For those who missed this great PWN/Professional Development workshop here are the highlights of the event, brought to us by Alexandra Germeau.   

 3 “survival” kits for the best networking possible ! 

Have you ever been in a situation of networking not knowing what to say, what to ask ? And dreamed of running away to avoid the situation… I guess we’ve all been in this situation … Networking doesn’t necessarily come easily to all of us. We didn’t learn how to do it at school, we weren’t told how beneficial and how empowering it could be for our career. 

The good news is that it can be learned and done everywhere (offline/online, at stake or not etc.) Networking is actually about giving before receiving, listening before talk-ing, sowing seeds before harvesting. A virtuous approach for all. 

On March 26th last, we experienced this together : we built our own personal net-working “kit” through a fun 3-phase process. 

1. Kit number one : the basic kit, to have with you at all times. The objective is to INSPIRE. Few elements : a happy face, a short and easy-to-remember pitch, ac-tive listening skills and relevant questions. The golden rules : provide value, keep promises and have at least one business card to hand … ready to be given (just in case…)
2. Kit number two : to be activated when you are planning a Face2Face meeting. The objective here is to CREATE INTEREST in you and/or your project, using your Kit number one as a basis. The key elements in this second phase are to do your homework beforehand to define the desired outcome and to adapt your pitch to the contact(s) you are targeting.
3. Kit number three : to use at events and cocktails … CREATING INTEREST, this time in a different environment … Have your Kit number one up and running and have a toolbox ready to make the most of the event : prepare your introductory sentences, decide on your objectives, prepare your business cards, identify a buddy in the room and prepare to move around the room.       

Feedback on this workshop: that evening was very positive, participants were participative, enthusiastic and engaged. It turned out to be a great “Best Practice” evening for all. And all workshop tips were immediately taken on board and put to good use in the after-workshop networking cocktail ! A wonderful event thanks to a “bunch” of great ladies. 

Some testimonies: 

• Thank you Alexandra! I had a great evening and I’ve made a lot of progress since. I was able to practice the next day ... and it worked !
• Thank you again for this enriching and dynamic presentation. You managed to create a climate of kindness and conviviality with a group made mainly of newcomers (of which I was a part), bravo!
• Congratulations for yesterday evening, it was great! I learned a lot and met great people. Thank you for your generosity.
• Dear Alexandra, so many Linkedin request today I guess after your presentation last night! It was really inspiring and informative. I did not have time to thank you yesterday, but I'm catching up today. We will hopefully have the op-portunity to meet again soon.

Thank you to the INC for hosting our Professional Development workshops this year and thanks to the INC team for making it happen.