Episode 97: Three Tips for Nailing Your Next Networking Event
Do you get nervous when you see the word “networking?” When you walk into a room or click into a zoom to network, do you automatically tense up?
Do you envy others who walk into rooms with ease, and make networking look like a walk in the park? (Spoiler alert: this takes practice and intention.) Hit play, because got three tips to help you nail your next networking event and make networking “WORK” for you.
Let’s get to improvin’ it!
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Connect with Erin Diehl:
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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Episode 97 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Are you a leader or change maker inside of your business organization or corporation? Are you looking for new, innovative ways to drive morale through the roof? Are you looking for fun and exciting icebreakers team building exercises and activities that will foster team growth, friendships, loyalty, and completely transform your organization from the inside out. Have you been searching for a fun and unique way to create change instead of the same old, dry, boring leadership books and nice breakers that aren't actually working? Hi, I'm Erin Diehl, business improv, entertainer failfluencer, and professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve it. My mission in life is to help you develop teams and leaders through play improv and experiential learning. In this podcast, we will deep dive into professional development team building effective communication, networking, presentation, skills, leadership training, how to think more quickly on your feet and everything in between. We have helped everyone from fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop shops transform their business, their leadership, and their people through play. So grab your chicken hat. We are about to have some fun, welcome to improve it! The podcast.
Erin (01:35):
Improve it! Fam, are you ready for today's show wherever you are. If you're getting ready for, if you're on your way to work. If you're taking a little jog or walk in the middle of the Workday or before you get started, just know I'm so happy that you press play on today's show. Today's episode is going to give you some tangible tips and actually networking is now one of my favorite things to talk about. Let me be real real. Let's keep it real deal. That is my Instagram handle. Networking used to be the thing that I hated the most. And I'm sure when you saw the title of today's show, if you're a person who was like me, hated networking, you thought to yourself, all right, let me press play so I can hear these tips to better myself. Let me tell you this. I was negative Nancy networker.
Erin (02:34):
When I first started networking, I went straight from the recruiting job I had with Jen D Angelo, who was my former boss, who was episode 93 of this show, if you haven't listened to it into well, so I went into recruiting, not having any networking experience and my entire job at that recruiting firm was networking. I had to learn very quickly to like it and to make it special and to find tips and tricks that would work for me. So today's show is going to be three tips that when I sat down and thought about the episode, I thought, what can I tell the improve it! Family that will help the person who hates networking the most? How can I make network work, Inc. You see what I did there work, work for you because it does take some effort and it takes almost like anything.
Erin (03:33):
It's building a muscle. It takes repetition to become good and to make it seem natural. So again, I was negative Nancy networker. I hated it. But one of the things that I really pride myself on are finding tips and tricks. They're gonna help me be the best professional that I am. So I know today's episode is gonna help you. And again, I would walk into these rooms of people and I would really get sick to my stomach. I would think, oh my gosh, I have to go hand out my business card, have fake conversations, have a drink or two, and then leave. And that's what networking. When I first started doing it meant to me, it was very transactional. I did not find any value in it other than I'm showing up to this networking event because it is part of my job. I literally almost talked myself out of going to every networking event.
Erin (04:29):
And now networking is not only in person. We're slowly seeing a lot more networking events, return networking is held virtually. So there's so many factors that go into making networking, feel less like a chore and more like something that is going to bring you so much value. Now I'm telling you this, this story before I jump into the tips, because I think it's important. Remember what I said about negative Nancy networker, right? I hated it. I loathed it. Eventually. I got to a point where I realized that networking was something that could not only professionally benefit me. It could help me personally. And I have gone to, I don't even know at this point, I'm gonna say a thousand networking events. And I don't think that's an exaggeration because I spent seven years just straight networking and then with improve, it I've been to so many events.
Erin (05:33):
Maybe you were speaking at them, maybe you were a part of the conference, or maybe I'm just going for my own development, right? That networking has been something that is just common to me on, on the day to day. So through this journey, I started to really hone in on what it is that made me feel good when I was networking. And these are the tips I'm gonna give you today. I'm making you sit on the edge of your seat, but I want you to know the outcome because of networking. I have developed so many wonderful friendships. There's a group of women out of Chicago that actually all were products of different networking events, who are all, either leaders of their own teams, business owners, women who were super career driven that I met and brought together in Chicago. And we formed a little group called we eat, and that's the French version of we so OHI and we love to eat.
Erin (06:33):
We loved great food, big foody group. And so we said, let's do an of our own little version of networking and let's get together every couple of months, pick a nice restaurant and go and just talk about what life is like continuing to build our career. And honestly, from that friendship, I mean, these women were at my baby shower. They heard me talk about so many things and my business that they helped me with. And we continue to have great relationships to this day because of networking. I have a now cohort of women from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program that I consider some of my best friends and we help each other. We're all business owners. We meet every Monday learning and we support each other in whatever way we can. Literally this show is a product of one of the things.
Erin (07:25):
My dear friend, Catherine, who was also on this show taught me. There's an app called Otter where you can voice to text and it transcribes everything that you say. And I went on a walk today and I trans this show. But for, I am now talking to you to get my thoughts out, to make sure I was giving you the best tips. I know Catherine, because I was networking with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program in Chicago. It all comes full circle. So when you can take the tips that I'm gonna give you today, and you can apply them to who your professional life, I promise you, they will not only benefit your career. They are gonna benefit you personally, I've gained so much from networking. A dear friend of mine know Brian, who was also a guest on this show. We met through a friend who was a part of another association I was networking with and his wife became one of my I dearest friends.
Erin (08:21):
And he became really good friends with my husband. And we've got this great friendship and we share best practices. He also has a podcast people business, if you haven't listened to it. And we talk about things that go on on our podcast and how we can better help each other grow our shows and how we can really enhance the experience for our audience. Again, all of these things happen because of networking. And if you're listening in, you're a negative Nate or negative Nancy, when it comes to networking today, I'm gonna give you these three tips and I want you to immediately apply them. I want you to put 'em into practice, and I want you to think about not only the benefit of that moment when you're networking, but the benefit and the impact it's going to make on your life. So let me just stop giving you all these stories. Let me give you the facts. All right, here are the three tips that are gonna help you network like a pro number one, let's set the stage first and foremost, you're about to walk into a room or a zoom. You're nervous. Again, if it's it's 2022, so it could be on zoom. Your anxiety is building. Your armpits are sweaty and you think to yourself, oh my gosh, I'm gonna walk in this room and everybody's gonna be looking directly at me.
Erin (09:41):
That is the feeling that I used to feel constantly. I'm walking in this room and I am literally going to be laughed at, and I like people to laugh with me, not at me. Right? So number one, plan ahead. This is gonna ease this anxiety. So we're gonna get to what I just mentioned in a minute where you think all eyes are on you. We're gonna talk about that. But the first tip before you walk into a room or a zoom to network is check out the attendee list. Before most networking events have a guest list and you can go and you can see who else is going to be there. Now let's say, you're going to network. You always have some sort of plan, right? I'm going to network to have some connections to help grow my business. I'm going to network to help find somebody who can help me land another job.
Erin (10:41):
I'm going to network because I'm hiring people and I wanna see what the, the best talent probably develops themselves. Let me go out and see who's networking right now. So I can see and find those people and have conversations in person, almost like an in person interview they don't even know about. Right? So planning ahead will allow you to know who is in the room or who is in the zoom, and it will allow you to create a game plan. All right, now, you all, you'll never walk into a meeting without some sort of agenda. You'll never plan your day without some sort of schedule. Why is it any different for right? We always go with something in mind. So plan ahead, know who it is you wanna talk to, and maybe it's a speaker. Maybe it's a person on a panel, and you've always wanted to introduce yourself to that person.
Erin (11:32):
That is your plan, but set that plan. And what I want you to do is put the plan in a space where you can see it. When you get to the networking event, here's a trick, a pro tip. I used to text myself who I wanted to talk to, and I would put their three names in a text message so that if, and if we're gonna talk about this in just a moment, I opened my phone and I saw I had a text message. Those three names would be staring at me in the face. Those are the three people I wanna talk to planning ahead, allows you to have a purpose and a purpose allows networking to have purpose in your life and in the moment. All right. So planning ahead. That's number one, number two, go with a goal in mind. All right. So you've planned ahead.
Erin (12:31):
You now have your three people that you chat with. What is the goal of those three people? How do you wanna connect with those three people? Maybe it's you wanna ask them for their email so you can have a follow up conversation, maybe. So it's like when you have a conversation, what's the outcome. What's the, the call to action. What's the next step you've planned ahead. You know who you wanna talk to? What's the goal, right? These three people I'm gonna talk to are going to help introduce me to somebody else to land a job. These three people I'm going to talk to are vendors who can help support my team. These three people I'm going to talk to are going to help me further my professional development. So having that clear and dis and very specific goal in mind before you walk in is so crucial because otherwise you're just walking in a room full of people and a mostly walking around, trying to see who's near the guacamole to fill the time. Number one, plan ahead. Number two, make sure you have that goal in mind,
Erin (13:48):
Improve it! Fam are you feeling stagnant at work? Are you frustrated by the lack of connection and the shortage of pre creativity when it comes to working in this hybrid world? If this sounds like you then join us for a live preview of our interactive improv based programs, including a sample of our laugh break, a sneak peek into our pre-work launched earlier this year. And spoiler L it's pretty funny and a brief breakdown of our effective communication workshop. Now we'll show you in one hour, the full improved experience. So you can communicate, inspire and motivate your team. Moving forward. Join us on Tuesday, March 29th from 1230 to 1:30 PM eastern for our live showcase to sign up is in the show notes. Come try out the improved experience and see how our work can improve your team's hybrid world.
Erin (14:51):
Now, number three, this is where I wanna spend the most time with you be present. Your presence is a gift before you walk in the room. I know I told you to have your phone, the little tip of having the people that you wanna talk to you on your phone or having that next to your desk. If you're on zoom on a post it note, I want you to, for you even step in the room or click on the zoom to put your phones away and be fully invested in the moment. So if you're walking physically into a room, your phone is away. You are not thinking about what you're gonna do after you are literally in the moment. If you're on zoom, you have all other tabs closed, and you've got your posted note next to you of who you wanna talk to, and you are focused.
Erin (15:45):
And in that zoom, because what you're doing by, by a being present is thinking about how, how you can build trust with the other person in a short period of time and have an engaging conversation that leaves a lasting impact. You know, that person that makes you feel like you're the only person in the room. You know, that person think about 'em. Now that person comes to mind and you're like, gosh, when I talk to that person and I can just feel like I'm all that matters in that moment. That's what people on the receiving ends of your conversation want to hear and feel because that's what makes them want to talk to you again and feel that relationship. It's not about what you say. So just to caveat all of this, we have a very specific workshop at improve. It. It is called networking and it helps you network in person or virtually.
Erin (16:47):
And one of the things we talk about in this workshop is the power of an elevator pitch. And I don't wanna discount elevator pitches. They are so important. You wanna share about yourself. You wanna give interesting facts and we do a whole section on creating elevator pitches that are interesting, not only for you, but for the person on the receiving end, but you wanna make sure the things that you are saying and the presence that you are conveying to the other person is make them feel seen and heard. That is a constant theme, making others feel seen and heard. So when I told you about the very beginning of this show, walking into a room and feeling like all eyes are on you. And literally like you walk in a room, your armpits automatically go sweaty. You have to wear sleep less stress just because you're so, so sweaty. So perspiring, I want you to think about this activity that we do and improve it. Okay? And this is the beginning of our networking workshop. We have participants form two parallel lines and they're facing each other and these lines, okay. And they're six feet apart, CDC guidelines. But while they're in those two lines, we place a timer on one and they have to stare at themselves for one full minute.
Erin (18:17):
This is true after that full minute. And we say, you can't talk, you can't laugh. You can't giggle. They're able to relax. And then we give them a task in that next minute, we put other minute timer on the clock and they're supposed to count something. That's in the room. Okay. In that minute, that second minute, where they have a task, they're still facing each other. However, it significantly changes the outcome. They are focused on the task or they're present to the task rather than feeling like in that first round. Oh my gosh, all eyes are on me. I'm embarrassed. I can't believe I came here by myself. What's everybody else doing? I'm staring at somebody straight in their eyeballs. This feels weird for me. The purpose is giving them a task that makes them feel present in the room. When you are present and in the room, you are focused on number one, you're focused on the fact that you are there and you have a plan you've planned ahead.
Erin (19:26):
You're focused on tip number two, a goal. And you are so present in that moment that the person that is on the receiving end feels like you are giving him the gift of your time, the gift of your time. Think about that. Think about that. I want you to think about these three tips and up apply them to the next event that you have, whether it's in person, whether it's over zoom. And I want you to take away one thing from today's show that you're going to automatically apply automatically apply. Whether it's finding that guest list. And guess what? If you can't it on a website, you can always email the event coordinator. And most of the time they will send you a guest list. It may not include email addresses, which is kind of a big deal to give out. It will include the name and probably the association or organization that they're from that goal that you have needs to be.
Erin (20:38):
So CR still clear and specific that when you're present in the moment you are making that goal happen, but in an authentic and genuine way, those three things are going to help you network like a pro in the spaces that you are networking in. The magic then happens after the networking experience, the follow up is huge. How can you yourself stand out from other people? Here's just a few tips I wanna take. I wanna give to you to take and apply as necessary. You can write a handwritten note. The power of a handwritten note these days is so impactful. I love getting snail mail, who doesn't love snail mail. You can say in an email to them, I said, I was school to connect you with X, Y, and Z. Here is that introduction. You can just follow up and connect with them on LinkedIn and say, Hey, it was fantastic to meet you or send them even better yet a voice note on LinkedIn.
Erin (21:41):
So they can hear your tone and hear your voice and remind them of that great experience that you just had networking follow up and following through, build trust. Who do people wanna buy from people they trust and who do people wanna work with? And for people they trust. So trust me, when I tell you that these three things made me so much better at networking, they made me wanna walk through those doors. Find the people that I was there to meet, or to see or say hi to again, achieve the goal that I was there to do. And then, you know what? Selfishly being present to those people was actually a bigger gift to myself because I learned so much from these people. You can learn so much from asking questions and being curious, and you never know where those connections are gonna take you, even if you think in that moment that you don't need or want anything from that person right now, you never know where that connection and down the road can lead to.
Erin (22:53):
Now, when I network, I do these three things time and time again, I show up with a plan, a goal, and I make my presence a present. And that's what I want you to do. I want you to just take these, apply them and see how it makes you feel as when you put good energy out into the world. It's like a magnet. It attracts good energy back and what you put out youll receive back. So by even putting that good energy out, you're gonna receive something good back. It could be a connection. It could be a job interview. It, it could be literally the person that you hire next. And remember this, most people get jobs by knowing somebody along the way. And I have never in my life gotten a job without knowing somebody. I actually thought about that. I literally have never not gotten a job because every job that I've had has had some connection to a person that's worked there.
Erin (23:54):
I've known or worked for it before. So my amazing, fantastic improve it family. I wanna take this time to thank you for the gift of your presence for showing up for you today. I always say this, but get your hybrid hype. Download soon. Get it soon because we are gonna do a new fun downloadable freebie for you and the upcoming months and hybrid hype will not be here. So check out the hybrid hype link in the show notes. If you want more tips and tricks on how to lead your team in this hybrid world and just know that I am thinking of you, I am rooting for you and you can net work like a pro. If you apply these three fundamentals and they are fundamentals. I okay. All right. You know the deal, keep failing, keep improving because the world needs that special.
Erin (24:55):
It that only you can bring, and I can't wait for you to bring it to your next networking endeavor. You got this. Bye. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to improve it. I am so happy you were along for the ride. If you enjoyed this show, head on over to iTunes to leave us a five star review and subscribe to this show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show and you've improved it, you even just a little bit, please take a screenshot and tag me at keeping it real deal on Instagram and share it in your stories. I'll see you next week, but I wanna leave you with this thought, what did you improve today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I am rooting for you and the world needs that special. It that only you can bring see you next time.