Good evening friends. Today was the day we have all be anxiously anticipating (well at least I was). Today we gave our presentations on our companies. But before we did that we had a guest speaker at Griffith College. Our speaker today was Rob Cullen and he talked to us today about networking. We have had a couple guest speakers talk to us this trip and Rob made it very interactive and fun with his presentation. He had a couple people come to the front to demonstrate how to insert yourself in a conversation when at a networking event. But I am getting ahead of myself. To start Rob wanted to get to know us and know who he was presenting to. I thought that was really nice of him as some guest speakers I have seen in the past just jump right in. After our introductions he started talking about the importance of networking and creating your self brand. A topic we learned from a speaker earlier last week. Rob said something very insightful he said “it’s not what you know, or who you know, it’s who knows you.” I took that very seriously and started reflecting for a second on who does know me? But I digress most of what Rob said today I will be applying when I go to networking events back home in Pittsburgh or even in the future with my employer.
I learned today that networking is very important in the business world. You have to get your name out there and with a good reputation as anyone could be your future employer. Some of the techniques that Rob talked about today included, having a nice firm handshake, making good eye contact when having a conversation, and building relationships with the people you meet at these networking events. I think all of those are a universal rule of thumb when it comes to networking yourself and building your network. However, Rob also talked about some techniques that are not as universal and are only really seen here in Ireland. One of which would be embracing informal networking, while he didn’t say that is Ireland specific, in America I don’t think it is really common to hangout with people you are networking with. Not to say that doesn’t happen at all in America, I just feel Ireland views hanging out at a pub or going to social gatherings with someone you are trying to build a professional relationship as a good practice when it is not very common in America. I still really enjoyed hearing that aspect of it, as I personally don’t see myself doing that specifically, hearing him talk about it made me compare Ireland and America and their business approaches.
Out of all the techniques mentioned today the two that I can see myself trying would be how to insert yourself in a conversation and introducing other people. As I mentioned Rob had a couple volunteers come to the front and display a private conversation and an open conversation and how to come up to an open conversation and join without closing the ‘circle’ and making it private. I have always been very timid when it comes to networking events, but hearing Rob mention this technique made me realize everyone is a little nervous starting a conversation with a stranger. It made me reflect how going into a networking event the point is to jump out of your comfort zone and engage with everyone around you. So this technique I can for sure see myself using in the future. The other technique is the introducing other people technique. Rob said that after you meet with one group (using the open conversation technique) to remember their names and turn around and join another group and introduce the people you just met and invite them to join creating a bigger open circle. I really like this technique as it shows you were interested in your earlier conversation and also makes it seem like you know a lot of people and you know what you are doing.
After our guest speaker we had about 2 hours to get lunch and prepare for our presentation. I walked to this cute little cafe right across the street from Griffith College. I got a yogurt parfait and it was actually really good, it was just want I needed to prepare myself for my presentation. I walked back to Griffith College where my group and I rehearsed our presentation before actually presenting. I felt good about it overall, I am happy we did it especially with 24 hours to complete it. Today was our second to last day so I really want to enjoy these last days in Ireland as I don’t know when i’ll be back.
