I love my job. One of the best parts of is hearing from you about how our services or a workshop or even an idea opened up your brains, your eyes, or your ears to things you didn’t realize you had or things you didn’t realize you could do.
Kent (name changed), an attendee of our “3 Steps to a Perfect Elevator Pitch” workshop, called me to relay a networking horror story and what he learned from it.
A week after the workshop, Kent attended a national conference. He and three other attendees stood around a tall, circular table, sharing heavy hors d’oeuvres. After everyone had pretty much finished eating, one of his conversation partners started to excuse herself. Others took that moment to also wrap up their conversations. As this was happening, a gentleman joined the group and introduced himself as Gerald. He stood to Kent’s left side.
As Kent extended his business card to his conversation partner, Gerald intercepted the business card exchange by grabing Kent’s card. Gerard smiled at Kent and said, “I’ll be in touch.” And off he went.
Here’s where the workshop opened Kent’s right brain awareness. He remarked to me, he visually scanned the group of people he was talking to to see their reactions. As the group looked at Gerald as he walked away, Kent noticed a collective body language response. To him, everyone had a look of, “yikes, what a weirdo.”
Kent shared with me that if it wasn’t for our workshop, he would not have picked up on the subtle body language clues. Ever since the workshop, he has been noticing a lot more about how people communicate–from their body language (non-verbal cues) to vocal tone to what they say to what they don’t say.
FURTHER READING ON NETWORKING/BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
- Why “What do you do?” is So Important
- Building a Relationship? Give Options for BOTH Coffee and Lunch
- Step Away from the Urn, and Other Networking Tips
Photography Source: Flickr, Cognizant Technology Solutions
