9 Events in 7 Days – My guide to Surviving Silly Season.
It’s been a long week and its only September! It’s not normally like this but sometimes the invites and opportunities all come at once, so I would like to share the tips I used to survive and hope they help you with your upcoming end of year events.
9 events in 7 days is a lot! Even for me! To put things in perspective, I facilitated and presented at two of them, event advised on two, hosted one and attended the remaining four.
Yes, I am including personal events here, as one was the annual school fundraiser. It all counts as networking and as those that work with me on their network maps know, I have always included personal and professional into your relationship strategy.
After all, you are one person and the relationships you create and maintain need to fit in and around your career, family and life.
Here are my top tips;
Do your research. Find out who is going, decide who do you want to chat most with, and set some realistic goals for the event.
If it’s an evening event, have a big lunch or a snack before going so you’re not leaving conversations to chase the food tray.
Have a drink (my research show people feel more comfortable talking to you if you do) but limit it to 2/3. This was you stay focussed and present.
Invite someone you know to come with you. It’s a great way to catch up and hear from a speaker or in my case, one of my events was to see an exhibition.
Say hi to people you know but don’t stay with them the whole event. Meet new people, create new opportunities.
Stay for the whole event. It’s usually only two hours and your already there so make the most of it
Build in down time. It is tiring so take plan time to exercise, think and catch up (I also made sure I took my kids to school if I was out the night prior).
The end of the year is fast approaching, mailboxes are filling up with invitations. So, plan ahead so you can be where you need to be.
If your team want to do a Silly Season Networking Masterclass to turn silly into smart, we have a few more dates available, so please get in touch
All the best for now
Julia
Julia Palmer, a respected Relational Strategist and Chief Executive of Relatus, developing human capabilities and leveraging networks. To learn more visit www.Relatus.com.au