What Networking Event??

It's always interesting to me when I ask a client to tell me about a networking event that they've attended within the last couple weeks
and they tell me "zero."  That happened recently in a class I am teaching.  It was the second session and the homework from the first session asked them to experience a networking event and write about it.

One you gentleman said, "I've not attended any events!"  It had been three weeks between training sessions so I was surprised.  He did say, "Well, I'll be attending a Chamber breakfast next week."  I remembered from the first session that we had talked about his membership in Kiwanis.  So I asked if he had not attended his Kiwanis meetings.  His reply was, "Well, yeah, but that's not networking."

When the mindset, even though it's a gathering of a bunch of people, is that it's not networking; guess what?  It won't be!  Of course, Kiwanis is a service club, so the overriding reason to belong is to give back to the community, BUT, the connections can be helpful in the future.  Knowing how to use this type of group is what strategic networking is all about.  And even bigger is knowing that it is a networking opportunity.

But you see, so many people see networking as selling, instead of making a connection.