Six months had gone by until I decided to give another shot of CYP meeting. I was looking for a smaller scale of networking environment, the one that gives me the opportunity to interact face to face with everybody in that event. Finally I got an invitation to join a speed networking. The idea of speed networking is exactly like speed dating. You sit in a table with somebody across from you. You were given a few minutes to interact, ask what they do for a living, telling them about your business and what not. Then they blow the horn (in this case they tapped the glass) and you move to the next seat, and it goes on until you interact with the last person in that chain. It costs me $15 which include appetizer and drinks and the meeting took place at Smiths and Wollensky restaurant at Easton. I decided to give it another shot thinking this type of networking might be the one I was looking for.
The day finally came. I went there straight from work and of course I was dragging my feet again because I won’t be able to see my son at all that night. But one night is not going to kill me. So there I was, watching and observing people who wear suit walking in to the restaurant. Some of them are with friends, some of them aren’t. I was nervous and scared. I haven’t been practicing this networking in a very long time. After I put myself together, I walked in. The waiter took me to the reservation room, and it was packed. There were about 50 people in that small room, standing around and having nice conversation with others. No one seems to look like they’re lost. I felt lost. For some reason I felt like I was such an outcast. I ran out thinking this is crazy, I don’t think I can do this. Once I was outside I started to think… I already paid for this event. The least I can do is enjoying this fancy appetizer and have a few glasses of wine. So I walked around to clear my head for a moment, and I walked in again. This time I immediately ordered a drink, walked around, grabbed a few appetizers. Appetizer was delicious. There were crab balls, spring rolls, mushrooms, shrimp cocktails, and many more. There was a girl behind me who also grabbed some appetizers. So I said to her, ‘this place is really packed’. It was enough for her to continue having conversation with me. She’s a realtor, first time coming to speed networking, recommended me morning networking for a more intimate environment. We talked about how bad the housing market is, etc.
After the “warm up”, they sat us down in our assigned seat. They guy next to me started to giving his card to people around him, including me, instead of the person across from him. He had a major dog breath and B.O, so that part was a little annoying. It was extremely loud in that room because everybody was talking at the same time. After almost two hours yelling to each other just trying to make myself be heard, I could barely speak. I stayed almost the entire event because I couldn’t sneak out without being visible. I still left just a few minutes before the event was over, but by that time everybody was too tired anyway to even care.
the Interesting thing I found about this networking group, at least from this event is that the majority occupation from the people I talked to are either attorneys, realtors, recruiters, web designers, or financial planners. Basically people whose main jobs is to fishing clients. Also, I can totally see Derek and Kirsten (the organizer) put their heart and soul to make this event successful, and I would give them a round of applause.
My conclusion is do I find this event useful in order to reach my goal? Probably not. Am I swimming in the right pond? I don’t think so. However, I still think this is an excellent exercise for me in learning how to approach people and be friendly. I’m still looking for a networking group where I can find people who work in a big corporation, who might be able to connect and help me in reaching my career goal.
On aside note, i bumped into the lawyer who sat at the same table as I did at the new member dinner. We recognized each other and this was also her second meeting after that dinner. A little bit of coincidence I must say!!
Tags: networking
