  I couldn't get to the coat closet, so there I was walking around with my stick-on name tag on my coat.  I tried to find my friend, just to deliver my greetings to no avail.

Everyone was into their own conversations and didn't exhibit open networking body language.  So here is what I bravely did -- I ate an appetizer and left.  Yep, that's right, I left, the networking guru gave up.

I've thought about it since then and here are some conclusions.

1.  Go to the party when it begins if you can.  (I had appointments, so I couldn't that evening.)

2.  I didn't have far to walk so I could have left my coat in the car even though it was cold.

3.  I would have emailed my friend the day of the party to let him know that I would be there but later and perhaps, just perhaps, he would have looked for me.

4.  Nothing else at this time, but I am sure tonight in the middle of the night I'll think of something.

What would you recommend?

1 comment:

Sandy Pirwitz said...

I would have done exactly what you did.

Give the host a registration form for the CN class...please tell me it wasn't a grad. Of course, we don't specifically teach party host etiquette, but it's all part of the same philosophy.