17 Networking Tips for People Who Don't Network

markd.co - save people you ﬁnd online, instantly with one button
17
17 Networking Tips for People Who Don’t Network

I am not a natural sales person. On a shy to out-
going scale, I am pretty much right in the middle. I
get energy talking to people, but often prefer time
for myself.
Which makes the tasks of networking a rather
interesting one. It’s something I had to learn to do
for my business development activities at Sony and
at my previous company where I was meeting
potential clients through in-person networking.
Here’s a list of networking tips I’ve learned in the
last decade that had worked for me as someone for
whom networking does not come natural. (These
are in no particular order)
(Find me on Twitter @theBrandonWu)

You don’t have to talk to a
massive number of people
‣ Do what feels right to you. Push yourself a little bit but
don’t force yourself so much that you get burnt out /
anxious.

Talk to any one available,
when you need to warm up
‣ Sometimes the ﬁrst step is the hardest. So give yourself
some time to warm up your networking muscles. Start
with someone who’s available - they don’t even have to
be part of the event/conference. This could be the
photographer at events, the one person at a booth that no
one is talking to…etc. Get your vocal cords working and
it’ll start to get easier. Particularly with service people who
often seem a bit bored.

Be curious, ask questions.
‣ It’s easier to come up with questions than to come up
with things to say. Just make sure you stay genuinely
interested.

Don’t sell people what your
are selling
‣ Networking is not sales. I know we all have our goals in
mind - what we want to get out of going to a conference.
But it’s a huge turn off when people start to sell before
getting to know each other. I take a long-term view to
networking - build relationships and just let people know
what you are doing from time to time. (Unless if it’s a
speed-dating type of thing, for example a flash pitch
where you are talking to different investors every 5
minutes. Then pitch!)

Don’t worry about talking to
the “right” people
‣ You never know who might turn out to be the right
person. At GDC one year, I was taking a break from
“networking” and walked up to a designer manning a
card-game table. A few rounds of the games later, we
exchanged contact information. I wasn’t pitching and
simply enjoyed the chat and the game. About a year later,
he became a client with two great projects for us to work
on!

If you have trouble approaching
people, let people approach you
‣ I started the Seattle Unity User Group years ago to make
new friends who are also into game development when I
ﬁrst moved to Seattle. What I came to realise is people
will know you as the organiser, and often come to you for
help or just to say hi. All I had to do is to show up.
(Obviously there’s a ton of other things you have to do to
host monthly events, but that’s a separate subject :) )

‣ You don’t necessarily have to start a new group. You can
also help out existing groups and create natural
opportunities to network.

Let people in
‣ If you are talking to people in a group, and notice another
person coming by and trying to join in, open up some
space for them and create eye contact - they are trying to
join the conversation and network, let’s make life easier
for them.

Join a conversation
‣ This one is a bit of a hit and miss and mirrors the one above.
I try to ﬁnd a group that looks friendly to join in on the
conversation. Keep a smile, listen to what’s discussed, and
if one person is giving you eye contact, great! Eye contact
them back and smile! It doesn’t always work because you
don’t know what the group is about (maybe all from the
same company discussing something internal - leave if you
realise that), and you won’t know if they are open to new
comers or not. But no harm in trying.

‣ Do give it a few minutes before you give up though -
sometimes people just need to ﬁnish what they are
discussing before acknowledging you.

Leave a conversation
‣ You don’t want to keep talking to the same person for too
long. They might not know how to end the conversation
and you don’t want it to get awkward. Simply say good
talking to you, we’ll keep in touch (if you intend to), and
wish the other person a good event. If I don’t know how
to end a conversation, I’d tell people what I am planning
to do (I am going to grab a drink, I am going to see what
food they have available, I am going to check out those
booths, or simply, I’ll go mingle some more).

Believe in randomness
‣ Don’t worry about keeping scores. You are likely going to
be doing a lot of networking throughout your career. I
think the most important thing is to ﬁnd a style that works
for you instead of forcing it. It’s a marathon and your goal
is to get more and more comfortable talking to strangers
and building connections - a great skill to have, and not
one you need to rush.

Use activities
‣ If you struggle with talking to strangers who are all
standing around in circles talking among themselves, try a
more activity-based approach. It’s easier if you join an
activity to start talking to people who are also
participating in it. There are often demos at conferences
you can join in. Or, get into a queue for drinks and talk to
people in front or behind you in the queue. You can
always start the conversation with “This is a long queue
isn’t it” ;)

Before and after the event
‣ You can also connect with people on the commute to and
from the events. I’ve met people sitting next to me on the
airplane going to GDC. “Are you also going to GDC?” - an
easy conversation starter.

Self-awareness
‣ The most important thing for me is understanding my own
style and energy. I know what type of events work best for
me, and if I can manage myself to have enough energy, I
tend to have more success meeting more interesting
people.

Don’t overthink!
‣ I still do this and stay in my head too much. Just have fun,
and know that most people are in the same shoes, and
likely are talking to people they went with. They want to
network with you as much as you do with them!

Going as a group
‣ Let others join your conversation, and spread out to
diﬀerent corners of the space so you are not tempted to
keep talking among yourselves.

For my fellow non-native
English speakers
‣ If English isn’t your ﬁrst language, don’t worry about it.
Conﬁdence is more important than having perfect
grammar. A language is used to communicate and as
long as you can get your points across, don’t worry about
the details.

Alcohol
‣ Alcohol can potentially help ease your nerve, particularly
at evening events. However make sure you know what
amount works best for you, and what timing works best
for you. When to have alcohol is as important (if not more
so) than how much to have. Knowing when alcohol starts
working for you (when you are tipsy enough to do your
best work but not too drunk to be eﬀective) helps you
plan your usage.

My Next Networking
Challenge
‣ Networking used to be a scary word for me. It’s
something I was forced to do at business school, and
learned to tolerate and eventually to understand and
embrace. My next challenge is to continue growing my
network while being a parent with limited time for events -
perhaps I need to switch my focus to online groups and
communities? If anyone has any tips, please share!

Q&A

17 Networking Tips for People Who Don't Network

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Featured

Featured (20)

17 Networking Tips for People Who Don't Network