 Hi everyone, welcome. As Natalie's just said, I'm Tamsin, this is Peta. And what we're talking about tonight is networking and hopefully by the end of the evening you'll be feeling a little bit more comfortable about moving your comfort zone a little bit more towards where that magic happens. You'll be feeling a little bit more comfortable about the whole networking process. Now of course I was a bit mean in that even before you got in here we gave you a task, a little networking task and I'd like to just get an indication of hands through the little task I gave you as far as having that extra question there did anyone find a connection or hear about a resource or find out any information? A couple of nods, excellent, that was the point of it and that's also actually that highlights that whole value of networking. I guess without further ado I'll move on to the topics that we're covering tonight. So we're going to be talking about networking and why do it. A bit about your network and how to establish who is in it and how to develop it. About how to make a good impression and also some networking tips and some strategies. Please do ask questions as we go along. We're both quite happy to interrupt what we're talking about and answer those questions so you don't have to save them all to the end. So what is networking? Would anyone like to shout out what they think networking is? You can do it. Okay. So that's an interesting and very, very sort of slightly freaky way of defining networking. Any other sort of thoughts on networking and how to define it? Absolutely. I couldn't have actually put it any better myself. So yes, if I hadn't a bottle of wine I'd award you one of those as well. I've got a pre-baked one. I'm interacting with others to actually exchange information and develop those professional social contacts. But as you say, it's all about mutual benefit. It's a purposeful activity. So it's something that you actually do overtly. It can happen of a wide variety of settings. So it can be very informal or it can be very formal. It's also the whole point of networking is building those mutually beneficial relationships and developing those mutually beneficial relationships. So it really is incredibly important. In fact, I've read somewhere that it's a new critical competency for the changing world. That networking is going to be more and more important with the whole sort of advent of AI and those sorts of things. Networking is something that you're actually going to be able to utilise to develop yourself and develop your contacts and succeed. So why network? Well yet promoting your brand and actually building on your reputation. Helping you to access information that allows you to generate better ideas and also lets you communicate those better ideas to others. It helps you widen your whole circle of influence. But also it allows others to influence you and you can spark off that being influenced. And it also enables you to demonstrate how you can be of value. And that could be of value to that person or to their organisation. It could be of value to the community. So networking sort of works in a variety of different levels. There's also research that shows that those who network are more likely to get promoted, are more likely to have higher salaries and also have better job satisfaction. So it wins on every level, the whole networking process. I'm a bit of a Chia Bani for networking. I have got every job that I've ever got. I have got through networking. I've had to put in applications but there's always been a networking component. So if I seem a little bit of an evangelist it is because I am. One thing that's really important in the whole networking process too is to remember that you're not just networking with the person that you're talking to but the person that they talk to. In fact every single person that they know. So it's really important. And now I'm going to hand over to Peta who's going to talk about preparation and those sorts of activities. So before I sort of talk about the preparation we actually network and we don't realise we're networking. So some of us have this connotation that networking is using people. So using contacts to get something from them. But we just need to think about networking as you said before. It's mutually beneficial and we can do it when we don't realise we're doing it. So if you wanted to go to a dentist most of us don't just randomly choose a stranger to work on our teeth. Pain both financially and physically. You ask for a recommendation. And that's networking, that's using your contacts. But it's not in an active way and what I'm just going to talk about is actually actively networking. So with actively networking you need to actually think about your personal style and what type of networking suits you personally. And then you can also identify what you want to achieve. So in that case it was sort of like identifying a dentist. But you think about what you want to achieve and you might even have a systematic plan. Think about whether it's actually return on investment even. So if you're trying to decide whether to attend a particular event like one of our careers events thinking about the return on investment. And then researching as well. And then also being organised. Some people even love doing Excel spreadsheets and working out systematically and I'm sure there's some mathematical equation that some people might use. But active networking which most of us don't do but planning is a good idea. But personality and knowing what your personality is is really important. So the cartoon, I could be home on the internet right now. There's a few of us who will be thinking that way. The introvert in the room is giving this, that's me. So are you an extrovert, introvert? Are you socially awkward? Are you outgoing? Knowing that about yourself will really help you when it comes to sort of thinking about what sort of events work best for you. Are larger events really good for you? Or would you be better with a smaller, more intimate event? Would you be better off one to one? Would you be better off, if you like to play golf or tennis? Is that a better way for you to network? A lot of networking is done in the bar or the cafe. Time of day as well. Think about your energy levels. For some of us, the thought of going to a networking evening event is not such a pleasant thought. So maybe you'd be better off meeting someone for coffee or for breakfast or having morning events or lunchtime sort of networking. So think about when your energy levels are at their best. And it can vary. So you might just have had a really bad day. It's better not to go to that event than to go when you're feeling exhausted. You won't promote your brand very well. Then this does the event fit into your schedule. So once again, it's that evening. You might have commitments in the morning. You might have commitments at night. So you might have to sort of think about that time of day thing and that respect as well. And then what platform best suits you? So that person who could be at home on the internet, maybe their best platform is online rather than in person. So in person, online. So think about the platform that best for you. And it's usually a mix. So you've thought about your personal style and what suits you best. So then you can also think about your purpose. Purpose is particularly useful when it comes to the online side of things. So this is all sounding very strategic at the moment. That your purpose helps you identify where and how your network. It also helps you work out if something is worth the investment. But these are some ideas here about what your purpose might be. So it could be a new job. It could be getting the contact. It could be information. So think about the purpose of your networking. And also just remember though that it is about relationships. So networking, mutually beneficial relationships. So I am talking a lot about strategy and analysing. So it makes it seem cold and impersonal. But just remember that relationship's part and the dentist. So then it's actually categorising your contacts. Thinking about who you know. So we have an innermost circle. So that's our friends and our family. And then we've got an innermost circle which is the people that we work with. There's also an outer circle. So those are friends or people that we've sort of meant occasionally, very briefly. And then we have sort of like prospects. So people we've heard of that we would really like to meet for whatever reason. Then you've got the level of connectedness. So there are people who are called superconductors or superconnectors. So they seem to know everyone. And I'm sure we all, Sally is smiling. I'm sure we all know people think about sort of, you know, do they help a lot of people as well? So how connected are they? Do they help people? Are they superconnectors? And then when you go back to what I was saying before and you think about your purpose, different people will be helpful in different areas. So it's about relevance. So you think about your purpose? Okay, so how relevant is that particular person for this purpose? So you always think about relevance. Different people, different purpose. Sorry about all the words. We couldn't figure out how to make that shorter. And you will be getting these slides, by the way. So you've got your inner circle. So that's friends, family, colleagues. It's actually really easy to start with them. And I would suggest you do that. So start with sort of like the easy first. Tap into your sort of like networks, networks. It might be that they can introduce you to someone. They can introduce you to that sort of like outer circle and to the prospects. Especially if they're the superconnectors. So we've got that easy way of doing it. Tamsin's now going to talk more about the hard way. Oh no. Not so hard. Harder. Slightly harder. I've got a question for you. Do you think that more opportunities come from those close to you or more removed from you? So a show of hands. Who thinks that more opportunities will come from those who are close to us? So a few there. Who more removed? I think they know it was a trick question. Indeed. And yes, the majority of you are right there. Those who have weak ties, those who are more removed from you are actually likely to be more useful for you in this, and part of the reason for that is that the strong ties that you have with say a partner or with a family member often you're going to know the same people. And so that's why those weak ties can be much more effective. Now we're sort of thinking about that mapping your network with both your stronger ties and also your weaker ties is really useful. So as Peter said just before, start actually with those immediate contacts. Start with those who are closest to you. You could use your phone contact list. Just sort of getting out yourself and running through that. That's probably the majority of those strong ties are going to be in there. Think further out from that. Think of those who are still related to but not really close to you. So it could be church groups. It could be sporting groups. It could be professional associations. It could be extracurricular activities that you go to. The reading group. But though some of those might be strong ties as well from what I've heard about reading groups. And each contact from those immediate network and then the further network can then lead to further contacts. Now I don't know if you're into mind mapping. One way to actually map your networks is to use something like a mind map where at the core of the mind map you have what you're wanting and then you spring out from that. But for some people mind maps doesn't really work for them. So you might lock and you might find an app that works for you that actually helps you to map these things. Or Peter mentioned spreadsheet. Some of us love spreadsheets and that can be a really good way of mapping things out. I had a boss who had a file of business cards and so when he was working out his networks he'd get of related business cards and he'd spread them all over his desk. It was fascinating. I would never have known who all these people were that he met because he'd be firing out 20 or 30 at a time. But that was his way of establishing those networks and then he might contact one of those to see if he could get further contacts. Just a tip with business cards although we tend to not be using them so much now. But if you do get a card or a person or maybe something memorable about them so that their glasses or something that they said or that they've got three children or six cats and then when you email them you can make mention of their six cats. That way of remembering them might also help you as far as remembering what it was that you discussed at the time beyond those sorts of aspects of it as well. So where to network? Once you've mapped those contacts think about choosing where to network and remember what Peta said about your purpose because your purpose might actually influence where you choose to network quite a lot. So I'm going to start off with in-person and some tips for success in that. So in-person a lot of people think that networking is just events. It's sessions like this and yes it can be, it can be formal networking events but it can also be smaller meetings it can be professional interactions of a variety of sorts or it can be one-on-one meetings so thinking about networking not as just going and doing things in big groups or of all those sort of interactions that you might have with someone is important. Important that right at the start of the networking process that you do a little bit of prep that you actually prepare for the interaction this is not always going to be possible but really good if you can actually research the industry that they're in if you can research a little bit more about what their industry does because that is also going to help you as far as those conversations go. If you dry up you can think oh now I remember that the sector is having this issue so I could throw in a really good conversational gambit around that. Think about the event purpose because if you research that event purpose you're more likely to be able to recognise the sorts of people who might be at that event and therefore that can assist you in your preparation and think about questions that you might like to ask. Again the whole researching of the event can help you build up those questions because sometimes I'm sure we all have had this it's really hard when you put on the spot and there's that gap in the conversation to actually think of those questions. If you've got some pre-baked ones then you can just sort of haul those out of your kitai and think ah yes this is a good time to ask that question. During the networking really important that you think about the how the process and I'm going to talk quite a lot more about that but body language is a part of it being nice. Asking questions but not asking questions just for your satisfaction. Asking questions so you know how you can assist them and again when we talked about things being mutually beneficial being a two-way process that really do keep that in mind how can you benefit them how can they benefit you and in person afterwards how are you going to follow up how are you going to carry that network on because really a network conversation that's not carried on is an opportunity missed so it's really really important to think how you're going to further that network and that could be an email, it could be by a LinkedIn connection, you may have got on so well and you might have a business card that you might have exchanged business cards and you might organise to meet up for coffee so I really do think about how you're going to do that as well. Now one thing that people often worry about during the networking process is what am I going to say how am I going to join into a networking interaction again doing that homework seeing who the key people are who might be attending that event again it's not always possible but in this highly networked in the IT sort of way world it's often possible to get a lot of information about an event you may also be able to e-stalk them going through something like LinkedIn so what interests them may make that easier to join in during that networking activity. Don't forget that again I'm harping on about this I know that the whole mutually beneficial thing means that you actually listen to them rather than talking at them and it's a bit of a risk during networking particularly if you're nervous sometimes people get the verbal diarrhea and they just sort of talk at people so taking big deep breath and trying to draw that other person out trying to get as much information out of that person as possible it enables that connection it enables that that ability to work with them on a variety of different levels be inclusive don't hog listen to yourself so don't monopolise individuals bring other people into the conversation and that's also part of the whole giving back to the whole network is that if there's someone who obviously wants to join the conversation if you bring them in not only are you sort of helping helping the whole networking thing go on but you're actually also exhibiting to the other people in that group that you actually have good social skills that you care about others so it reflects well on you so it can work on a variety of different levels as I said before make sure that you think about things that you might need to use as far as small talk sometimes in a networking opportunity you may have a lot of stuff that you're going to talk about in a networking opportunity professional associations or an academic type networking opportunity could be that but you don't know whether that's going to be the case so thinking about things that you might say and I like this quote here as I drive to a party I try to come up with two or three things to talk about in case the conversation runs dry so it's something again that you can do beforehand but that other quote is really important too you don't have to golden rule is that you don't have to be brilliant just nice so during that networking interaction being nice to people will go a long way I've got a question for you all so that slide says how do I join in so you're in a networking event so like tonight you're in a group how do you leave the group what strategies do you have do you have a phrase that you might say oh I just got to go and talk to Tamsen or getting another drink getting another drink is quite a common one what else is that the most that's the one isn't it I think there's another one another snack another snack go to the loo got to go to the bathroom oh I've just seen someone right over the other side of the room so has anyone got anything other than those words interesting now we're all going to be keyed up for that aren't we so next time we're in a grove really okay so really important when you get in that group situation to actually to perform your best to convey the best messages and research says that more than 70% of peoples first impressions of you is based on what they see so I've got some images here so if you look at these images thinking about what they convey the gentleman on the left here what messages is that first impression conveying to you professionalism yeah confident anything else happy how about the one on the right more laid back so before you made a judgement as to whether they were going to deliver on a project or not you can't tell you think perhaps by the professional ways they're more likely to be reliable and be on time, on budget or the other little clues that go with professionalism and the other guy the other dresser could be equally the same but doesn't give that perception absolutely so it is important what you convey how you present yourself to the world in a whole variety of different ways doesn't that compare to being the one with a suit in no one else's room so good point well the ice house the ivory tower the accounting department as opposed to the marketing department so again if you were going to a particular networking event might you think about what your purpose was might you think about the other people at the event and might you think about be dressed before you go to that particular event so again it's about thinking about what's relevant what's applicable now I love the fact that some now this is the the University of Manchester they have actually created a formula for the perfect handshake and I had to print this out because there's no way I'd remember it so it involves eye contact verbal greeting which is a genuine smile not a fake one the fourth one is a full grip a dry hand a firm handshake the position of the hand equal between two parties strength medium vigor so not too crunchy not too soft temperature texture of the hand and then the duration and would anyone like to guess what the duration should be from this formula two to three seconds you're dead right there one is brief too long and five is too long so I do love the fact that an educational institution has worked that out for us but it is actually it is worth thinking about because again what you wear but also the way that you handle that first interaction one thing that some students ask of me is that a handshake is not appropriate in their culture and that's an important thing too so a perfect handshake for them would be no handshake in the way that I would recommend if that's the case is just to lean forward and say sorry I'm not appropriate for me to handshake and I've never seen anyone be offended by that I've had that happen to me a number of times and I've never been offended by it either so it's perfectly okay to do that if it's not appropriate next our good old friend body language so it's not just about the handshake think about how your body conveys and is it conveying what you want it to convey and that can be your body movements your face your arms it can be your voice your tone your modulation the pauses that you do interestingly only 7% of what you convey in an interaction is actually the spoken word and yes I went back to the chap who did the research on this is it an academically blind referee thing so it has actually been studies on this openness now looking at these photos who seems to be networking is it the photo on the left or the photo on the right which which one would you be more likely to want to join the alcoholic group the alcoholic group yeah me too so that's really important the alcohol sorry all because I've got a glass of wine before I haven't touched it I'm not touching it till afterwards but I did think about the nerves moving right along you'll also see that here just the way that she's standing with her hands like that but really doesn't convey that she's wanting to be talked to whereas apart from the alcohol here actually they're looking quite open the position of their bodies the position of their arms is actually welcoming people to approach do you think if you were in that particular situation and you were standing there like that I don't think that most people would feel quite so welcome quite so like coming up and talking to you in that situation so when you first go into our rooms scan the groups can you face me for a minute Tamsin so if Tamsin and I sort of like standing front on like this and sort of like seem intense in conversation you wouldn't go into that group we're still talking but we're more open like this that's the group that you could join and we would be very inclusive we'd be inclusive anyway but yeah so that can also be an indicator to people that you're welcoming other people coming along this is an interesting one and I'm going to get you to sort of come and personal space can be a really really major problem for some people you were saying? because I don't like people getting too close to me and so that would be too far but that would be too far so think about when you're approaching people think about their personal space think about how comfortable they're going to be one of the tricky things is that different people have really different personal spaces and I was at a networking opportunity a few weeks ago and I realised that I was going like this because this person was getting closer and then I got backed up against someone and I thought okay, I'm stuck but it can actually it started to distract me so it's a really throw me so that can be something that can muck you up a bit it's an individual thing but it's also very much a cultural thing as well so different cultures different distances for a situation like that if someone is getting too close what are the tips of actually I have turned side on to someone and Karen I'm talking to them side on to them so how does that work so they would sort of I was doing this and then I went like that you can't really move in any closer it would be a bit weird if you we've done that pretty much so think about the intimate space think about the personal space and then think about the social space it may differ it can be tricky but really do think and look at those cues that body language if that person is going back then it probably means that they're getting a little bit freaked out by how close you're getting so think ah okay, don't want to make them feel upset I'm going to adapt to this one of the tricky things though is that if it's really noisy then sometimes you feel that you need to get closer together to actually still be able to hear and that's where sometimes leaning in is a better way of doing it because you may sort of be more eagerly listening to them but you're not getting your whole body too close to them and it can be less disquieting eye contact really really important in helping you to establish connections because people are really quite sensitive to where you look and I think this is slightly amusing but I think it is fair business gaze into the eyes and the forehead social gaze more the full face and intimate gaze more of the body so think about that it can be quite interesting however because you don't want to stare into people's eyes and I've been on an interview panel where the person A didn't blink and B nailed me by the end of it I was like X-rays so that can to be slightly freaky but if there's too little there can actually be a lack of engagement so I think it's a balanced thing also consider in the networking that you want it again be inclusive so if you're just looking at one person in a group then you're actually kind of excluding the other people in the group so think about that in your networking opportunities as well they talk about eye contact also conveying presence and presence conveying power so that's something to think about as well is that through the eye contact you're actually showing that you're very present in the interaction also can show that you're paying attention and that whole thing around being connected relating to people terribly important next our whole building reporting I think that again this goes back to the mutual beneficial aspect of things if you want things to be mutually beneficial then you're actually going to have to build connections you're going to have to engage the other person and the way that you can do that is by building rapport and I'm hiking back to things I've talked about before but ways of building rapport is through eye contact is through openness is through the body position is through your whole body language it's also being overt about the fact that you're interested in what they're saying and I've read this thing that I think was fantastic be interested before being interesting and so thinking about what you're giving to the networking relationship before you think about what you're going to take from that networking relationship so I thought there's quite a good little thing to actually remind me anyway about the importance of listing as well as speaking in a networking situation Tamzin and I went to an event on Friday night and so we were having a nice pleasant conversation with someone but it was one of those ones where every so often there was a pause where you were all thinking what on earth are we going to say next and that came on for a while you know it was going on okay and then I was, we were in one of those pauses and it was oh he mentioned something about lawn bowls oh what club do you play bowls at so then he sort of like said and he said do you play and I said no but I know someone who did and then thankfully Tamzin's father plays bowls and carry carry and then his eyes lit up it was like a switch had gone on and it was fantastic for me because I could just stand back and Tamzin and him just went for it and all about carry carry in the environment and a pub came into it that Tamzin wanted to buy and it was a great conversation really interesting but it was just that one comment and that would have gone on for probably seven or eight minutes that conversation that came out of that single comment so it was, yeah and it was fascinating the whole place, the places we went but also how we then started to establish mutual friends and those sorts of things so out of that came a networking opportunity that I wasn't expecting when I went along to that event that night I have to say now this is an area that Peta has more knowledge of it's another place to it's another way to build rapport and that's matching and mirroring the expressions of others and and I remember you speaking at a session recently about doing a were you at an airport or something like that or a cafe and you were watching a group of people and how they all started to show the same gestures and reflect the fact that they were actually really engaged with people through that mirroring is actually a counselling technique so if a counsellor is trying to build rapport they will actually consciously mirror your movements so if you're sitting there in that case they've got their hands under their chin so a counsellor will deliberately just match your movements and you don't realise it but it makes you start to feel more comfortable but we do it naturally so if we're people that we feel comfortable with friends we just do it and it's actually fascinating to watch and so in cafes if I'm on my own I'll sort of like just start people watching and look at the different groups of people and see how many are actually doing this and just even when sort of like a group of friends are talking as well just watching them and slowly over time they'll start matching and mirroring it is really fun to watch but if you ever go and see a counsellor that's what they're doing and of course last but definitely not least oh yes I've heard a few goons across the room one way of engaging yourself with other people is actually to remember their names now I should not be talking about this because I am the world's worst person as far as remembering names I know the tools, I use the tools I'm still completely and utterly useless but I'll tell you about those tools because it really does help in that whole rapport building process one of them of course is when the person says their name is to repeat their name and then use their name a few more times in the interaction hopefully that will cement it into your brain there's the word association aspect of things so it could be that you associate their name with a particular thing so it could be if their name is gate house so when I'm thinking of that person I think of a gate and you visualise the gate and then you visualise a house so you could do that sort of word association another way is word association but thinking about I was at this event and I was talking about such and such and I met Joe and so you work through it that way and there's a pathway to remembering that so another way and it's particularly important if the person's name is a tricky one I never thought of my name as being particularly tricky, Tamsin but a lot of people either miss hear it as Tasman yes I'm a very engaged see yes but also it's just a bit of an unusual name so one way that people can actually use that to help remember is actually by thinking okay Tamsin she said her name wasn't Tasman so if I see her again her name's not Tasman it's Tamsin so clarifying unusual names can be helpful as well so those are all techniques that you could utilise or you could just be like me and be really embarrassed and say look sorry I've forgotten your name or or bluff it and sometimes you can do that too but remembering names is another way of building rapport even sort of like name tags are tricky things because you've got to be careful about where your gaze is of course but if you can just have a quick look at the name tag and actually use the name makes a difference and it's something that you can practice at a supermarket but operators have name tags so then you can actually practice surreptitiously looking and then actually using the name and it's interesting how their face often lights up when you actually do use their name yep I don't know what is this or right or wrong but when I forgot the name I tend to I just made half one I thought that would be better than saying that sorry I've lost my name again or is that right at least at least I wouldn't say they call me something else but he is still better than not remembering my name right away but he just missed me so what do you all think about that who would rather be called by the wrong name or would you rather they just said sorry I've forgotten your name another way to save yourself if you really have forgotten their name is to have a context establishing conversation great to see you again when did we last see each other okay that gives me a clue what have you been up to since then so you can actually you can throw a little bit of questioning build up and you may remember their name you may not but even if you don't remember their name you may actually work out enough from that to be able to hold a very good networking conversation without remembering their name and then desperately go on to LinkedIn and search under a variety of ways to see if you can find their name afterwards so what I'm now going to do is I'm going to get you to do a little exercise your elevator pitch is a really really useful thing to have in a networking situation in any sort of networking situation a useful way to structure it is to think about who you are what you've done and what you want number three there the what you want will vary immensely depending on what the purpose of the interaction is or the context in which you're actually meeting the person so what you want you may have a whole variety of different ones so your elevator pitch is never going to be exactly the same from time to time you are going to vary it appropriate to your purpose also in your elevator pitch you're going to actually be thinking about all the things that I've just talked about so the building of rapport language and all those sorts of things so I'm thinking about all those aspects of it when you deliver that elevator pitch so you make it as engaging as possible so what I'm going to do is get I'll give you a minute or so to think about what your elevator pitch is and you can make the make up the purpose yourself so you can decide what you want appropriate to this purpose and I'd like you to deliver your elevator pitch to the person next door to you okay did anyone learn any fascinating facts in that yes I can see some nods already would you like to share the fascinating fact okay so go from accounting and law to writing books brilliant any other fascinating facts through the room okay anyone who talk to someone who they thought oh I wish I'd talked to this person before because now I actually wanted to get to know this person more that's a loaded question a couple of nods there so the great thing about your elevator pitch is like Peter said you could practice that with the checkout operator the bank teller you could coffee guy your dog your nearest and dearest because it is one of these things that the more you actually practice it the more you refine it and the better you get at delivering it as well the better you get at incorporating all those other activities because if you deliver it to your family or your nearest and dearest they're surely going to be fairly critical of what you say but they can also give you some really good tips they can give you some stuff that might make it much much better because we need to go from personal networking now to online networking I'm going to hand over to Peter so online networking it's basically email you might be in some sort of forums obviously social media so Facebook LinkedIn if it's professional so there are a lot of different mediums that you can use for online networking you need to think about what you want to achieve so with any sort of online present think about your aim if you're sending an email to someone what's the purpose of the email if you're joining Twitter or joining LinkedIn why are you joining those social media networks what is actually best for the purpose so Facebook is that the best place to build professional networks or is LinkedIn a better place is Twitter getting news and information maybe it's Twitter would be better so think about what you're actually trying to achieve what media would be best and then think about it sort of split it up between professional and personal so a lot of us when we sort of like first got onto Facebook it was a numbers game and you let anyone join and they were all your friends so suddenly you were friends with people that you wouldn't recognize if you walked past them on the street so at some point a lot of us started thinking about whether that was appropriate or not our standing joke is that at Christmas time I have a look at my Facebook list and I think about what I want to tell you something personal, what I recognize you as I was walking down the street and if the answer was no and no Merry Christmas, delete Merry Christmas, delete Facebook is really shrinking for me but LinkedIn is growing so think about will they be the same also do you have time to do it well so social media in particular looks very sad if it's sitting there neglected, unloved you're not actually updating it nothing sadder really think about the benefits and the risks and also too from a work perspective if your job is going online so say it's using LinkedIn and making connections make very sure that you know who owns those connections if it's part of your job it's quite possible that your employer might own them, not you if you're doing them work time part of your job, you leave you could lose all of those connections so just be very clear about that as well who owns them so it's the plan side of things the whole thing about online whether it's email or whether it's social media or whether it's some sort of forum is about promoting your personal brand so we do a whole workshop on branding we also do a whole workshop on two workshops on LinkedIn so I'm summarising three workshops and three slides but it's also being active it's participating so if you join a network it is a really good idea to participate and participation can take the sort of shape of it might be sharing articles it could just be liking someone's post it could be coming up with a discussion you can be as active or as little as you want but being a bit active is a really good idea then again, just don't overdo it so you don't want to start spamming and be that person who is always posting and you sort of look and think do they actually have a job what's with this think about whether the brand is appropriate for the channel so I sort of mentioned LinkedIn I mentioned Facebook I mentioned Twitter, there's Instagram so for Facebook for me, it's friends and family LinkedIn is very definitely professional and if friends and family want to connect with me I very gently sort of say sorry, it's professional and then also Twitter, every so often I think I've just got to give up Twitter but I stick with it because my audience on Twitter is actually academics there's some really interesting information that academics come out with that I'm interested in so I've got different audiences friends, family, professional academics so then you think about your audience you think about the brand that you are promoting to them, it's like those clothes Twitter more casual address LinkedIn, you're wearing a tie so it's the same sort of thing so think about that as well so I've talked a lot about LinkedIn so before I came up I just had a quick look at some numbers for you so it was founded in 2003 and apparently there's 500 million users on LinkedIn so it's not as big as Facebook but there are two new members per second and if you just want to look at University of Auckland on its own there's 124,350 plus they say it's alumni but it's also some current students as well because Tamsyn and I just keep making them sign up on LinkedIn so that's us if you connect with someone on LinkedIn so from a networking perspective so say tonight, so you go back you go and connect with someone don't just sort of send the connection request the standard automated one there's an option to add a note so add the note and tell them where you've met them so I met you at the careers evening just some sort of context or if you've never met them but you want to connect with them because you really like the type of role they're doing or the organisation they work for or maybe it's just that they also went to the University of Auckland and you can find out all that stuff on LinkedIn so just let them know why you want to connect with them how you might have met them it increases the chances that they will just automatically go accept it's done but when I get a request and Tamsin's the same if we don't know who the person is we delay it because we've got to go and look at their profile so we wait for later and later might not ever come so if you want to make that connection really good to give them some context also too this some fun facts under fun facts there's 5.5 million accountants on LinkedIn yeah I thought that was interesting and the average CEO has 930 connections it is a really interesting place so you could have a look at University of Auckland alumni you can figure out how many of them work in Auckland or in Dubai or wherever it is you can figure out where they work and what their role is as well so there's a lot of research and a lot of connections that you can make through that forum so the tip apparently the word motivated in 2014 and 2015 was the most overused word in LinkedIn so when you're doing your profile just have a look and see if you've used that word and maybe just take it out so there it's got basically it's getting noticed so it's just like Facebook but they call it Facebook with a tie so it's posting it's taking part in the forums if you don't want to do any of that use it for research and making those connections it's one of the best ways it's getting better and better from that perspective so that pretty much brings us to the end this evening so think of networking as connecting and having conversations it's a conversation whether it's in person or whether it's online identify what you want to achieve so have some sort of purpose ensure that you give a great first impression it's the handshake, it's your body language it's eye contact building rapport watching your personal distances being organised so develop your elevator pitch have a different one for different situations different purposes update your social media and keep it updated regularly work out how you're going to manage your networks if you're back to what I said about that first impression if it's online think about the words and images you use online to promote your brand network with existing contacts attend events, join professional associations extend your network as much as you can just a little bit outside your comfort zone and then over time your comfort zone will get a little bit bigger so you're extending it and then form genuine relationships and also that final point nurture those relationships Thank you for coming this evening I think we might almost be on time Has anyone got any questions? Awesome