Networking strategies?

[crazycanuck]

I went to an event for young planners/planners-to-be last night & would like some talking to new folks help. Ok, normally I can talk to anyone and willing to attempt to bullsheep my way through a conversation.

Last night I realized I have a few stumbling blocks to overcome. I'll be attending quite a few more events with planning professionals in the future and thought I might ask

One, I struggle to hear in noisy environments and often miss part of an important conversation. A hearing aid in my right ear won't help & just have to deal with blocking out noise. I want to come across as a competent person & am wondering how much do you really listen to when you're at professional events?

Second, why is it that men seem to be more open to talking to folks not in thier own little group? I noticed that quite a few of the ladies knew eachother & were just happy to keep to thier little groups. How do you break into thier little circle without looking desperate?

Third, if you do know folks at the event & the conversation runs out. How do you move on to new people if situation number 2 arises?

Any info is great.

Thanks!
C

[Tuckervill]

Are you hard of hearing in your right ear?

I think the strategy I would take with the hearing thing is to try to get in a conversation with just one person at a time. (My husband has a hard time hearing more than one thing at a time, so in a convention or whatever he has the same issue you do. Background noise just does him in.) This gives you the opportunity to really pay attention, and those people will remember you better if they perceive you as someone who really listened.

As for breaking into a group, I don't see anything wrong with waiting for a lull in the conversation and walking right up and sticking your hand out and introducing yourself. It's a networking meeting, after all? Have an icebreaker question to ask. Not something vague like "where did you go to school", but something a little more specific like, "Don't I have a class with you?" or something stupid like that.

Moving on from a convo? Just excuse yourself for a refreshment. Read the clues and get out of there before it gets dead silent.

Karen

[crazycanuck]

Whoops, almost forgot to respond..

I'm deaf in my left ear. I normally do my best to position myself on the right side of a person or table etc but with brackground noise it's more difficult.

I got into a conversation with one young gent which was fine but I only heard snippets of what he said. It was held at a nice club/restaurant but we were in a smallish area & was really noisy with the group there.

There weren't any students from my Uni classes there. I spoke to who I could & for as long as possible.

I have to laugh as i wrote about this for our comms class reflective journal & made a joke saying I need a training plan..

[Mr. Bloom]

+1 Tuckerville

I'll add, I think if the noise gets too bad, a simple "I'm sorry, I don't hear well in my left ear" is acceptable. I would not be offended and actually would prefer that knowledge to the suspicion that someone wasn't listening to me.

For the record, I have perfect hearing according to the tests, but I really, really struggle with background noise too.