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Mining Gold at the Conference

11/12/2013 by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert

For a discovery expedition a scout is the right person. Just like scouting, networking at a conference is a specialized ac­tivity. The scout’s assignment is not to look at the trees of a forest, he’s sent out to see who or what is hiding behind the trees. The networker should not just col­lect business cards and take them at face value; some effort must be made to go beyond the person who handed the card out. One cannot just say “nice to meet you, please tell me who you are.” A net­worker is an agent on a special mission with an arsenal of fact finding methods and charms to connect and try to dis­cover whom or what you know that may be in his interest to know. A networker must have the attitude to go where no one went before because that is where new markets, clients or partners may be found that were not yet exposed to com­petitors.

A secrets of creating a network is to build it before you need it. People can recognize the difference between a sin­cere attempt to create a relationship and an act of desperation. Building a net­work shortly after starting a company or introducing a new service is likely to be perceived as promotion or act of anxi­ety. Who wants to be approached and feel like the target of a promotional cam­paign or being confronted with someone with the approach of trying to catch a prey?

There is a belief about networking that invisibility is worse than failure and therefore one should never ever disappear and never miss an opportunity to pass out business cards. This has a sense of superfi­ciality that has nothing to do with proper networking. It can repel more effectively than a scarecrow. Essential to good net­working is the ability to have conversa­tions on a wide range of topics with any­one from any background and then to leave with a lasting connection of some sort. A good networker has the anchor ca­pabilities to bridge gaps and to establish new relationships that would have been unlikely to happen without the efforts of that networking activity.

Networking may be one of the old­est mechanisms by which opinions on products and brands are developed, expressed, and spread. In modern so­cial networking it has been proven that people feel more comfortable about sharing information and doing such more openly. The importance of networking has increased to the point that the word has become trendy, but when it comes to practicing it, one sees a lot of clumsiness and misconceptions as if it was the first time of practicing juggling with three balls.

So, if you if you think that networking is like gold mining and that an aviation conference is like a perfect goldmine, here is news for you. The largest producing gold mine in the world in West Irian, Indonesia is primarily a copper mine. Also in large copper mines in Utah con­siderable amounts of gold are recovered. What does that teach us? If you are searching for the elite you may not necessarily have to mingle with the elite!