Who, what, when, where and why to network
By: James Chee
Tags: Professional, LinkedIn, Events, Effective, Networking

If you have ever been to a professional event, you may have noticed that every program handed out has a time slot following the last presentation designated for networking. Is networking really that important in these situations? Usually, people just want to go home or get a bite and a drink after listening to people and panels talk and discuss the trends and challenges facing someone at a particular time. Whether or not this is an interesting topic, does this really at all incentivise individuals to further engage with speakers and other attendees? No, but aspiring professionals should still do it.

Whether you are a seasoned speaker or first-time attendee, the idea behind networking is to allow more people to have an awareness of what you are doing and looking for. In some instances, you will have people looking to promote themselves to potential employers, and on the other hand, you will find people that are looking to promote themselves to potential customers, either way, the purpose of the ‘networking session’ is to create a mutual value exchange between demand and supply.

In order to purposefully and effectively unlock the benefits of networking, individuals should approach the environment as if no one wants to talk to them or is looking to network. Although this may sound ridiculous and counter-intuitive to some readers, the reason why this is a sensible mindset to hold is that it means you do not hold yourself to any sales or contacts expectation. Instead of going in with the goal of signing up 20 customers, or looking to add 40 people on LinkedIn, it may be more professionally beneficial to go to these events just looking to learn something new, or get a feeling for whom you are competing against and working with.

However, for those of you who are definitely looking to network at professional events it makes perfect sense to analyse the situation in terms of ‘who, what, when, where, and why’. Who am I trying to networking with, What am I going to say in this mini-pitch, When is the best time to contact and interact with this person, Where can I reach this person if I don’t get the opportunity, and Why do I need to engage with this person; and bonus tip, knowing ‘how’ you are going to network with them is also mission critical. And a simple order of priority would be as follows:

Who Why How When What Where

For example, say you are an unemployed Accounting student and decided to attend a university-sponsored/promoted event on the ‘How accountings will need to respond to the impact of robotics and IOT’.

The Who:

You know that there will be 3 guest speakers — one from the one of the Big 4 accounting firms, one from the faculty of business/commerce/accounting, and one from a technology startup specialising in accounting software — if you could pick one to talk with face to face who would it be?

The Why:

If you are looking to network for a job, the speaker from the Big 4 accounting firm would be your first choice because the cause-and-effect relationship of networking for a job is very real.

If you are looking to excel in your studies, the speaker from the faculty of business/commerce/accounting would be helpful as this will give insight into some of the expectations they have of students to be aware of.

If you are looking to follow the progress of emerging accounting software (in the hope of a job), the speaker from the technology startup would prove very promising.

The How:

After deciding whom you want to speak to, and also realising you want to speak to the others too, this decision comes down to accessibility. Is the speaker easily accessible to contact? Does the speaker have an online/digital presence (professional)? Are there a lot of people speaking to your chosen speaker? Unlike face-to-face contact, phone communication and emails, using networking platforms such as LinkedIn and their Facebook business page allow the speaker to instantly remember and communicate with their audience. The growing digital presence of business and developments in instant messaging through mobile networks means that these speakers are always available to chat and engage with as a simple push-notification on their phone will take them straight to your message, unlike a fleeting conversation.

The When:

Now, in five minutes, after I get something to eat? These are all important factors to take into consideration as you either want to be the first person for them to speak with or the last. (The middle can get very muddled very quickly).

The What:

What will you talk about? To a potential employer, you may discuss how what you’re studying in your course is very much relevant to the topic presented, and how that understanding may help to do a job. To a member of the business/commerce/accounting faculty, you may want to reflect and discuss how a recent assignment or subject you are studying is helping you gain a better understanding of the marketplace. To a startup business, you may express your interest or inquire further into how the software or idea came into existence.

The Where:

Is it better to conduct this mini-pitch in person or digitally? In most cases, in person is the easiest method of communication as it is direct and timely, and this is most appropriate in the location that the speaker presented (don’t follow them to their car and then decide to speak with them). However, as mentioned in The How section, arranging a virtual meeting or communicating via LinkedIn is now also growing in popularity.

Hence, networking writes its own cheat codes — you can skip queues, access different professional services, and even get a little wiser by listening to what other people have to say. However, unbeknownst to most attendees is that networking requires a value exchange and in order for your networking to work as well as you hope you need to have something to ‘sell’ rather than just going in to scrape ideas.