February 17, 2009
The Center for Real Estate Law at JMLS hosted a "Mocktail" for students to work on their networking skills where they invited a number of alumni to participate. The Mocktail is the follow up to the Center's Networking 101 workshop put on the week before. The idea behind the event was to simulate a cocktail party and for students to get feed back from the alumni on their networking skills and demeanor.
The idea is good in theory, but was a little awkward in practice. I was stuck on a phone call in the office and so I arrived a little late. I missed the introductions to the event so I had to break into an ongoing conversation between a student and an alumni. Making an introduction, especially if it involves interrupting a current conversation, can be the most difficult thing to do at a networking event. An easy way in is to approach someone you already know. Obviously, this only works if you actually know someone there. In this case, that's exactly what I was able to do. I briefly interrupted a conversation to say hello to someone I recognized from class, then introduced my self to the person they were speaking with. There's plenty of ways to make an introduction, but I typically like to warm up with familiar faces.
The awkward part about the Mocktail was that it was broken into timed segments. So after a short amount of time, everyone in the room was stopped and all alumni in attendance were asked to give feedback to the students. The timed segments were often not long enough, and on several occasions the conversations felt as if they were cut short. That said, I was still able to get some good pointers.
Importantly, I spoke with one of the participants regarding how to handle the situation where you have absolutely no knowledge or understanding of what an individual does for a living. It's difficult to have an engaging conversation about someone's "profession" when that profession is completely off your radar. We found that there are two easy answers to this dilemma. One, make small talk to see if there is a common subject the two of you can discuss; and two, ask them to explain what you don't understand. This can be accomplished simply by asking what the person does day to day. A lot of times, people are happy to talk about their profession and explain what they do. Keep in mind, that person is there to network too, and they may want you to have a good understanding of their work. You may have some professional value to them that you haven't been able to sense.
In my case, I spoke with a gentleman who is a partner at a law firm that specializes in real estate tax. I'll be honest, tax is a topic that is often completely over my head. He was happy to explain his work to me. He knew that I may have clients that need a real estate tax attorney, or that my firm may be in the need of a real estate tax co-counsel at some point in the future. Understanding what he does allows me to recognize when I could use his expertise. Particularly in the legal profession, facing this situation at a networking event should not be avoided. For attorneys, typically everyone is potentially a client, and inevitably a client is at some point going to need expertise outside your scope of knowledge. Therefore, it's good to know how to handle the situation and not just move on to meet other people.
The Mocktail was a great idea. It was perhaps a little too short to be as effective as possible, but nonetheless it was definitely worthwhile to those who attended. The Center is definitely doing a great job in emphasizing the importance of networking to its students.
The Center for Real Estate Law at JMLS hosted a "Mocktail" for students to work on their networking skills where they invited a number of alumni to participate. The Mocktail is the follow up to the Center's Networking 101 workshop put on the week before. The idea behind the event was to simulate a cocktail party and for students to get feed back from the alumni on their networking skills and demeanor.
The idea is good in theory, but was a little awkward in practice. I was stuck on a phone call in the office and so I arrived a little late. I missed the introductions to the event so I had to break into an ongoing conversation between a student and an alumni. Making an introduction, especially if it involves interrupting a current conversation, can be the most difficult thing to do at a networking event. An easy way in is to approach someone you already know. Obviously, this only works if you actually know someone there. In this case, that's exactly what I was able to do. I briefly interrupted a conversation to say hello to someone I recognized from class, then introduced my self to the person they were speaking with. There's plenty of ways to make an introduction, but I typically like to warm up with familiar faces.
The awkward part about the Mocktail was that it was broken into timed segments. So after a short amount of time, everyone in the room was stopped and all alumni in attendance were asked to give feedback to the students. The timed segments were often not long enough, and on several occasions the conversations felt as if they were cut short. That said, I was still able to get some good pointers.
Importantly, I spoke with one of the participants regarding how to handle the situation where you have absolutely no knowledge or understanding of what an individual does for a living. It's difficult to have an engaging conversation about someone's "profession" when that profession is completely off your radar. We found that there are two easy answers to this dilemma. One, make small talk to see if there is a common subject the two of you can discuss; and two, ask them to explain what you don't understand. This can be accomplished simply by asking what the person does day to day. A lot of times, people are happy to talk about their profession and explain what they do. Keep in mind, that person is there to network too, and they may want you to have a good understanding of their work. You may have some professional value to them that you haven't been able to sense.
In my case, I spoke with a gentleman who is a partner at a law firm that specializes in real estate tax. I'll be honest, tax is a topic that is often completely over my head. He was happy to explain his work to me. He knew that I may have clients that need a real estate tax attorney, or that my firm may be in the need of a real estate tax co-counsel at some point in the future. Understanding what he does allows me to recognize when I could use his expertise. Particularly in the legal profession, facing this situation at a networking event should not be avoided. For attorneys, typically everyone is potentially a client, and inevitably a client is at some point going to need expertise outside your scope of knowledge. Therefore, it's good to know how to handle the situation and not just move on to meet other people.
The Mocktail was a great idea. It was perhaps a little too short to be as effective as possible, but nonetheless it was definitely worthwhile to those who attended. The Center is definitely doing a great job in emphasizing the importance of networking to its students.
