“Networking is all about confidence and expressing yourself so the interviewer remembers you well,” opened Kseniya, Vice President of Membership. Throughout this event, WIB members were able to learn more about the importance of networking so that we could grow to become more confident about taking part in it. We participated in several activities that kept each member engaged by socializing with new faces. When you know a person, it’s easier to create a connection with them by finding common ground.
Did you know that networking doesn’t necessarily mean associating yourself with a professional? Every time
you’re talking with someone, you’re networking. Networking provides the opportunity to build beneficial relationships, create greater opportunities, and aid in advocating yourself and your qualities.
To start off the event, we all stood and power posed. If you don’t know what that is, Amy Cuddi from Ted Talks introduced the idea of power posing to produce confidence before a big event (go check it out!). So there we stood, hands on our hips, chest facing outward, chins high, smiling awkwardly but building confidence in what is known as the superwoman pose.
In a professional setting, we dived into the importance of looking presentable, the act of giving and getting information, socializing, following up, and maintaining the relationship. We also focused on things to avoid, such as memorizing your elevator pitch, weak handshakes, poor body language, overconfidence, and portraying a false identity. Another key element to keep in mind is to make sure you say something, don’t directly ask for a job, and know what you're talking about.
As an icebreaker, we found a stranger in the room, gave a handshake, and gave a fun fact about ourselves. Next up, we found another stranger and tried to gauge what we had in common that wasn’t on an obvious scale. One of the most memorable examples was that Amy and Kelly discovered that they both take Zyrtec for allergies.
The next activity was creating elevator pitches, something catchy and unique to us and our goals. We then played Cards of Confidence--where everyone received a card with a certain attitude and they had to introduce themselves using that attitude. It was the job of other WIB members to figure out what their attitude was. The four attitudes introduced were shy, confident, arrogant, and confused. It’s important to note that confidence is the most important attitude to have in any networking situation. All of the other attitudes don’t work well. For example, shy demonstrates that you’re scared, confused shows you’re unprepared, and arrogant portrays that you’re vain.
To end the event, we participated in a speed dating session which consisted of asking another person questions presented by Kseniya. We found out things like the person’s most desired super power ability and what they aim to achieve in the upcoming year.