 Good morning, everyone. First of all, apologies for my shop voice. I hope you'll be able to understand me just fine. Today, I want to talk to you about networking and specifically networking at the good camp. Beyond all, networking work. Now, naturally, that title, I have to do it. Hello. Before we go any further, I'd like to ask a couple of ESL questions, so that we can make sure that everyone is picked this early in the morning. How many of you have gone to a previous work camp and made a connection through networking that has later benefited you in some way? No, that's about what I expected. And that's exactly why we're here today, to talk about networking. I'm hoping that next year, when we meet at work camp or when we meet at a networking camp, I'll be able to ask you the same question, and hopefully, everyone will be able to stay. Another question, how many of you believe that networking is beneficial? OK, that's good. Yeah, and general networking can help you get a new job or advance you further in your career. I want to make a note here by telling a personal story about an aspect of networking and that it's very unpredictable and its results. But hopefully, that will still inspire you to do it regardless. So I was 2,000 born. Our first kid was born, and my wife said that we should be responsible adults, and we should start tracking our expenses and our incomes so that we can manage our finances better. Now, what I heard was, can you make me something in WordPress to track our expenses? And I said, hold my vehicle. At that time, the WordPress REST API plugin, if anyone remembers that, was just picking up speed and everyone was talking about it, and everyone was getting it. So I thought to myself, what a better opportunity to try it out than a project where I don't have anything to lose. So I created a simple thing that incorporated sound features to keep track of expenses and incomes. And I was very excited. I was happy about it. I decided to share what I did with people on Facebook group, and I posted about it somewhere. And later on, someone contacted me on Facebook, and he asked me some more questions about what I did, and I explained that he sent me the code and everything as well. A lot of year later, he reached out to me again and he said, hey, I remember talking to you about WordPress, and I see that you have a company now. Would you be interested in working with us to do some WordPress development for us? And I said, yeah, sure. And a couple months into that, we started working on their SaaS platform and helping you all. And this turned out to be one of our best partnerships in our company. And it all started with me just willing to share my information, now being excited about it. So what I'm going to take away from this is when I went to post that on Facebook, I didn't want to the idea of, oh, I really hope this is gonna bring these clients and make me money. I want to share with the idea of, no, I'm excited about this, I wanna share. And accidentally that turned into a great partnership. So what I'm trying to say is the results from networking are super unpredictable. However, if you don't do any networking at all, then you're not gonna get any results whatsoever. So at least try. Okay, let's talk about the specific benefits of networking at work. I'm guessing that you're all thinking, well, what's so special about networking at work and specifically? Well, how is it different than networking online or at a meeting for other conferences? I'll give you my talk of three reasons as to why networking at work is special. You can find clients and employers at work. So the fact that you're meeting them at a work-in means that they are invested in the community, they're interested, and they're already sold at work. You don't have to do this, and you don't have to convince them that, you know, work-less can be your platform. And, you know, because of that, they are also more likely to be involved in other ways. They might sponsor some of their employees to work-less, work-score, and which is all right with that. On the other side, you being at a work-in means that you are actively trying to improve your skills and you are also trying to build a community which can be seen as great benefits from potential employers. I know that I, as an employer, I'm always looking to make connections when potential employers. And whether, you know, even if we don't have a position at the moment, I'm still happy to talk to anyone that would be interested in working in the future. And then when a position actually opens, and I met you at a work-in, then your application will probably come to the top of list. Number two, you can make general connections. No, it's not about work. It's not, networking is not just about work and making money, you know, that. It's about finding a place for yourself and the community. So, by being at a work-in, you can make friends that understand your work and understand your problems and the difficulties you're facing. And that can help with your work-life balance. And it can lower burnout, which is something that I will discuss here. I'm sure all of you have tried at some point talking about your work to someone that is not technical and they just said they're like, mm-hmm, yeah, mm-hmm. And, you know, being able to talk about it with someone that's actually interested in it feels good. So, it can also do the imposter syndrome because it can get a better understanding of the struggles and skills of those people. You know, sometimes we might feel like we don't know it or we're not good enough or something. However, being able to see other people and see that they struggle with the same things as well is very, very hard. And that, and that, of course. Also, you can create a network for yourself where you can refer your own clients when, for some reason, you cannot take them on whether it's because you're too busy or it's something that's out of your scope. You should always try to be helpful to your clients even if you cannot do exactly what they want. So, you know, a client that you send to someone that will get their job done will remember you with good or as if you just say, you know, I can't help you by doing not remember you as good. So, it's very crucial to go to that network so you can send people that way. Send those in reverse as well. So, you know, people will start sending you referrals your way when they cannot take on the work of the client. Like, some of these referrals can come a long time after working. For example, I had referrals come around a year after I met someone at the work hub. Again, unpredictability of networking, it's a fun thing. Another example, one of our current employees got referred to us from someone that I met because of working. And he sent him our way and turned out to be a good fit, so that was very good. And finally, when you have a network of people that are skilled and experienced, you can ask them questions and you can, you know, when you need help with something you have someone to turn to and ask for help. Number three, you can increase your confidence when approaching new people. Now, I don't know how many people here have anxiety when talking to new people. He's having it, I have it still, but way less. And work camps is a great way to help people with that because work camps are a very safe space thanks to the great code of conduct. And, you know, all the attendees are super awesome, never once relaxed. You can approach people and talk to them about worrying about things. Also at work camps, there's nothing on the line. So, you know, it's only if you're trying to necessarily get a sale. So, you can just talk to people and relax. And that feels good. And you should not worry about making mistakes because people usually try to remember the positive things. So, unless you're a really, really bad person then people won't remember the mistakes they made. And also, people are here to network too. So, that helps when at work camps. If you wonder how to start a conversation just go to them and start on one line and say, hey, are you involved in work camps? And then we'll kick out the conversation and take you from there. So, why aren't people networked? Every time I go to work camp, I see people come and don't work. And they hang out with their friends. They don't talk to anyone new. And some people even speak that way. It's strange, but I get it. So, why aren't people taking advantage of the incredible networking opportunity? Well, these are three reasons. And we'll talk about each one of them. If you see work camp as company-bounding camp then you can do a couple of things to help yourself in it. You should break up from your friends or coworkers. No, it sounds difficult, but there's ways that you can do it more quickly. So, just find a balance, what works for you. You should set aside the time during the day to be with the people that you know and to hang out yourself. So, for example, you can hang out with your friends at lunch, but then at the coffee breaks, go somewhere else, talk to someone new. Add lectures, try to sit to someone you don't know. Add, like, half of the lectures that you attend. And, no, see if a conversation happens. If you're too shy or you have the imposter syndrome, there's a couple of things that you can do to help with that. You can start by approaching the sponsor booths. Work camps have great sponsors, and pretty much all of them that I've seen are always eager to start a conversation on whether it's to talk about their product or service or the game that they're running or, you know, just in general to talk. So, approaching the sponsor booths, that's the best way to start. People will try to leave the conversation there and say, you won't have to do as much of the work. You should come up with questions to ask ahead of time. You know, just think about what can I ask someone new, whether it's how they're both WordPress or something else. Just prepare some of these, get a handle of them ready so you can put them out of your head and keep the conversation going. Don't try to over-stimulate yourself, you know. If you feel exhausted, if you feel anxious, you know, stop networking, take a break. It's best to have, you know, good connections that are genuine, that are, you know, not forced, than to have some forced networking conversations. You should realize that the majority of people are feeling similar things. So, it's said that 70% of people will experience the imposter syndrome at one point or another in their career. And so, it's not just you that feels the thing. So, go out, talk about it, and that's one way to help, you know, yourself and others move forward. And if you want to estimate the benefits, well, you can set goals before coming to work. You should think about what you want to get out of WordCamp every time you go. You should not go just because it's a local conference or because you're an employer, what you're thinking. You know, think about what kind of connections you want to make, and for example, do you want to meet people that live near you or do you want to meet people that live abroad? You can do either of those for both or your goal can be something completely different, just think about it and make it, keep it in your head. Now, I'll talk about three WordCamp networking mistakes. Number one, trying to sell your services. I'm guessing everyone has had that experience of someone including their personal space, whether it's a phone call or ringing on the doorbell and trying to sell them a service that they don't need or want. And I'm guessing that most of you don't like that. So, don't be that person. Don't start the conversation by saying, hey, I can make you a new WordCamp site or hey, I can improve your SEO. It can come naturally in the conversation later on but this should not be your opening line because people will shut down or they'll get defensive and it's not gonna go anywhere. Most people come here to build the community and to make future connections and not because they have immediate positions. Probably some WordCamps do have job boards which is a great tool. And if you're looking to get someone to do something for you or you're looking to find a job, start there. I'll actually advise you to contact the organizers in some way before the WordCamp. Hey, is there gonna be a job board at WordCamp? And if enough people show interest in it, I'm pretty sure they'll be happy. Number two, trying to talk with everyone. Again, it's not a great thing because you should try and have deep and authentic connections with everyone instead of just trying to go for all the people. You're not gonna meet everyone personally at WordCamp. Well, at least on the scale of WordCamp's field because there's like 500 attendees. So instead of spending two minutes talking to everyone with me, try and spend like 10, 15 minutes having an actual honest, good conversation with someone and that way they're going to actually remember you after WordCamp and that will help you potentially in the future. Not listening to others. So, you know, you might be nervous so you're trying to think about what you say next and you don't actually pay attention to what people are talking to you. Or you want to show your services like we said before. So you do all the talking. Both of those are on the extremes. They're not ideal. So what you should do is you should try to ask questions to the person you're talking to and actively listen to their answer. And that way, they'll see that you're actually interested in the conversation and so they'll be more likely to be interested in the conversation. And if the conversation isn't going well, just excuse yourself and go on. Sometimes it's not a great fit and it just doesn't work and it's fine. Again, it's okay to take breaks. You don't have to network all the time. Just if you start feeling it's too much, take a break, it's fine. Go talk to your friends, colleagues and you can get back to networking later or you can be done for the day. Just follow what you feel like and that would be a good indicator. I want to leave you with three tips that you can take out of this room and take on to the rest of the work from today. So they can network with more people. Use the hallway track. So for those that don't know, the hallway track is what we call the hallway outside. It's not an official track obviously but this is where all the sponsors are and people hang out in between lectures. And if you're not interested in a lecture, you can hang out there. And usually there's way less people, maybe no, in the case of work from Sophia, like excluding the sponsor books, I would say maybe there's 10, 15 people. So if you are shy or you have anxiety, that's a great time to start networking because there's gonna be less people, you're gonna be able to have a conversation because it's much quieter and there's not all of this noise. And yeah, just easier. And some work camps do have specific networking events. For example, work in Europe had tribe meetings which were organized by specific interests. Small work camps like work from Sophia obviously don't have that. So again, using the hallway track is a good way to engage with people. Number two, have a way to record information. No, I don't need to record it thoroughly. So you can either, you either have a place to keep business cards or have no plug or something on your phone. And once you're done talking to someone, you should take a minute to write down what you talked about and what you found interesting about this person, how you may connect in the future. And that will help you have that person reach out back to you or you need help. You'll know exactly what you talked about with him or her. Number three, you should not be afraid to share some stuff about yourself. Now, whether that's personal or professional, again, not salesy. You should think of interesting facts about yourself that will help you for memory. For example, I'd like to say that I'm a wannabe part of Paraglider, hopefully someday I'll be able to say that I am a Paraglider, but for now, that's interesting enough. And be ready to explain what you do and how that relates to WordPress because people will most likely ask you that question. Um, was that being said? My name is Nikol and I'm the lead developer and owner of Paraglider and you can reach out to me on Twitter, Nikol and thank you for your attention. And if you have any questions, we'd love to answer them. Are there any like regular things in your self or about this WordPress? I'm usually there. Well, I'm not originally from Sofia, so I don't live in Sofia, but I know that there are some meetups. If anyone can answer that question. We do have Sofia work with meetups, but recently they are not really regular. And we will try to fix that. The thing that you do as a normal or your team kind of provoke them to interact more, it has been semi-successful, I think. I think it's a part of partially mentality of a Bulgarian culture where people just don't seem to be as interested in networking. That's my observation. And so it's a little difficult to get your employees to, you know, nudge them and say that it's helpful for you. Yeah, I don't know if they're shy or I don't know if they don't want me to think that they're trying to find a new job or something. But yeah. What was the most successful or, specifically, the most successful in networking at the moment? How did you approach it? How did you do it? That was the one that I told the story about. That was, yeah, super random. I just posted about it. The person talked to me about it. I was frank. I was open, you know. I didn't, at that time I didn't try to sell my services or anything. I just talked about what he asked me and that left an impression on them, I'm guessing. And eventually that left you a great opportunity for us. I have a question. How and when did you get involved with the poor press? So right after graduating from high school, about a half year later, I started working at a local company that, luckily for me, was offering actual training because we didn't have any experience specific to web development beyond HTML. So they were working with WordPress and I joined the WordPress team and I was back in 2010 and I've been with WordPress ever since. Show it on the network. Well, thank you for your time again. I enjoyed working on the field today and I hope to see you at the after party.