How to network like a superstar

Following on from my post about learning what other people do, I thought it would be a good idea to give some guidance about networking, starting with how to network like a superstar. 

I am a big advocate for networking, even if I think that the word for it sucks. Conversely, I don't think that walking into a room full of people with a glass of wine in your hand is a great way to do it.

How to network: tips for beginners

So let's throw out the idea that networking is painful, horrible and means you have to throw your personal preferences out the window to do it. If you like to walk into a room full of people and start a conversation with the 1st stranger you come across, you can still read on as you may learn something that may help. For the rest of you, hopefully something will resonate with you.

Firstly, the most important thing with networking is that you are comfortable and doing it in a way you can enjoy. I personally like to get to know people 1:1 and over a coffee. Using the learning what people do blog as a basis, the best way to get to know interesting people 1:1 is by asking someone you know to introduce you to someone that they think may be interesting. If this is the way you want to go, write a little paragraph about yourself and share it with those that have offered the introductions. This makes their life easier and describes you in a way you want to be described.

Taking one step on from this, you could just reach out to people you find interesting and ask them, but I feel this approach is not as successful. It means you need to research the person in order to make your opening invite compelling for them. If you do a search about this, you will find plenty of articles on the best way to do this (mostly LinkedIn) so I won't repeat the advice here as that is not my area of expertise.

Networking at events

If you like the idea of meeting a few people together or don't have the time to meet lots of people over coffee, then an event is probably your next step. It is very hard to find an event that may be suitable. There are so many to choose from, how do you know if it would be a good use of your time? My advice here is to ask your friends or colleagues for recommendations or choose something that you are really excited about and search for events around that topic. Once you have tried 1 or 2 events about topics you are passionate about, it will make it easier to start going to events where you may not know anything, but want to find out more.

Terrified of networking..?

If you are scared to say hello to strangers, you can offer your help to an event organiser. If you are standing at the door or handing out drinks, you will have to meet most people attending!

Another tip I have is to get there early. If you are the only person in the room apart from the organisers, you will meet them and they will likely introduce you to the next person turning up. If they can't, the next person arriving will feel a little out of place too, so you will have something to talk about after you introduce yourself.

There are many different things you can do to help yourself feel more comfortable when meeting new people. I would be happy to answer questions on it, just get in touch! 

Find out more about our guest blogger Ghilaine Chan

Ghilaine is passionate about allowing people to do their best work and delight others

Ghilaine helps people to operate fast growing businesses in a productive and streamlined way, keeping an eye on time and money, whilst increasing motivation and improving customer relationships in a fast paced, changing environment. She brings order to chaos and creates scalable processes around the business, empowering them to delight their customers.

She works with tech based or enabled companies who are looking to disrupt their industries, but know that people are at the centre of their success and helping them manage their teams to: 

• Do their best work and delighting others
• Create some boundaries, but not cages
• Know they are acting for a purpose
• Determine which part they play, that what they receive enables them and what they produce is useful
• Have autonomy over how and when they produce

She has over 15 years' experience in scaling international business functions for technology companies, within their support and consultancy organisations.

Ghilaine is a graduate of London College of Fashion (now part of University of the Arts: London) with a degree in Product Development. She is a Mentor with Microsoft Ventures,UpRising and Outbox Incubator as well as an Approved Business Coach with Growth Accelerator, now part of Business Growth Services. 

Want to know more? Connect with Ghilaine on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter and visit her website, Ghilaine & Co.