That Job Guy Dot Com

When I was a kid our family made the annual pilgrimage to the Iowa State Fair.  My favorite part of the fair was always the midway.  We’d grab funnel cakes, buy our tickets and ride the Octupus and Tilt-a-Whirl.  But the best part of the midway was the opportunity to win prizes.  I’m sure my father spent hundreds of dollars over the years helping us “win” dozens of little stuffed animals.  There were two games I was really good at – the balloons you’d have to puncture with a dart and the clown game where you’d blow up a balloon with a water pistol.  But you know what I was terrible at?  That damn duck game.  They mocked me as they quacked around my BB shots.  I never could hit that moving target.

Earlier this week I went to the Kansas City Online Community May Networking event.  If you haven’t signed up as a member on this social site, it is well worth your time.  Chris Gould started this group several years ago and it’s grown into quite an opportunity to meet other professionals in the area.  Every month they have a “IRL” event and usually there a crowd of 300+ people there.  I’ve made many valuable professional contacts through the KCOC and I strongly recommend you get involved.

You might be asking yourself at this point – what does my inability to hit a moving target at the State Fair and networking have to do with one another?  The answer is simple – moving targets are EASIER to hit at a networking event.

I’ve always had a strategy in large group networking settings – I usually find a group of 3 or 4 people talking and will approach them and (in a very nice way) work my way into the group with a “Hi, my name is Dave and I’m that guy that butts into conversations to network”.  It might be a little rude, but if you keep it light and say it with a smile it works.  This month at the event I had a “networking epiphany” – the people that are walking by you aren’t talking to ANYONE.  So my strategy changed – as people walked by me I would get their name off their nametag, stick out my hand and ask “So, what does <name> do”?  People stopped – we engaged – we became the group of 3 or 4 people talking.  It was great.

Lets face it – many people are uncomfortable at a networking event, and those that are certainly would be uncomfortable “breaking into” a group conversation.

But here’s a little secret you may not know

PEOPLE COME TO THESE EVENTS TO MEET PEOPLE

They WANT you to engage in a conversation with them – that is their sole purpose for being there.  To tell you their story, to make you a part of their circle of influence, to help you, to be helped.

Those “moving targets” are prime candidates to stop, say hello, and make a new friend.  My new large group networking strategy is to stand near the door and as people walk by to stick out my hand, smile, and make a new friend or twelve.  Maybe next time I’ll bring funnel cakes.