As I mentioned in a few posts, including this one, I've been slowly trying to get back to the market by striving for different networking approaches. I've recently been to a huge eComm fair/ congress hosted and fully executed by one the largest players in the Americas. I attended with my uncle and sister and met up with a former company friend who spent the fair with us.
My main goal there was to meet as many companies and people as I could, get to know their job openings and hopefully get a referral right then and there. Possibly, too high of a target, but I'll get to that.
So what did networking mean to me before going to this fair? It firstly meant that I should be the absolute best with people, have killer negotiation skills, and be able to convince anyone that I was exactly what they were looking for. Again, too high of a target, right? It made me nervous to even approach a stand.
If you've read some of the previous posts, you'll know that the last 5 months or so have been changing my perspectives on a lot of things, some of which are related to what I thought I should be, do, and present myself as. Those crazy high standards for networking are the newest addition to that bunch. It is virtually impossible to achieve this level of people mastery and I certainly didn't come even close to reaching this goal.
Mid-fair, I decided to change my approach to something that felt more natural to me. Instead, I decided to listen more, exchange stories with people, and check out what seemed most interesting to me. I've always been a cosmetics and fashion enthusiast, so I naturally visited all the cosmetic eComm company stands, talked about some of their new launches, and attended lectures focused on the role of women in corporate leadership, female entrepreneurship, and diversity in the eComm industry while trying to absorb as much as I could. I even got to watch an interview with Gisele Bundchen, where she talked about all the challenges she faced in her career, her mindset, how she managed to stay true to her values and later on in life, make a difference in the subject the mattered the most to her which is sustainability.
The thing I realized I did the most was to be as present as I could be. To have fun while meeting people, to absorb all that knowledge and wisdom, to actually listen, and to make myself feel comfortable opening up. I made a ton of connections there and got to know amazing companies that might not have job openings right now but that I genuinely want to know more about.
So what does networking mean to me now? I guess it means to be curious about the industry you're in, to get yourself out there, to be shameless about your experience and what you can bring to the table, and to keep in touch with people you had a connection with. That can happen through commenting on their posts on Linkedin or Insta, talking to the people you know in the industry, going out for coffee, sending an email to a lecture host you thought had clever remarks and commenting on them, etc...
After the fair, I had a wave of emails and call scheduling. I resurfaced some old contacts and simply told them I'd been to this fair and some lectures reminded me of them. I managed to schedule 1 or 2 interviews and got to meet and take a picture with one influencer I followed ever since I was 15 that now owns one the biggest makeup companies in my country. And in the midst of all that, I managed to have so much fun.
Not all fairs are going to go that way, some might bring great connections but poor content, or the opposite. My uncle, for example, had more strategic targets. He had future clients to talk to, niche companies to know, and other interests in the technical lectures.
My point here is to know your goals when attending such events and keep them realistic. You are not gonna able to impress everyone you meet as companies also have their sales goals being there. Get to know the content of the event beforehand. Know the dates and times of the interviews, lectures and discussions you want to attend. Register what you learn and connect with the people you met immediately after.
Now let's chat in the comments about how you behave in these types of events. What do you like and dislike the most? How many fairs have you been to?
X.O.
IAS
Comments