{"id":71408,"date":"2014-05-13T07:30:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T12:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=71408"},"modified":"2014-05-13T22:13:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T03:13:15","slug":"top-10-tips-for-reluctant-networkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=71408","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Tips for Reluctant Networkers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ California<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Top 10 Tips for Reluctant Networkers<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"MaryMichelleMoore\"<\/a>It\u2019s nearly summer, which means.. Conference season! In addition to the chance to go to presentations\u00a0and sightsee this is one of the best ways to network with your fellow librarians. Below are ten great tips\u00a0for networking with colleagues at in-person events.<\/p>\n

1. Know yourself:<\/strong> I am a sociable introvert. That means I love meeting people and I love talking to\u00a0them, but I\u2019m exhausted after a night of being with a lot of people. If you need to take an hour to\u00a0yourself in the afternoon before heading out for the evening, plan it into your schedule.<\/p>\n

2. Have at least 3 stories in your pocket:<\/strong> A good rule of thumb is to have a few lines about who\u00a0you are (where you work, what classes you\u2019re taking, what project you\u2019re working on, etc.), a\u00a0few lines about what you want to do (looking for a job, ideas for upcoming projects), and a few\u00a0lines about a hobby or passion you have. Having these ready to go means you\u2019re prepared to\u00a0start a conversation with anyone in the room.<\/p>\n

3. Glance over the schedule for the day:<\/strong> Not everyone will have been at the same talks you were,\u00a0especially at bigger conferences. Take a look at the schedule for the day, are there any sessions\u00a0you wanted to see but missed? If you find someone who went to one of those sessions mention\u00a0that you wanted to go to that talk and offer to swap notes. This also gives you a chance to jog\u00a0your memory about highlights of sessions you saw earlier so you can share what you\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

4. Duck into the bathroom and straighten up:<\/strong> If you\u2019ve been walking around all day, or if you just\u00a0need another minute to prepare before jumping into the crowd, find a bathroom and take a few\u00a0deep breaths. While you\u2019re there you can check the mirror to make sure that you don\u2019t have\u00a0any broccoli between your teeth or just reassure yourself that you\u2019re name badge is in place and\u00a0you look wonderful.<\/p>\n

5. Smile:<\/strong> It will help you feel more confident, make you seem friendlier, and if you\u2019re shy, it will\u00a0trick your brain into thinking there\u2019s nothing to be nervous about until you can relax and stop\u00a0being nervous. (Bonus tip: the physiological manifestations of being nervous are basically the\u00a0same as those for when you\u2019re excited. Just keep telling yourself, you\u2019re not nervous, you\u2019re\u00a0excited, it may take a few minutes but it works.)<\/p>\n

6. Have a line:<\/strong> It doesn\u2019t need to be polished, but be ready to be initiate conversation. I\u2019ve\u00a0approached someone and said \u201cHi, you look about as nervous as I feel\u201d and we laughed and hit\u00a0it off after that. Try asking what sessions the other person just came from or what traffic was\u00a0like on the way over.<\/p>\n

7. Let the other person talk:<\/strong> Networking only works if you\u2019re interacting with other people. Ask\u00a0questions and listen to the other person for a bit. This one seems too easy to be on the list, but\u00a0if you ramble when you\u2019re nervous, it\u2019s a good one to remember.<\/p>\n

8. If you recognize someone invite them to join you:<\/strong> There is no rule saying that a conversation\u00a0can only take place between two people. If you see someone you spoke with earlier in the day\u00a0or you know from work, but you don\u2019t want to leave your current conversational buddy, wave\u00a0them over to join you. Just be ready to do a quick introduction to get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

9. Keep business cards handy:<\/strong> When you\u2019re ready to leave either the event or to try to find more\u00a0people to chat with, exchange business cards. If you don\u2019t have cards from work you can order\u00a0or print your own relatively inexpensively. This will give you a way to stay in touch with people\u00a0you\u2019ve met and will make it easier to connect with them in the future.<\/p>\n

10. Don\u2019t forget social media:<\/strong> Twitter is usually the big one at conferences, but if you prefer to\u00a0connect on Facebook or LinkedIn ask how your new acquaintance likes to connect with other\u00a0people. Even though you can look people up on your own later, be aware of the fact that\u00a0some people use certain social media outlets for different aspects of their lives. For example,\u00a0I maintain a Twitter profile for public\/work connections but prefer to keep my Facebook\u00a0interactions more social. Asking at these types of in person events means you can find out more\u00a0ways to stay in touch long after the evening is over.<\/p>\n

What did I miss?<\/strong> What are your tried and true tips for networking at conferences? Share in the\u00a0comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary-Michelle Moore, Head Editor, INALJ California Top 10 Tips for Reluctant Networkers It\u2019s nearly summer, which means.. Conference season! In addition to the chance to go to presentations\u00a0and sightsee this is one of the best ways to network with your fellow librarians. Below are ten great tips\u00a0for networking with colleagues at in-person events. 1. Know…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":59864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[5962,69,3592,3629,3979,356,6035,111],"class_list":["post-71408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-10-tips","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-california","tag-mary-michelle-moore","tag-networking","tag-networking-for-introverts","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MaryMichelleMoore.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-izK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}