using OST for networking

[Koos de Heer]

Dear All,

Last week, I wrote an email to a prospective client about the possible use
of Open Space for a networking event. I liked the way the email came out,
so I decided to share it with you. Any comments are highly appreciated and
of course you are welcome to use this if you like it.


The starting point of my thinking around networking is that networking
solely for the sake of networking is not working. Imagine an unknown person
calling you on the phone and asking: "How about some networking tomnorrow
night?" Your first reaction will most likely be something like: "Why, about
what, what for?". While on the other hand you probably will find it
interesting when someone invites you to a meeting with a topic that is
close to your heart and where there is also the opportunity for networking.

Networking takes time and the building of trust. And trust building happens
around topics that are close to your heart. The idea that playing golf is
good for networking is true only if you really like playing golf. If you
are walking along the golf course feeling lousy and thinking to yourself:
"What am I doing here anyway?" chances are you won't make many new friends.

This is why a networking event has to offer the opportunity for people to
find each other based on those topics they really want to spend time on.
Those could be work-related topics, but they could also be in any other
area. Networking takes time and the willingness to take the long route. I
have met very interesting people at organized hikes, at the swimming pool,
through maintaining the community garden, by being a board member of an
organization etc.

Another important aspect of networking is the idea of giving and taking.
Any network thrives on giving. If you keep asking yourself in every
conversation that you have: "What's in it for me?", chances are your
network is not going to work very well for you. People feel much more
attracted to someone who clearly enjoys life and is willing to share, than
to a bookkeeper with a stingy look on his face. It is therefore very
important that people come to a networking event with the willingness to
contribute. The opportunity to give a presentation about your company is
nice, but in my opinion it is too  much aimed at taking (I want you to buy
my stuff!) and not enough at giving (What can I contribute to this
network?). Like Ivan Misner (founder of BNI and author of Masters of
Networking) says: networking is more like farming than like hunting.

The success of a networking event depends largely on the way in which the
participants are encouraged to get to know each other. It will only be
successful if this is based on those topics that are close to their heart
and that they want to take some responsibility for. The bad news is, of
course, that it is very difficult to determine ahead of time who is going
to come and which topics have to be put on the agenda for those people. The
good news is that it is not necessary to do it that way.

The technology that I want to use needs little preparation and at the start
enables people to create exactly the agenda that is right for them at that
moment. After the first plenary session, everybody spreads out over the
different break out groups that are created for each agenda item. Because
people only take part in those discussions that they really want to, you'll
always have the right people together: people with a shared interest. And
because everybody can raise their own topic(s), there is always something
interesting for everyone. Including talking about your work if that is what
you want to do.


(And then there's one more paragraph about the origins of Open Space
Technology.I'll save the bandwith for that, trusting you can fill in that
part for yourself ;-)

Best wishes from beautiful, warm, sunny Springtime Holland

Koos



Koos de Heer
Auryn management advies BV
Utrecht, the Netherlands
mailto:koosdhr at auryn.nl
http://www.auryn.nl/

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