Definitely! And don’t ever let anyone try and tell you that’s a bad thing
Whenever we network we’re trying to do one thing only – develop relationships. And this doesn’t mean only starting new relationships, it also means developing existing relationships. In other words, increasing both the quantity and the quality of our relationships. After all, how can relationships develop if we have one conversation with someone but never a second conversation?
What we do have to watch out for though is speaking with our existing contacts for too long and missing out on opportunities to meet new people. So how do we avoid this?
Getting the delegate list in advance is a good start. Then we can identify people that we’ve not met before and make a point of trying to speak with them. And if one of our networking goals is to speak with X or Y number of new people, then that’s much more likely to happen.
The other thing is simply to be aware of how long we’ve spoken with our existing contact/contacts for. If it’s been a 30-minute conversation then that’s probably too long! It’s time to stop, perhaps arrange a one-on-one catch up and speak with others in the room too
We offer a range of networking event formats to help you meet new people, and develop existing relationships. Find our event calendar and book via ABN Community or Eventbrite