connecting Archives - Darn Office

Quick Tip No 26: Dealing with the Talker

This is the Scenario.: You are at a conference, and of course one of your main objectives is to make contacts with a lot of people. Everything goes well, you are having nice conversations about topics of mutual interest until you meet him: The Talker.

This guy (Yes, I always only experienced this with guys) keeps talking about absolutely everything and their mom. It’s all about him. Not only does he manage to jump from one topic to another, nothing that he is saying has the slightest overlap with your life. Even when you say something like “Cough, get me another coffee” or “I think my phone just rang”, he will stay at your side.

What to do in such situations? (more…)

March 3rd, 2014|Tags: conferences, connecting, The Talker|

Networking Tip No2: Follow up Reasons on the Back of Business Cards

Here is another simple networking tip, which helped me a lot. An often replicated picture: Shake hands and a swift exchange of business cards.

And there your are at the end of a conference week. You managed to trade your stack of business cards with a similar stack of very different cards. Now what? After all, the purpose of exchanging cards is to give your new acquaintances the chance to connect with you and vice versa.

When you write one or two reasons for a follow up on the back of the business card as soon as you get a chance, then you’ll make your life much easier afterwards. (more…)

October 28th, 2013|Tags: business cards, connecting, follow up|

Networking Tip No1: Answer ‘What Do You Do?’ the Right Way

Is ‘What do you do?’ not your favorite question, because you don’t know how to answer it? Then I have a great tip for you. Correctly, I should say Michael Port has this simple but unbelievably valuable tip.

In his book “Book Yourself Solid” he writes: “The typical response is. ‘I’m a business consultant,’ or ‘I’m a massage therapist,” or ‘I’m a graphic designer.’ Unfortunately, a polite nod or comment, or worse yet, an awkward silence and a completely blank stare follow.”

Does this sound familiar to you? That was exactly my problem and mine got even worse, because into more different fields I ventured the more impossible it became to find a job description that would describe what I actually did correctly and completely. Obviously, the profession category is the wrong answer to the question “What do you do?”. (more…)

September 23rd, 2013|Tags: connecting|