When Networking Isn’t A Dirty Word
September 11, 2008 – 10:52 pm | by Daryl TayLast week I was explaining to Eric the concept of Social Media Breakfast | Singapore. And I made the mistake of saying one of the perks was “networking”. To put things in perspective, coming from a business school that does nothing but try to set up the business world equivalent of blind dates, “networking” is sort of a dirty word in our circle.
I think the big problem is the way the school packages these “networking” sessions and teaches us about networking. They put it in such a way that it should be beneficial, you should come with an agenda, you should plant seeds that are meant to be reaped later. But that’s such a turnoff to us.
To switch explanations, I gave Eric the “gamer” analogy (we’re both pretty avid gamers): Imagine going to a gaming conference and meeting many, many other people who are into the latest games, talking about that secret combination that gets you to the hidden level, or talking about the next coolest game to be released.
In a lot of ways I think events like Social Media Breakfast | Singapore, and the other plethora of social media events do serve the “networking” function, but most of the time I don’t think of it in that context. It’s people coming together with passion to talk about, geek out over and share their love and experiences with social media. Networking just becomes increasing your social circle of people interested in the same niche, and if personal experience is anything to go by, there’s seldom the element of going into it with an agenda and getting something back in the future.
I don’t know if your experiences with networking are different from ours, but I would love to hear it or any other networking analogies that work!
Tags: dirty work, networking, school networking, smb, social media breakfast singapore
3 Responses to “When Networking Isn’t A Dirty Word”
By Michael on Sep 11, 2008 | Reply
I always think of Bob Cialdini. When you walk into a crowded room you should not ask yourself who here can benefit me….but instead ask yourself who in this room can I genuinely promote the business prospects of?
A much better approach.
I like how you have picked up the Mitch-style ending to your posts. Nice.
By Daryl Tay on Sep 12, 2008 | Reply
@Michael: I remember that! Thanks for bringing it up. It’s been so long I’d forgotten. Thanks for the mention on the ending! While I’m not consciously trying to emulate Mitch’s style of writing, I do like the way he ends posts. I read a few blogs that always end with “What do you think?”, which I personally feel is a lazy way to invite blog readers to comment. It’s way too easy to type “What do you think” rather than formulate a sentence with the subject in context.