RE: Boss Networking Strategies
Thank you, blck. There's a lot of information in that thread that I intend to read. Easy-C, I'm talking about networking in DC in a deep pool of people working in the following:
- Advocacy/Government Relations/Government/Public Policy/Politics/Corporate GR & PACs/Non-profits/Educational Institutions with a Washington presence/Vendors who Service These Fields/News Media
This includes people from the top on down including Members of Congress, their staff, congressional committee staffers, leadership, leadership staffers, federal and state government executives and staffers, state legislators and their staff, state executive branch department and agency executives and liaisons, government contractors, municipal government representatives and city councilmen, mayors, non-profit executives and staff, military, diplomats, embassy representatives and staff, think tank executives and staff, PACs and PAC representatives, political campaign staffers, political fundraisers, pollsters, law firm representatives, banks, corporate CEOs, corporate government affairs executives, representatives and staff, news media representatives and reporters, and sometimes celebrities championing a certain cause at certain events.
Vendors service all these people, and you'll soon find out that they are very aggressive in their approach to closing you on their service or product.
I have been practicing the whole event series of events I can find through usual networking event lists in DC and sometimes unorthodox event crashing without an official invitation (if I can find the registration URL from those who should receive them and I ask if they want me to attend on their behalf (pretending to be this person with their business card to get in with a nametag is a whole different animal than this post). I think I can put on my networking hat a lot easier than most people in the room because I think I started cold approaching in bars at 21 nearly 16 years ago, but DC has tons of smart people who are very skilled in different niches and will not be afraid to school you in front of people if you are not careful. Not to mention some have considerable prestige and fame to go with their knowledge and experience and you need to respect that.
The follow-up emails are where I'm sort of navigating randomly. Meeting a celebrity by cold approach, warming them up to you, then following up about cocktails or coffee hasn't worked so great just yet. This can go another way with people in lower positions than me. Sometimes I just want to offer a hand in case they need anything like I did when I moved to DC after college. Of course many emails get zero response and I just end up seeing them again at another event and say hello depending on the circumstances.
Happy to dive deeper into this type of networking or other related networking issues so we can all improve our careers and networking skills.
(This post was last modified: 06-12-2017 04:42 AM by slothpiece.)
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